She Screwed You ... Yeah Yeah Yeah!!

16. Oh, please. Get over yourselves people. You're shocked that celebrities have a lot of money and spend it on very expensive things to make themselves happy? How many celebs have garages full of cars that cost well over $100K? Or multimillion dollar mansions in areas prone to wildfires and mudslides? There's no point in getting miffed because some people out there are far more wealthy than you (or I) and choose to spend their money however they damn well please. It's much more distressing that millions people will far less money to burn than Hanks/Wilson are encouraged to spend it unwisely on crap like Twilight.

The amount that Wilson was willing to spend on the poster is a non-issue. People pay much more than that for art and other types of collectibles. This story is about a wife trying to do something nice for her husband by buying him a very personal gift he'd appreciate and then getting screwed by a greedy seller.

Posted at 10:29AM on Nov 20th 2008 by harrison

17. @ #17
Yea, you may be right. Rich people may have huge homes, and many cars.
HOWEVER you can not live in, or drive poster...... ARTOFWAR.

Posted at 11:17AM on Nov 20th 2008 by ARTOFWAR

18. and these are the people who put Obama in the White House??

Posted at 1:04PM on Nov 20th 2008 by April21

19. This woman is friggin' PATHETIC to pay $75,000 for a lousy poster when there's people out there having a difficult time keeping there house not having money to pay the rent or morgage and Americans losing there jobs all over with companies going out of bussiness and the financial markets collapsing and people too poor to feeding there kids. Someone told me the story of Nicholas and Alexander the other day and how in Russia this guy Lenin overthrew the rich because of the Rich having 2 yachts and Huge Mansions and money coming out of the A** while the poor were dying on the streets from poverty...kinda makes you think when you hear how the wealthy in this country have no concern for the poor and if i had crazy money like this Rita Wilson and able to throw $75,000 away on a stupid poster I think i would really at least give say 10k to some kids charity and then spend the rest on a present for someone and by the way what has she ever really done except marry Tom Hanks and spend his money.

Posted at 4:30PM on Nov 20th 2008 by Outraged

20. Give it a rest. Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson are well known for their contributions to charities. This is a very simple Purchase and Sales Agreement: Buyer will pay a certain amount for said item; in return, Seller will provide a Certificate of Authenticity. Failure to produce such Certificate renders the P&S Agreement null and void.

Posted at 7:02PM on Nov 20th 2008 by Alicia

21. have heard Melissa Pearl's music. She is an exceptional musician. These allegation must be false. I have known Melissa for years; she is honest and trustowrthy. Probably just another rich Hollywood type trying to take advantage of their fame and money over a regular hard working personto get out of a transaction. Thumbs down on you Tom !

Posted at 4:54PM on Nov 21st 2008 by taro john

22. @ 21 taro john: What does Pearl's music and her musical ability, or lack thereof, have to do with anything? No one cares about her music or her supposed musical ability or your opinion of her supposed musical ability, and none of that has anything to do with her inability to provide a certificate of authenticity. Pearl, of course, has the right to sue if she wants to -- but I'll bet dollars to doughnuts she'll lose. Any person in their right mind would agree, if one is paying $75,000 -- for ANY collectible item such as this, where authentication can be accomplished by any of a number of ways -- one is ENTITLED TO some type of certification of authenticity. The way this story has been reported makes Pearl look like a grifter. Why does she have such a problem proving she actually has what she claims to have? unless, of course, it's FAKE. And tacking on that $300,000 is not only usurious, it's just plain TACKY AND FRANKLY LOW-CLASS.

Posted at 12:15AM on Nov 25th 2008 by Lori

23.
It's not mentioned in this article...but Pearl supposedly was selling the item on behalf of a guy whose business is selling rock posters.
Why would he need an agent for the sale?

I don't know anything about Melissa Pearl but the memorabilia business is filled with fake items and shady characters.
Rita Wilson should have gone to a recognized expert in Beatles memorabilia.

There's a good chance something is wrong if a dealer can't show where an item came from.

Posted at 4:01PM on Nov 29th 2008 by Bluzman

24. I too know and have been screwed by Melissa Pearl, for refusal to pay thousands of dollars for work finished. She has burned just about everyone that works in her line of business. There are unsettled lawsuits against her, collection agencies out on her, and many many people who would never do business with, or even talk to her again. This kind of news does not surprise me in the least.

Posted at 9:11PM on Dec 16th 2008 by anonymous