Hand written letters fron Brian up for auction

[Andrew G. Doe]

Check this out:

http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_details.aspx?from=salesummary&intObjectID=5331382&sid=f2568ed0-6111-48bd-91c1-f8d66

Something not quite right, I think you'll agree.

[The Shift]

Strange. Brian married Marilyn on Dec 7, 1964 (right?), yet here we have a letter, apparently dated Dec 8, 1964 – the very next day – to another woman, sent from the Miramar Hotel in Santa Barbara, and stating that he's been there a week trying to get his head straight over this woman.  So where did Brian and Marilyn's wedding take place the previous day? In his hotel room in Santa Barbara?  I don't think so.... according to AGD's site, it was in LA, which is well south of SB, right?

Scenario:

Marilyn: "Brian, watcha doin'? Don't you know we have to consumate this marriage for it to be official? Come back to bed!"

Brian: "Won't be long, Honey, just writing to my fiancé back in Manhatten Beach..."

I hope this auction house has done its work authenticating this...   I have no doubt that AGD can pepper further holes in this.

[Andrew G. Doe]

'Xactly - Brian & Marilyn were married at the LA City Court House, December 7th 1964, about 80 miles down the coast from Santa Barbara. Incidentally, the Miramar Hotel is actually in Montecito, not SB itself.

[Amy B.]

Didn't one of the books say that Brian took off and disappeared shortly after he and Marilyn got married?
Maybe "Betsy" was a code name for Marilyn (but why)? A PO Box is a bit strange.

Very odd.

[BennySahuaro]

'Xactly - Brian & Marilyn were married at the LA City Court House, December 7th 1964, about 80 miles down the coast from Santa Barbara. Incidentally, the Miramar Hotel is actually in Montecito, not SB itself.

Also, the cancellations, which would show the date and city,  have been removed from the photos. One envelope has been doctored further, it appears; there is an Asian stamp with Asian characters in the cancellation.

There is some weird stuff in there....

[RONDEMON]

REALLY interesting stuff. If these aren't real they sure as hell perfected BW's signature and handwriting.
Hmm.

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

Well, the one with the Asian cancellation and stamp (it almost looks like the Imperial Hotel, Tokyo) does have "USA" on it after the usual address.  Could it have been written from an Asian tour?  Clearly, some of the others are sent from the road.  Perhaps we're misreading that date.

[Andrew G. Doe]

'Xactly - Brian & Marilyn were married at the LA City Court House, December 7th 1964, about 80 miles down the coast from Santa Barbara. Incidentally, the Miramar Hotel is actually in Montecito, not SB itself.

Also, the cancellations, which would show the date and city,  have been removed from the photos. One envelope has been doctored further, it appears; there is an Asian stamp with Asian characters in the cancellation.

There is some weird stuff in there....

Certainly isn't an American stamp... and why airmail envelopes ?

[Andrew G. Doe]

Well, the one with the Asian cancellation and stamp (it almost looks like the Imperial Hotel, Tokyo) does have "USA" on it after the usual address.  Could it have been written from an Asian tour?  Clearly, some of the others are sent from the road.  Perhaps we're misreading that date.

Good point... problem is, the first Asian tour Brian went on with the band was in 1979.

[LeeDempsey]

REALLY interesting stuff. If these aren't real they sure as hell perfected BW's signature and handwriting.
Hmm.

I disagree.   There are a number of suspicious things about the handwriting -- including the mixing and matching of cursive "s" with printed "s" in the same sentence, no circle over the cursive "i" like Brian did back then, etc.  Plus Brian printed more often than writing cursive, and when he did he used a combination of upper case and lower case letters.   None of that here.

Zooming in, the December 8, 1964 letter appears to be a letter FROM Miss Winans to Brian -- look at the salutation at the top.  Why would she still have the letter if it was sent to Brian?  And she's calling him "Mr. Wilson"!  Does that sound like a couple romantically involved???  And then look at the letter to the left, which is supposed to be from Brian to her -- the handwriting is virtually the same, including the mixing of cursive "s" with printed "s"!

And as AGD pointed out, that Asian stamp only has 1/4th of a cancellation, and is suspiciously placed right in the corner where there's no overlap with the envelope on the top or right.  A real cancellation would extend over the stamp and the envelope.

I'll stake my reputation on this being a fake.

Lee

[Wirestone]

Lee -- He's writing "Mrs. Wilson" in that letter. If you look further into the letter, he's still calling her Betsy. It's part of his fantasy of marrying her, apparently.

Has anyone ever heard of Betsy Winans before?

[JaredLekites]

Ballad of Ole' Betsy?

[Andrew G. Doe]

REALLY interesting stuff. If these aren't real they sure as hell perfected BW's signature and handwriting.
Hmm.

I disagree.   There are a number of suspicious things about the handwriting -- including the mixing and matching of cursive "s" with printed "s" in the same sentence, no circle over the cursive "i" like Brian did back then, etc.  Plus Brian printed more often than writing cursive, and when he did he used a combination of upper case and lower case letters.   None of that here.

Zooming in, the December 8, 1964 letter appears to be a letter FROM Miss Winans to Brian -- look at the salutation at the top.  Why would she still have the letter if it was sent to Brian?  And she's calling him "Mr. Wilson"!  Does that sound like a couple romantically involved??? 

Excellent point. The writing is not Brian's - too spiky.

And then look at the letter to the left, which is supposed to be from Brian to her -- the handwriting is virtually the same, including the mixing of cursive "s" with printed "s"!

Said page is in a different hand... which is still not Brian's. I'm with Lee - fakes.

Which is exactly what I've told Christies in an email.  

[Wirestone]

The Gender Genie -- a very handy program -- says the author of the letters is almost certainly female.

