Back To The Future - Marty's Letter - Production original?

[ScienceBob]

Hi all,
Thought I'd get your collective input on this. I purchased this version of Marty's letter many years back from a dealer (Reel Props & Wardrobe, now Reel Clothes & Props, I believe) and was informed it was made for the production, but never screen used. I thought I'd go to the source to confirm this, so I got in touch with John Zemansky, the movie's prop master who agreed to take a look at it. He checked it out and he believed it was made by his team for the film. Interestingly, he told me that, despite common belief, Michael J Fox did not write all of the letters used as props, rather, one of his prop crew hand wrote many versions of the letters and duplicated his writing. The challenge was that Michael wrote the letter differently between takes and they did not know which take they would end up using. Anyway, here's some information on my version of the prop:

• NOT screen used - The screen used version has the phone number, yet I've seen other versions out there that did not (this is the most perplexing part)
• Written in small letters on the back is "B3"
• Has a plastic (heatseal?) covering on it. John thought that may have been to give it more rigidity when opened
• Shows some wear that it had been folded open and closed
• Nice aging work whether it was production made or not.

I've see some low res images of the original, and looked at the threads here. Has anyone got any more information on the original prop, or insight/thoughts about this one?

Many thanks,

Bob

 

[Bigdaddy]

I don't have any info, but that is a sweet prop.

 

[Roland]

The handwriting looks real to me. It's obviously written by Michael J. Fox himself. But the letterhead looks very curious. If it's actually an original prop, then they used a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy ... of the letterhead for your prop.

 

[DB537]

This is a photo of the screen used copy of the letter.
View attachment 271979
The original props were on vintage Strathmore Writing watermarked paper. Maybe you could check for this?
Link to image of correct watermark

 

[ScienceBob]

DB,
Yes, I have one of the original pieces of stationary. I don't see the watermark, but it's difficult to see through the aging and intentional wear. The link to your image wasn't valid. Do you have another version I can check out?

Thanks,

Bob

 

[DB537]

I'll try it again with photobucket :cool

Screen-used 1985 letter:

I found the correct watermark in this next photo, which was posted on yourprops.com.
I have adjusted the levels/contrast to make it easier to see. I am sure that this is the correct/accurate paper because the original prop house,
Earl Hays Press, used this paper for many other props as well. I've got some of their vintage prop money which was also printed on the same paper. The absence of the watermark would not necessarily mean a fake. The placement is very random on the sheets and some may not have
it visible. Some of my prop money doesn't have it either, even though it's clearly on the same paper.