On Music Row for 50 years as its premier gold/platinum awards maker, my father knew ALL the stars and they all knew him. Every record label company on "The Row" ordered awards and promo items from Pop and he never missed a Friday or Saturday night at the Opry backstage. Just about every star visited his workshop and he delivered framed art to their homes. But his best friend in the world was Merle. They rarely missed the opportunity to be together when Merle was in Nashville.Toward the end in late 2015, when my dad was 91 and in the Tennessee State Veteran's Home and Merle was seriously ill and hospitalized in California, they talked every week on their cell phones. In fact they talked the Friday evening before Pop passed in January, 2016. Merle passed a few months later.
Merle signed a "ton" of photos and album covers and record labels, etc. for Pop over the years, but this is my favorite because it was one of the last great photos of Merle and one you seldom see anywhere, much less - hand signed. We found a thick envelope of these in Pop's estate signed in gold paint pen (we think). We carefully framed them, and even then, some of the autographs cracked and we had to discard them.
Please use caution if you remove the photos from the frame and handle carefully.
A Certificate of Authenticity from the Kittinger International Awards Estate comes with. Actually two: One with a printed name of your choice and another with no name should you decide to gift, sell or leave this iconic item behind, you'll have a "clean" COA for someone.
Other items from my father's legendary estate of more than 5,000 items of memorabilia, including hundreds of awards ordered by the record labels are found at the following link. I am a retired 73 year-old CNN anchor and NBC White House reporter (career broadcast journalist) and do this alone, so I can only list about 75 - 100 at a time. I add new items frequently as older ones sell off.