Saw this ad online a few minutes ago. Is it real? Is it fake? Only a true collector will know.... http://toronto.kijiji.ca/c-cars-veh...-Roth-Rat-Fink-Bike-Helmet-W0QQAdIdZ156012812
I call it bogus. Too good to be true. I could be completely wrong though, that's just my wild ass guess
let the guy get some provenance for the thing. I think it looks real enough, but I never cared for his style of art anyway. Only way this could be verified is if someone had a photo of Roth painting it, or wearing it. Letters from previous owners would be questionable. This is what makes it so tough appraising items like this...unless Ed (RIP) was clutching it in his left hand with a brush in his right...there's a small window of veracity. IMHO... dj
Was it painted with One Shot? Was One Shot available in some of those colors in 1966? Lavender? Sorry,it looks to good to be true? Motorsickle/bike helmets get beat up quite a bit.
gonna go fake on this one--not that i'm an expert, but i've spent a lot of time sifting through his work i've seen in the books, seen a lot of his original work in museums, and have read many of those cheap little books he used to sell (the $3.00 ones that he printed at home). A few points as to why I think it's bogus: rat fink's hair: There's purple in this, and i've never seen that before the pinstriping: Roth was a much better striper than that! there's little, to no continuity helmet: The helmet on the other monster has odd looking "RF" and is clearly not the real RF lettering monster teeth: the teeth just look awkward--and don't look like anything Roth ever did Rat Fink eyes: the gap around the eyes (where they're supposed to be sunken) looks way too big Signature: probably the most obvious, but it's not signed by him, and a "$1" has nothing to do with any of his other works Also, Roth just had a certain style, and this doesn't look like it to me. But hey, that's just one man's opinion.
That looks way too good to be true. If the owner is claiming mid '60s someone would have had to spend a lot of money to get a one-off item like that done by Roth. At that time he had several custom cars on the show circuit or sold to model companies, must have had 4-5 models that were popular and his t-shirts were everywhere car guys were. A piece like that rarely just disappears.
The inside of the helmut looks to clean too. The strap is hardly used at all. Looks like more advanced material than would have been around in 66. The hardware, padding looks like an old Showa helmut I had.
Pure conjecture from a bunch of puter experts. No different than any piece of so called art, if it isn't verifiable, it's basically worthless. Too bad the icons of speed guy isn't in the game any more, it might have brought a million if Barrett Jackson auctioned it.
I have two signed posters from "Big Daddy" that he signed in front of me in 2000. The helmet doesnt match at all. Bogus............. my vote
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