So would someone actually try to come up with such a silly joke as faking Krupa's autograph? Ive heard that nowadays theres a lot of fake autographs but was there even a market for that kind of stuff back then? And if youre trying to fool someone wouldnt you try to make it really close to the original so it wont look fake?...I dont know...I see similarities on the rest of the writting not just the words "Gene Krupa". But Thats just my opinion...I guess it would be really expensive to pay a Calligraphy expert?
Yes, there are many fake Krupa autographs out there. You have to expect countless fake autographs with anyone who is famous, just because they are so easy to do, and are valuable and/or prestigious. Nowadays, with the internet, it is much easier to fake an autograph, because you can just look one up and learn how to copy it. Pre-internet fakes will look less authentic, because there wasn't much around to compare them to. This also meant it was easier to pass off any autograph as real...you couldn't just look it up on the internet.
There's a guy in Westchester County, NY, who has been doing fake Krupa autographs, as well as drums and cymbals, for years. His name is Michael Prete, and he basically runs a Gene Krupa scam business. He grew up near Gene in Yonkers, acquired his autograph, some drums, and some cymbals from Gene's estate, and has been making fakes and passing them off as real ever since. I see these items around from time to time, and can recognize them as Prete's. A couple of people have sued him.
Your autograph seems almost like a joke for fun, like "Hey guys, Gene Krupa told me I'm the best!" My father actually did a similar thing when I was about 12 years old...I was feeling down on myself for losing a baseball game. He took a photo of Babe Ruth, and wrote on it, "To Bill - the greatest baseball player in the world. Signed, Babe Ruth". I knew Babe Ruth was already dead, but it was just a fun thing between me and my dad.
One other reason I don't believe your autograph is authentic is because of the grammatical error in the word "your". Gene was a very smart guy, and did so well in his studies that he was actually in the running to become a priest! This was no small feat back then...only very good students were pushed in this direction. He actually went to college for a year, which was rather rare back then. He had strict, very religious Polish parents. He most certainly would have known the correct way to use "you're" vs "your", which this faker obviously did not. The only misspellings I've seen in Gene's writing have been "hip" little shortcuts like "thanx" or "xmas".
I'm attaching a rather humorous fake GK autograph I came across during my search.
Thanks,
Bill
