Hand written letters fron Brian up for auction

[Jon Stebbins]

That's telling em AGD. A few things jumped out at me immediately, first the amount of writing. Brian has never been a wordy guy, short notes yeah...but these longish letters seem out of character. The writing, as Lee and AGD have mentioned looks a little un-Brian like. To me it is too neat, flows too smoothly, and is put together in too nice or careful of a hand to be Brian. And what was he doing at the Sands Hotel in Vegas in Dec. '64? That also seemed out of character. Has the name Betsy Winans cropped up anywhere else in Brian-lore? To me its a very very long-shot that these could be real, I'd say 90% against. Just doesn't smell right.

[SBGIRL]

Santa Barbara. Incidentally, the Miramar Hotel is actually in Montecito, not SB itself.

http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2009/4/30/164234/916/hotels/The_Miramar_Hotel_in_Santa_Barbara_is_Back_on_Track




Montecito is in Santa Barbara 

[BennySahuaro]

...And what was he doing at the Sands Hotel in Vegas in Dec. '64? That also seemed out of character... Just doesn't smell right.

Yeah, and just what was he doing in AMARILLO, TEXAS?

[Andrew G. Doe]

...And what was he doing at the Sands Hotel in Vegas in Dec. '64? That also seemed out of character... Just doesn't smell right.

Yeah, and just what was he doing in AMARILLO, TEXAS?

To be fair, they did play gigs in Amarillo and Vegas in 1964. 

Here's the summary of the problems with the letters - comments, please, before I send it to Christies:

1 - the handwriting: when compared with examples of Brian Wilson's known handwriting from 1964, it is obvious that neither the page dated Becember 8th 1964, nor the page labelled '2' was written by him. Further, the handwriting on the two pages differs markedly from each other.

2 - the envelopes: the stamp shown on the lower envelope is Asian, probably Japanese. The Beach Boys did not tour Asia until early 1966, and brian Wilson didn't tour there until 1979. Further, they are incorrectly addressed - in America in 1963, there was a 2-digit area code in operation, thus the correct address would be Manhattan Beach 66, California. Without this the letters would most likely be returned to sender. Also, why use airmail envelopes for internal mail ?

3 - the text: the letter dated December 8th 1964 - which by the way is addressed to Mrs. Wilson, not Betsy - states that Brian Wilson was at the Miramar Hotel in Santa Barbara and that he had "came up last week". The problem is that the previous day, the 7th (a Monday), Brian married Marilyn Rovell in Los Angeles. The text of the letter labelled '2' is obviously written to his new wife Marilyn and not any girlfriend - but as this letter isn't in brian Wilson's handwritng either, this is a moot point !

4 - the 'girlfriend': never, in my 35-odd years of being a Beach Boys fan/historian/researcher/author, have I hard of anyone in Brian's life called Betsy Winans, and neither has anyone else I've asked. We know our stuff. We know Brian's high school senior year grades... we know what Dennis Wilson was wearing when The Beach Boys were told they'd beaten The Beatles in a World's Best group fan poll in 1966. But none of us have heard of this girl.

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

Looks good.  I love that--"we know Brian's high-school grades."  We are quite a bunch...

[Andrew G. Doe]

Looks good.  I love that--"we know Brian's high-school grades."  We are quite a bunch...

Sometimes I scare me... 

[LeeDempsey]

Well done Andrew.  That summarizes the main points.  One small note -- in the '60s you could send a domestic letter via Air Mail -- it was the equivalent of today's Priority Mail -- more expensive, but it would get there a couple of days faster, and with more precise handling.  It was kinda like traveling in First Class on an airplane -- same destination, but a bit more TLC.  Today a large portion of what we in the States call First Class Mail travels by airplane anyway, but back then, with air cargo space scarce, it was a luxury, and most mail traveled by truck or train.  Quoting the ubiquitous Wikipedia:

"Domestic air mail became obsolete in 1975, and international air mail in 1995, when the USPS began transporting First Class mail by air on a routine basis."

Thus ends today's history lesson on the United States Postal Service!  

Lee

[Andrew G. Doe]

Well done Andrew.  That summarizes the main points.  One small note -- in the '60s you could send a domestic letter via Air Mail -- it was the equivalent of today's Priority Mail -- more expensive, but it would get there a couple of days faster, and with more precise handling.  

But would it still be handled more precisely without the area code ?

BTW, Ian & I have done this before - there was a BB poster up for auction in the States last year that was entirely incorrectly described: wasn't anything like as old as was claimed, so between us we got it pulled from the sale.

