Last week, an Original Prop Blog article revisited a 2008 feature (see …Questions, Observations) which archived marketing collateral regarding a George Reeves Superman wardrobe piece with a Western Costume Company letter. The new article (see Signature Comparison…) compared the letter and signature to a similar letter attached to a Superman cape offered for public sale on eBay . I’ve since received photos of three additional Western Costume letters bearing the signature of Robert Niewoehner with the same date: December 29, 1975.
The current eBay auction is listed for sale by lahontanproductions (eBay Item #280524626174):
Below is a new comparison which includes photos of five different letters attached to five different George Reeve wardrobe pieces. All five letters appear on “Western Costume Co” letterhead (or copies thereof), are dated 12/29/75, and include signatures of “Vice-President” Robert Niewoehner:
Below is a transcript compilation of the body of each of the letters.
Antiquities Las Vegas – Superman “S” Shield:
The Superman S shield shown to me today, December 29, is one of the original S emblems from the Television program “Superman” with Mr. George Reeves. The S appears [obscured] from the front of the costume tunics made by Western Costume Company during the run of that series.
eBay Auction (Past) – Superman “S” Shield:
The Superman S shield shown to me today, December 29, is one of the original S emblems from the Television program “Superman” with Mr. George Reeves. The S appears to be from the front of the costume tunics made by Western Costume Company during the run of that series.
Antiquities Las Vegas – Superman Cape:
The Geroge Reeves Superman cape shown to me today, is one of the original items made by Western Costume Company during the run of that series. The cape is a raw sild with red color. also red and yellow S shield sewn on reverse side.
eBay Auction (Current) – Superman Cape:
The costumes shown to me on December 29, 1975 are the, or at least, part of the original costumes made by Western Costume Company for George Reeves as “Superman” for the television series of “Superman”.
The red silk material and costume patterns sold to Mr. Hambrick were used to make the Superman costumes for George Reeves.
Profiles in History – Superman Cape:
The costumes shown to me on December 29, 1975 are the, or at least, part of the original costumes made by Western Costume Company for George Reeves as “Superman” for the television series of “Superman”.
In comparing the letters directly, one of the Antiquities examples and an older eBay auction from a few years ago both include letters in which the content of the letters as well as the unusual spacing and layout match up, though they feature unique signatures:
Also of interest is a direct comparison between the letter attached to the cape currently up for auction on eBay and the one attached to a cape sold at auction by Profiles in History in April 2007. Both letters share flaws/marks which would suggest one may be a copy of the other, or both a copies from a shared source. More, the Profiles in History example lacks the second paragraph printed in the example attached to the current eBay auction, which states: “The red silk material and costume patterns sold to Mr. Hambrick were used to make the Superman costumes for George Reeves“. Matching marks/flaws are identified with yellow boxes, and the added paragraph in the eBay example is highlighted in yellow:
The signatures in the above two examples line up exactly, using the typed text as a guide and alternating 50% overlay transparencies in Photoshop – the example found in the letter attached to the current eBay auction has a thicker signature:
In both transparency comparisons, the areas in which the signature is in both examples appears darker; the areas in which writing is in just one of the two examples appears lighter.
Jason DeBord