A leading expert is checking signatures by Donald Bradman sold by ex-England player Dermot Reeve which are said to be too messy to be genuine, the Bradman Foundation said. Licensed valuer Chris Anderson is studying the signatures, which were bought by a trusted memorabilia-maker who works with Australia's official Bradman Museum, a spokeswoman said. “He was a very careful writer — he had beautiful hand-writing,” the museum's marketing manager Joanne Crowley said on Monday.
She said Reeve sold the signatures to John Alvarez, who was creating replica signed cricket bats to be sold on the centenary of Bradman's birth last year.
“This is not about trying to discredit Mr Reeve, it's about trying to protect Sir Donald Bradman's name and intellectual property,” she said.
Crowley said while the case was still in dispute, unreliable Bradman memorabilia was becoming prolific. “It's like a Louis Vuitton handbag or a Gucci wallet — there are knock-offs everywhere.”