The power...  

[LeeDempsey]

Andrew, I would also ask them to closely inspect the envelope with the foreign stamp and see if the cancellation stamp bleeds over onto the envelope.  Otherwise it's a transplanted stamp.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Andrew, I would also ask them to closely inspect the envelope with the foreign stamp and see if the cancellation stamp bleeds over onto the envelope.  Otherwise it's a transplanted stamp.

Will do - actually, the handwriting aside, the stamp is the strongest evidence of a hoax - whoever did this doesn't know their BB touring history.

So, none of us, then. 

[Wirestone]

I will say -- some of the handwriting on the envelopes and in the signatures is very Brian-like. I realize that it doesn't seem likely he wrote the letters, but you can't help but wonder. And what kind of procedure does Christie's have for verifying something like this?

Also: Has anyone saved images of those checks written by Brian to a maid in the early 90s that were on eBay a few years ago? I recall that handwriting being especially freaky.

[Andrew G. Doe]

I will say -- some of the handwriting on the envelopes and in the signatures is very Brian-like. I realize that it doesn't seem likely he wrote the letters, but you can't help but wonder. And what kind of procedure does Christie's have for verifying something like this?

Also: Has anyone saved images of those checks written by Brian to a maid in the early 90s that were on eBay a few years ago? I recall that handwriting being especially freaky.

Brian's cursive post-Landy had deteriorated considerably as a result of the drugs he was being pumped full of. Can't compare '64 Brian with '91 Brian - essentially, two different people. To my mind, none of the writing on the envelopes looks like Brian - as Lee said, his hand was more rounded. For his early 60s hand, check the box set booklet and the note for Dave.

[Sam_BFC]

So...um...what were Brian's high school grades?

[superunison]

Well, it looks to me like the letter on the right is in Blue pen, and the one on the left is in Black.  Also if you look closely at the letter on the left marked 2, you can see the writing showing through from the flip side.  So IMO, two different letters.  Take that for what its worth. Not sure if everyone already implied that....

[Andrew G. Doe]

So...um...what were Brian's high school grades?

English - B
Government - B
Phys Ed - A
Spanish III - B
Senior Problems (Personal Psychology) - B
Piano & Harmony - C

The C was because for the sonata assignment, apparently he handed in "Surfin" instead, so for that he got an F, and overall a C, according to Fred Morgan, the teacher.

[Custom Machine]

Further, they are incorrectly addressed - in America in 1963, there was a 2-digit area code in operation, thus the correct address would be Manhattan Beach 66, California. Without this the letters would most likely be returned to sender.

Andrew -  You should delete the above statment from your letter.

Letters without zones or Zip codes were not returned to the sender.  The zone or Zip code helped to expeidte the correct delivery of the letter, but a letter would still be delivered without the zone or Zip code, assuming the street address or PO Box, as well as city and state, were written correctly.  This is still true today, although. of course, zones were supplanted by Zip codes in the sixties, with the two of them coexisting during the time of the letters in question.  In the sixties there were two well publicised cases of successful deliveries of letters to magazines where the sender did not use any text or numbers whatsoever in the address.  One was delivered to Playboy magazine in Chicago using only the Playboy rabbit head logo for the address, and the other was delivered to Mad magazine in New York City using only a drawing of Mad's mascot Alfred E. Neuman for the address.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Further, they are incorrectly addressed - in America in 1963, there was a 2-digit area code in operation, thus the correct address would be Manhattan Beach 66, California. Without this the letters would most likely be returned to sender.

Andrew -  You should delete the above statment from your letter.

Letters without zones or Zip codes were not returned to the sender.  The zone or Zip code helped to expeidte the correct delivery of the letter, but a letter would still be delivered without the zone or Zip code, assuming the street address or PO Box, as well as city and state, were written correctly.  This is still true today, although. of course, zones were supplanted by Zip codes in the sixties, with the two of them coexisting during the time of the letters in question.  In the sixties there were two well publicised cases of successful deliveries of letters to magazines where the sender did not use any text or numbers whatsoever in the address.  One was delivered to Playboy magazine in Chicago using only the Playboy rabbit head logo for the address, and the other was delivered to Mad magazine in New York City using only a drawing of Mad's mascot Alfred E. Neuman for the address.

Thanks for that - I wasn't sure, hence my qualification of 'most likely' - if Christies get back to me, I'll tell them about it.

[Andrew G. Doe]

One further question re: the postal code - the 2-digit system for large cites was introduced in 1943, so I would assume that, even if it weren't mandatory by 1964, it was habitually used as a matter of course and that for someone not to use it would be unusual, especially from abroad (allegedly). Fair comment ?