Here's the text I entered:

and please don't let it grow cold. I'll see you in three weeks and then we'll never be separated again. Every hour we'll be together every morning I'll wake up and my lovely wife will be right beside me -- right where she was the night before when I leaned over and kissed her good night. Every day we'll be together we'll eat, sleep, play together you'll be mine & mine alone -- no more fear of Denny or anyone else cause that ring on your finger makes you mine and it means I love you.

Oh my god, doesn't that sound absolutely bitchen? It really does sound neat. I guess I should have written sooner, to let you know where I am at. I'm at the Miramar Hotel in Santa Barbara. I came up here last week, because I had a lot of thinking to do. Mostly about us.

Try it out:
http://bookblog.net/gender/genie.php

[Andrew G. Doe]

We're good. 

[Wrightfan]

The Gender Genie -- a very handy program -- says the author of the letters is almost certainly female.

Here's the text I entered:

and please don't let it grow cold. I'll see you in three weeks and then we'll never be separated again. Every hour we'll be together every morning I'll wake up and my lovely wife will be right beside me -- right where she was the night before when I leaned over and kissed her good night. Every day we'll be together we'll eat, sleep, play together you'll be mine & mine alone -- no more fear of Denny or anyone else cause that ring on your finger makes you mine and it means I love you.

Oh my god, doesn't that sound absolutely bitchen? It really does sound neat. I guess I should have written sooner, to let you know where I am at. I'm at the Miramar Hotel in Santa Barbara. I came up here last week, because I had a lot of thinking to do. Mostly about us.

Try it out:
http://bookblog.net/gender/genie.php

Just tried it out. Apparently a woman also wrote the first verse of "I Just Wasn't Made for these Times" 

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

If they are fakes, which is of course very likely, why are they so strange?  I feel like fake stuff is always too perfect.

Has somebody notified the auction house yet?

[LeeDempsey]

Just speculating... a high school girl on vacation with her parents writing letters back home to herself penned as her fantasy unrequited true love Brian Wilson?  Scary strange...

[BennySahuaro]

We're good. 

Well, we're getting there...

One more thing. I don't think Zip Codes were in effect at that time, but the two digit postal codes were used in addresses. For instance the Zip Code for Manhattan Beach is 90266. If those letters were mailed from those distant cities, at that time, they should have been addressed as: ..."Manhattan Beach, 66, California." Those postal code numbers were not often left off addresses (as I recall...what do I know, I was  kid back then).

[LeeDempsey]

We're good. 

Well, we're getting there...

One more thing. I don't think Zip Codes were in effect at that time, but the two digit postal codes were used in addresses. For instance the Zip Code for Manhattan Beach is 90266. If those letters were mailed from those distant cities, at that time, they should have been addressed as: ..."Manhattan Beach, 66, California." Those postal code numbers were not often left off addresses (as I recall...what do I know, I was  kid back then).

I noticed that too.  Between torn off stamps and cancellations, and what appear to be a steamed-off cancelled foreign stamp put on a fresh envelope, I can't be sure that any of the envelopes pictured was ever actually mailed.

[Andrew G. Doe]

If they are fakes, which is of course very likely, why are they so strange?  I feel like fake stuff is always too perfect.

Has somebody notified the auction house yet?

I certainly did, Stanley. 

[Andrew G. Doe]

We're good.  

Well, we're getting there...

One more thing. I don't think Zip Codes were in effect at that time, but the two digit postal codes were used in addresses. For instance the Zip Code for Manhattan Beach is 90266. If those letters were mailed from those distant cities, at that time, they should have been addressed as: ..."Manhattan Beach, 66, California." Those postal code numbers were not often left off addresses (as I recall...what do I know, I was  kid back then).

Zip codes were introduced July 1st 1963, but they were non-mandatory: became mandatory after 1967. Prior to that, yes, a 2-digit code was in force. So, points to a non-US hoaxer ?

Christies is in London, literally up the rail track from me - maybe I should offer my services, based on what we've debated here. 

[LeeDempsey]

Excellent point. The writing is not Brian's - too spiky.

Not as excellent as yours my good man!  I agree, Brian's handwriting was very "loopy" -- especially his "B's".

[LeeDempsey]

We're good.  

Well, we're getting there...

One more thing. I don't think Zip Codes were in effect at that time, but the two digit postal codes were used in addresses. For instance the Zip Code for Manhattan Beach is 90266. If those letters were mailed from those distant cities, at that time, they should have been addressed as: ..."Manhattan Beach, 66, California." Those postal code numbers were not often left off addresses (as I recall...what do I know, I was  kid back then).

Zip codes were introduced July 1st 1963, but they were non-mandatory: became mandatory after 1967. Prior to that, yes, a 2-digit code was in force. So, points to a non-US hoaxer ?

Christies is in London, literally up the rail track from me - maybe I should offer my services, based on what we've debated here. 

An envelope without a postal code would likely not be returned to sender, but typically you would see it written on the envelope by the mail sorter.  No evidence of that here.

You should offer your services to Sotheby's and Christies -- you could become the Frank Caiazzo of Beach Boys autograph authentication!   

[Andrew G. Doe]

This is the email I've just sent:

Sir,

I am regarded as an authority on The Beach Boys, and having viewed the lot as shown on your website, compared known examples of Brian Wilson's handwriting from 1964 with the letters, compared the events stated in or inferred by said letters with his known movements and conferred with equally knowledgeable Beach Boys experts via email and message boards, our conclusion is that the letters as shown are not genuine.

I will compile a list of the evidence against their authenticity for you tomorrow, but on the evidence as shown, and were I you, I would withdraw the lot from the sale and carefully study the provenance provided.

Regards,

Andrew G. Doe