Doubts About "The Godfather" Clapperboard

ch3ckme0wt

New Member
I posted quite a bit in the Jaws thread about how I think the A clapperboard coming up for auction at HA is fake. I've been looking at other items in that auction, and I also have serious doubts about the Godfather clapperboard. I feel like there may be a bad apple forging items.

This is the photo from the HA auction:

This is the photo from a Julien's auction when a Godfather frame sold back in June 2008:

Of note, there are concerns about the authenticity of the clapperboard that sold back in 2008. Interestingly, the issues mentioned in that article are "fixed" in this board. The article above has the following direct quotes:
- " It is also an unusual coincidence that the cinematographer on the clapperboard does not read Gordon Willis but appears to show “T PRIESTL”, with Tom Priestley Jr. being the credited as Camera Operator on a film that Mr. Canfield shows credits on as a set decorator."
- "One of the items featured prominently in their marketing raised some questions on the Movie Prop Forum, with Rick Spector of Stairway to the Stars questioning the date on the clapboard (or clapperboard) attributed to use in The Godfather, as well as the “I” in the film title."

Interestingly, all of these issues are fixed on this clapperboard! However, the handwriting between the two boards seems almost the same.

Also, how come both boards are both Scene 101 "A" and Take "4", yet the boards are both different styles.

It's not as obvious as in the Jaws clapperboard, but the damage in some of the letters seems to match up. Again, how can two completely different clapperboards have damage in the same locations?

I've posted a photo of the two clapperboards overlapped. Feel free to judge for yourself, but there are a LOT of red flags here. I am again very highly suspicious that this is fake. This makes me question other items in that auction now too.
 

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Solid research on this one.

So, was the Julien's Godfather slate repurposed from Saturday Night Fever? And a "corrected" copy is now in the upcoming Heritage auction?

Man, if I had a Spidey sense, it'd be tingling right now!
 
Solid research on this one.

So, was the Julien's Godfather slate repurposed from Saturday Night Fever? And a "corrected" copy is now in the upcoming Heritage auction?

Man, if I had a Spidey sense, it'd be tingling right now!
Too many red flags for sure. Disappointing for an auction house like HA.
 
Too many red flags for sure. Disappointing for an auction house like HA.
Is it though? I mean… haven’t you seen the questionable stuff about them lately? A lot of questionable items and practices are coming into question about them over the past few months. New links to schemes dating all the way back to the 80’s when the owner is HA had another auction house.
 
Has anyone contacted Heritage with these details?

I get mistakes can be made, and fake items get passed to auction houses all the time., but it is on the auction house to do their due diligence to weed those fakes or questionable pieces out. Looking at the Jaws Clapboard, this clapboard, the Dustin Hoffmann outfit, and a few other questionable pieces, this is becoming too frequent with Heritage Auctions. Especially after the Star Trek piece a month ago, you would figure they would go above and beyond to validate stuff so their name wouldn’t be dragged through mud.
 
Has anyone contacted Heritage with these details?

I get mistakes can be made, and fake items get passed to auction houses all the time., but it is on the auction house to do their due diligence to weed those fakes or questionable pieces out. Looking at the Jaws Clapboard, this clapboard, the Dustin Hoffmann outfit, and a few other questionable pieces, this is becoming too frequent with Heritage Auctions. Especially after the Star Trek piece a month ago, you would figure they would go above and beyond to validate stuff so their name wouldn’t be dragged through mud.

I emailed them about both the clapperboards and haven’t gotten a reply yet.
 
I emailed them about both the clapperboards and haven’t gotten a reply yet.
That seems to be the common thing. They received feedback about an item, they ignore it, and they change their description to suddenly explain some of the questions, though the explanation makes no sense. Look at the Jaws clapboard: They received emails from people questioning it, so they altered their description to explain stuff and it sounds absurd. Then to top it off, they state that it was confirmed by Bill Butler himself, despite Mr Butler telling a member here that he never owned it and knows nothing about it. It seems that HA is willing to look the other way as long as it lines their pocket with premiums and auction fees.
 
The Godfather Production Used Clapperboard (Paramount, 1972). THIS LOT HAS BEEN WITHDRAWN.
That’s great to hear. I’m glad they did that.

It’s a bit ridiculous to me that something like this isn’t vetted properly. It literally took me ten minutes of Google searching to figure out something was very wrong with it :/
 

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