Just that, if Christies ask me for more detail, I want to sound as if I know WTF I'm talking about. 

[Andrew G. Doe]

Just in from Christies:

Dear Mr Doe
 
Thank you for your email, containing comprehensive reasoning to why you believe the letters in lot 11 of sale 5554 are not genuine.  I have read the points you have raised with much interest, and would agree that each point is a valid argument, in questioning the validity of the correspondence.
 
As a result I am going  to pass on the points raised to the vendor, to ask if she has any further provenance, that may have been provided when they were purchased from Sotheby's auction house in 1999.  I would hope that through due diligence carried out when they were originally placed for sale that suitable explanations will be forthcoming.  Of course should no reasonable information be available we will withdraw the letters from sale accordingly.
 
Once again thank you for your messages.  Should you have any questions or comments please do let me know.
 
Kind regards

Neil Roberts

... and my response:

Dear Mr. Roberts,

Thank you for your prompt response, and for taking our conclusions on board. As hardened Beach Boys fans, we would be deeply interested in knowing - if this is possible - the provenance attached to this lot. I have examined the images on Christies website once more, and I would feel quite happy to state under oath in a court of law that these letters as presented (i.e. written by Brian Wilson in 1964) cannot possibly be genuine. If the lot is being presented for viewing in toto, I would be most interested in seeing the other letters referred to in the text. I live an hour's train journey from London and it would be no trouble for me to attend a viewing.

Regards,

Andrew G. Doe

[Wirestone]

You're doing the Lord's work, AGD.

Is there any other roughly contemporaneous BW handwriting sample besides the note to Dave? If that's all we have, it's still a reasonable counter example, but another would be interesting.

The marriage date issue, the stamp and the handwriting -- any one of those on its own could be explained away (maybe Carl was taking dictation [har]), but together ...

[The Shift]

You're doing the Lord's work, AGD.

Is there any other roughly contemporaneous BW handwriting sample besides the note to Dave? If that's all we have, it's still a reasonable contemporaneous example, but another would be interesting.

The marriage date issue, the stamp and the handwriting -- any one of those on its own could be explained away (maybe Carl was taking dictation [har]), but together ...

That's it! It was Carl, just like the handwritten SMiLE track listing!

[Andrew G. Doe]

You're doing the Lord's work, AGD.

Nah, I'm just a messenger... or a hard-workin' guy. 

Is there any other roughly contemporaneous BW handwriting sample besides the note to Dave?

Very little - as Jon astutely noted, Brian wasn't a great letter writer, which is another strike against those pages being legit. There's just too much of it.

[Cam Mott]

Maybe it was someone in the band, or entourage, who was pranking a gullible fan?

[Custom Machine]

One further question re: the postal code - the 2-digit system for large cites was introduced in 1943, so I would assume that, even if it weren't mandatory by 1964, it was habitually used as a matter of course and that for someone not to use it would be unusual, especially from abroad (allegedly). Fair comment ?

Just that, if Christies ask me for more detail, I want to sound as if I know WTF I'm talking about. 

This question would best be answered by someone older than I, and I'm pretty darn old, but my recollection from my younger years is that a zone was used in an address if a person knew the recipient's zone number, but zones were often absent on a letter.  I lived in San Diego 15, California, which later became San Diego, CA 92115, but back in the era of zones I think a lot of mail was sent without indicating the zone, simply because the sender was unaware of the zone, and had no easy way to look it up.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Gentlemen, give yourselves around of applause: we have achieved a result. 

"Dear Mr Doe
 
I am writing to let you know that we have taken the decision to withdraw the questioned lot from sale.  I have been in communication with the vendor and unfortunately she is not able to provide any specific provenance other than that she bought it from an auction held by Sotheby's in 1999.  For you records I attach a copy of that sales lot description.
 
I appreciate you getting in touch and letting me know of your concerns, as of course we have no intention or want to be seen to be selling questionable items within our sales.  Usually the fact that an item has been sold via another reputable auction is sufficient, however occasionally the odd item can pass through undetected.  I hope you do not mind me asking but I would appreciate it if you would allow me to keep your name on file, so that should we be approached with any other Beach Boys items I could ask your opinion prior to placing it for sale, to help such a scenario happening again. In addition if you have any examples of Brian's hand writing for this period that you would be able to send me copies of for future reference this would also be much appreciated.
 
I trust this is in order and once again thank you for your information.
 
Kind regards 
 
Neil"

Like I said... we're good.