Frank Frazetta-Cavemen with Cigars ink sketch

My very first Frazetta. This was acquired thanks to Babylon Collectibles, in Babylon, NY. Thank you to Jerzy for parting with this beauty.

I first saw this piece during one of Babylon's live claim sales on Instagram; it was hanging on the wall, framed, behind the register. I gave it a bit of thought, but figured it was too far out of my price range.

A few months later, I found myself in the shop (a 2 hour drive on a good day); the piece was still there on the wall. I asked to take a look and was quoted a price that I thought was very reasonable. I took a couple of photos and said thanks, let me think about it. Went home and looked closer at the photo and wondered, could this be a print? A forgery? Hmm..So I put on my deduction cap and found that the image (to the best of my knowledge) has only been reproduced twice - once in (I believe) Vol. 3 of The Fantastic Art Of Frank Frazetta by Ballantine (1978) but it was unsigned in the book. The second time it's been printed was in the 1994 hardcover catalog book for the Alexander Gallery show Frazetta had in NYC in 1994. That printing has the signature.

I was then told by someone that Frazetta signed the sketchbook pages before they went up for sale, which makes sense. I found a few other of these 'doodle book' pages (c. 1953) in past Heritage sales (with an Alexander Gallery provenance listed) and the signatures all looked identical, as if they were signed with the same pen, same day, etc.

I then asked the shop owner if he could take the piece out of the frame so I could see the back, which he did and once I saw that photo, I was convinced. Again, a couple of knowledgeable Frazetta friends of mine immediately recognized the rounded corners on the sketchbook paper, which his other pages have. Plus, the paper is yellowed from age. It's such an obscure piece it makes little sense that someone forged it, and so exactly. The images in the books are flat b/w stats with many of the details and lines dropping out, that you can see clearly and stronger in the original.

I've reached out to The Frazetta Girls and the Frazetta Art Museum for their thoughts, but they have not respsonded. I'm 100% convinced it's the real deal, but just as an added courtesy, Jerzy wrote up a guarantee of authenticity. The only other paperwork he had on it was the Ebay receipt for when it sold on that platform back in 2006. The seller was captwhiz, who no longer appears to be active, but he supposedly acquired it from someone that worked with Frazetta. I'm not certain that it did sell at the Alexander Gallery exhibit; possibly it was sold after the show. As it's listed in the book, it appears there was another image on top of it, and the page cut in half, the two images sold separately.

As for the piece, itself, I love it! It's very early Frazetta but I enjoy the humor and that it tells a story. Even though it's a loose sketch, the drawing is solid, and the poses masterful.

I couldn't be happier finally owning a piece by the Master.

Image area is 7.25" x 5."