No, TexFake isn’t a new term coining George W. Bush’s attempt at being a President it is the title of a book written in 1994 by a rare book dealer that dealt with the “scandal surrounding the 1988 discovery of forged copies of the Texas Declaration of Independence.”
Now almost 20 years later a recent purchase by the Texas Historical Commission has all the makings of TexFake redux.
Here’s what happened:
-Recently, the THC paid $490, 000 for a letter written by Davey Crockett to his family days before he was killed at the Battle of the Alamo.
-The state bought the letter from Simpson Galleries, a Houston fine arts auctioneer.
-Texas Governor Rick Perry spoke at the unveiling of the letter. Slideshow with audio of Governor’s talk here
Unfortunately, many believe the letter is not an original.
P. Scott Brown over at the Fine Books blog is all over this story and has been following it very closely, including Crockett writing samples. Brown says “Unfortunately, the desire to see the real Davy Crockett in this most personal and tragic letter may have clouded the judgment of those who wanted it to be real.”
“It is assuredly not the version written by the semi-literate Crockett, who could hardly write or spell. The version being bought by Texas is the sanitized version.” says Everett Wilkie, a library security expert.
Bookseller Kevin MacDonnell says “It is my gut feeling that this is probably an innocently made true copy…I’m certain that it was not written by Davy Crockett.”
It doesn’t seem like the Texas Historical Commission did much footwork before plucking down almost a half a million dollars.
The first flag should have been when Simpson Galleries disclosed the provenance of the letter.
Ray Simpson said his grandfather bought the letter from a descendent of Crockett’s in 1986 and misplaced it years ago. Simpson said he and his father found it about two weeks ago in their office.
Also being an Historical Commission you would think they would be up on the whole Texfake thing. It wasn’t that long ago and William Simpson, Ray’s grandfather, of Simpson Galleries was right in the middle of it.
Luckily for them the money is in escrow and they got a couple of months to find out what is going on.
San Antonio Express piece Crockett letter might not be worth the paper it’s written on
Austin Statesman story Crockett letter’s authenticity debated