Authentic?

Hi, I would like to know everyone's thoughts on the authenticity of these signatures.

Buk.jpg
 
Both signatures look genuine. It is odd that it is signed twice, though. This should be one of the 75 signed copies (do you have a photo of the back? the issue number is hand-written in using black felt-tip) with the signature at the bottom of the cover likely the called-for signature.

In thinking about this, if you had an opportunity to have Buk sign something and you owned this, wouldn't you want to have him sign a second book rather than own one item signed twice? I'm thinking Buk may have just done this on a lark. It would appear that a similar pen was used for both signatures. Then again, he signed so many books he must have gotten sick of it at some point, so why sign one twice when turning around an envelope full of cover stock?
 
That's odd, but maybe Red said "Hey, sign this one twice." or Buk just did it on his own. Mine is #47 (I think) and it's signed at the bottom of the front cover and the signature is different from yours and the top is clean, so there's no risk that one is a mimeographed signature (this was a problem on another Wormwood issue where there's a mimeo of Buk's signature inside the book that some folks mistake for a real signature). So, did you buy this or are you considering? I remember seeing this on ebay not long ago. It seems fully legit to me, just a bit odd.
 
I'm considering buying it, I'm new to this forum and collecting Buk so if you know some of the others on here and could ask them to take a look it would be much appreciated. It is the one from ebay, the seller has great reviews and sells a lot of Buk items, I just want to make sure before I shell out a substantial amount of money(for me) that I'm not getting ripped off. I was also going to buy two serigraphs from the same guy, he says they are legit black sparrow and were overruns, does that sound right? Thought it would look nice framed between two serigraphs, the crazy woman and the bee. Any advice is much appreciated!
 
That's my old copy. It's changed hands, but I can tell you this did originally come from Baroque. Both sigs are 100% genuine. I'm sorry I let that book go.
 
Interesting that it is said to come from baroque, since it has the look of a late-in-life signature(s), and I was under the impression that Bukowski didn't sign as much for Red at that point.

But whatever happened, they are both legit.

I suppose the next question is what is "a substantial amount of money(for me)"?
 
Those signatures are not inconsistent with '90 or '91 (perhaps even '89, but the one at the bottom of the cover is not like too many I've seen, so it's more difficult to place), and Beauti-ful was published in mid to late '88, so the timing seems OK. But it's hard to believe he signed this one twice on the same day. I wonder if he was handed a bunch of stuff to sign and this one was in the stack and he signed it (or was about to sign it) and said "hell, I already signed this one" and then signed it anyway.
 
Red always had items like this on hand. Buk would come round for lunch at Musso's and while he there, he'd sign virtually anything Red asked him to sign. At least that's the story I got from Red, and I have no reason to doubt it.
 
This ones mine. I'm selling him the chap and the two serigraphs for $210.05. I encourage the forum to weigh in whether it's worth it before he drops the coin. He's a college kid and that would buy a lot of pizza.
 
getting a bit off-topic now ... (maybe)
[...] if you had an opportunity to have Buk sign something and you owned this, wouldn't you want to have him sign a second book rather than own one item signed twice? [.....] That's odd, but maybe Red said "Hey, sign this one twice."

there's a German author, who signed me one of his books in the early 90s at a reading (he added the date to his signature).
About 5 years later I had the chance to meet him again and was very seriously thinking about bringing the same book again and have him signing it twice, this time with the new date. [And so on, all with the same book - meanwhile I've met him ca 4 or 5 times.]

Finally, I didn't have him sign the same book twice or even more often.
This was just to throw in the possibility of someone thinking in the same odd ways as me.
 
A book signed several times by the author and each with a different date sounds like fun. If it was a Buk book signed, say, 5 times by him at different dates, it would be a one of a kind item and it would probably be worth some money too.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top