Perhaps it is the mystique of Universal Horror posters has led to a major scandal that has rocked the movie poster collecting community resulting in allegations of widespread fakes and forgeries among the genre.

 

Collectors who subscribe to the various discussion boards will be aware of the controversy but many other collectors who do not look at the boards will not have heard of the scandal. It has been alleged that faked high end Universal Horror lobby cards have been sold through various venues including major auctions over the past couple of years. One auction house recently withdrew their star attraction, a Dracula one sheet, after questions were raised about its authenticity. 

 

It really is hard to fathom why nobody alerted the community about all of this until recently bearing in mind that it is quite clear that many have known about it for months at the very least. Some have used the excuse that there is a legal case that is going through the motions at the moment but the details are available in court records for all to see. 

 

I guess that some were so concerned about the affect that all of this would have on the hobby that they kept quiet about the scandal. Others, including dealers and auction houses, did not want it known that they had sold fakes, irrespective of whether they had been duped by their consigners. Whatever the reasons, disclosure may have protected someone else from being burnt and might have alerted others to the fakes.

 

From what I can gather, the fakes evolved initially by someone sourcing a large number of inconsequential low value 1930s lobby cards. Apparently, the perpetrator would carefully sand off the image taking a miniscule amount off the surface of the card in the process. They then used a sophisticated printing process to copy an image from an original card and then stuck the image on to the sanded card.

 

The next step was to reproduce the defects on the back of the card to the image that had been copied on the front. If pinholes or tears were on the back they would add these to the reproduced image on the front. A restorer would then work on the card making it appear as if it had required some restoration.

 

Although I haven't seen any of these cards, I have no doubts that they appeared genuine and it is certain that they fooled many "experts" apparently including some auction houses, despite the fact that various dealers are now using hindsight to say that they would have identified the fakes. My understanding from reading the discussion board posts is that many were sold for large sums of money and they did indeed fool a great many people.

 

There are a number of restorers who are magicians with linen backing. I know one in particular who can take fragments of paper and turn those pieces into a magnificent poster where the restoration is almost undetectable. There lies the problem. It has been said that those who allegedly perpetrated the scam realised that modern restoration techniques made it possible to fake a high end card and the temptation was irresistible to them.

 

Bear in mind that some years ago a restorer created #9 lobby cards. The story goes that he felt that lobby cards from Science Fiction movies failed to display the best images so he created the #9 cards with a new image that usually depicted one of the best scenes. Although I haven't had one of these cards I understand that they were expertly produced and looked very much like original cards with the exception that they had #9 noted and were obviously not part of the original set. There is no suggestion that the person that produced these cards intended to deceive anyone but perhaps this provided an "inspiration" to others to forge Universal Horror lobby cards.

 

The whole process of faking Universal Horror lobby cards must have been extremely time consuming and painstaking and required someone exceptionally talented. I really cannot understand why a restorer would want to risk everything to create these fakes.

 

Although, the fakes seem to have been primarily with lobby cards there have been suggestions /rumour / innuendo that larger posters may have been forged.

 

Anyone who attempts to fake these lobby cards or posters in this way would have to be only looking at high end material because the cost, risk and time involved in the forgery would have to have a significant benefit to be worthwhile. Many of us will never be affected by all of this because the forgeries only extend to high value posters but it is wise to be cautious and always ask questions if in doubt.

 

There is a lot more to this story that will no doubt come out in time. Some "experts" are setting themselves up as authentication services but this has already produced less than satisfactory results with one expert being fooled into believing a high value poster was authentic only to later acknowledge that he had made an error.

 

Linen backers will need to reassess their restoration standards. Dealers will also need to disclose more about what restoration was done to a poster. I know of one poster in particular that was found with at least two thirds missing and the rest in fragments. It was completely restored using images from other sources and now looks perfect. You have to wonder if this poster can be referred to as "original" when two thirds have been added using paint, airbrushing, additional paper, etc.

 

Ultimately, I think this scandal will affect the value of Universal Horror material and collectors will be extremely wary of "restored" lobby cards.