Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Jimmy Page calls his purported autograph on guitar a forgery; attorney dries up legitimacy of John Paul Jones's ink, too

An autograph of Jimmy Page's on a guitar that sold for $2,750 this year can now correctly be called a forgery, says his attorney.

Less than a week since a report on this autographed electric guitar aired on the ABC News program "20/20," the news outlet now provides the update from attorney George Fearon: Of the three signatures on the guitar, at least two are now being called into question. Page's signature isn't really his, and the one claimed to be from John Paul Jones may not be legit either.

The program had already called into question the authenticity of a photo of Robert Plant allegedly signing the guitar.

Now, the attorney representing Jones and Page says the bassist could not have signed the guitar, or other memorabilia, in the times and places a memorabilia company has claimed he did.

Bruce Hall, doing business as the California-based company Gallery of Dreams, is the supplier being sued by Florida memorabilia dealer American Royal Arts, the company that recently sold the Led Zeppelin guitar to a bartender in Charlotte, N.C.

American Royal Arts President Jerry Gladstone says it is when he was on the witness stand in an unrelated case that he learned of photographs, including the one of Plant, that appear to have been doctored. He filed suit against Hall and Gallery of Dreams within a week of that court appearance.

Other celebrity photos suspected of having been altered, as featured in the "20/20" report, include ones of members of the Eagles and U2, as well as pop starlet Miley Cyrus.

ABC says "the supplier had claimed to ARA that [Jones] signed the Led Zeppelin guitars in Asheville, N.C., on December 11, 2007." This would have been one day after Led Zeppelin's reunion concert in London, England, and Jones was not in Asheville then, says Fearon.

Asheville is the location of the annual Christmas Jam organized by Warren Haynes, guitarist for both the Allman Brothers Band and Gov't Mule. Jones sat in with both bands a year later, in December 2008.

"The supplier also claimed that Jones signed some [other] guitars at the Mondrian Hotel in Los Angeles on February 10, 2008," ABC reports. "But, again according to the band attorney, Jones says, not only was he not at the Mondrian on that date, he's never been to that hotel."

No comments:

Post a Comment

Comments are moderated prior to publication. Comments will not be published if they are deemed vulgar, defamatory or otherwise objectionable.