10.45pm UK time: Big result!
Blog reader Arthur Rayner has been in touch, informing me that the “letter from Guy Gibson” about which I blogged this afternoon has now been removed from eBay. Arthur has been in touch with the vendor, who told him that he had “no idea” that the letter might be a fake, and that he had purchased it earlier this year from Alexander Autographs in the USA. He sent the link to this company’s auction site, which you can see here. As you can see, the purchaser paid the sum of $2813 (£2259 according to today’s exchange rate) for the fake letter.
Alexander Auctions has been trading in Maryland, USA, since 1991 and prides itself on its reputation. According to its website it is “a leading auctioneer of fine historic autographs, documents, militaria from all conflicts, and relics.” It has “a renowned reputation as being one of the premier auctioneers of historic autographs and collectibles in Northeast [USA], with our customer base extending across the country and around the world. Our goal is to deliver history into the hands of collectors – it’s how we’ve built our reputation. Thorough research and careful cataloging of items by a professional staff, the utilization of the latest technologies and a priority on customer service, Alexander Historical Auctions can stand behind every piece we sell.”
A badly-executed fake letter concerning the RAF’s most famous Second World War bombing operation must somehow have got through Alexanders’ “thorough research”. I like to think that it wouldn’t have got into a sale from a similar UK-based operation, but past experience suggests that this confidence may be misplaced.
Alexander Auctions have actually had six other Dambusters-related items for sale in the last year, although only one has been sold. The items that came up are:
Correspondence (mainly collected by Alan Cooper)
Estimate $750. Did not sell.
Wooden Lancaster model made for Sgt Stephen Burns
Estimated $600-$700. Did not sell.
Various photographs and signed first day covers
Sold for $50
Letter from Sgt Stephen Burns to family
Estimate $300-$400. Did not sell.
Letter from Flg Off Geoff Rice from Stalag Luft III to family
Estimate $200-$300. Did not sell.
Gauntlets owned by Sgt Stephen Burns
Sold for $1169
Some of these items have been on sale at UK auction houses in the last couple of years. See these items (lot number 1021) sold by DNW for £7000 in May 2016.) It’s not clear whether they were all placed with Alexanders by one particular vendor. Whoever it was that sold the “Liddell” letter probably made a tidy profit. But this would have been eclipsed by the eBay vendor if he had achieved the asked-for price of £14,995 – a cool 575% on the price he paid!
Dambusters Blog 
Thanks for keeping a ‘finger on the pulse’ of dubious sales of Dambuster artifacts. A big thanks also the many blog readers who make a valuable contribution to’the REAL story’.
Great research on this letter Charles. The Sgt Stephen Burns memorabilia has featured before, IF it’s the same items then they were given to a museum in good faith by his sister whom I know. These items appeared later in 2016 for sale and she was not at all happy about it.
The seller has actually removed all his items.