# Youre a celebrity/person of historical interest is it tacky to be selling your love letters while everyones still alive? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 25, 2024, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-celebrity-person-of-historical-interest-is-it-tacky-to-be-selling-your-love-letters-while-everyones-still-alive/999312 "2024-03-25T01:12:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2024, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-celebrity-person-of-historical-interest-is-it-tacky-to-be-selling-your-love-letters-while-everyones-still-alive/999312/1 "2024-03-25T01:12:26Z")
Ok, I know collectors pay a lot for their favorite celeb writings like letters and messages that Elvis personally wrote to people and museums and scholars would love to have anything historical be it love letters to a grocery list written by Caesar Napoleon, etc but is it common for someone to sell their love letters while both parties are alive? What prompted this is patti boyd, one of the people at the center of: “Swinging London” in the 60s and 70s had an auction where she was parting ways with some famous belongings like dresses she wore in photo shoots paintings that became album covers . pretty normal stuff article here: [MSN](https://www.msn.com/en-us/music/news/auction-of-pattie-boyd-s-trove-of-treasures-surpasses-expectations-as-it-nets-3-6-million/ar-BB1kmKS3?ocid=binghp01&cvid=401b21d667ce4c60ff1338cfa54dc216&ei=10#comments) What struck me as well tacky was that she was auctioning off love letters from her famous exes like Eric Clapton, George Harrison, and possibly others…I would think the thing to do would be to leave them in a box with a relative and say … OK sell these when we’re not alive anymore … And say if Eric found out they were up for sale could he have legally stopped them? ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2024, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-celebrity-person-of-historical-interest-is-it-tacky-to-be-selling-your-love-letters-while-everyones-still-alive/999312/2 "2024-03-25T02:09:41Z")
I don’t see how it would be illegal to sell them, assuming she owned them, and I don’t think Eric could do anything about it without drawing attention to them. Perhaps she asked Eric and Olivia (George’s wife) if it would be okay. Do we know that she didn’t? If it turns out she didn’t ask them I’d say it’s in poor taste, but if you need the money now, you need the money now. After Patti is dead, what good is the money then? ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2024, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-celebrity-person-of-historical-interest-is-it-tacky-to-be-selling-your-love-letters-while-everyones-still-alive/999312/3 "2024-03-25T02:14:15Z")
Well many stars wrote tell alls as autobiographies. Same thing. Except the letter is better than a half recalled memory. Yeah it’s tacky. But it’s a way to generate some funds. And they belong to her. Her call. ---
**Author:** ![UDS1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47774/32.png) [@UDS1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS1)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2024, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-celebrity-person-of-historical-interest-is-it-tacky-to-be-selling-your-love-letters-while-everyones-still-alive/999312/4 "2024-03-25T02:16:51Z")
Fun fact; the copyright in the letters likely belongs to the people who wrote them; ownership of the documents to the person who received them. So Patti Smith can sell the letters she received, but the buyers of the letters don’t acquire the right to copy, publish, etc the contents (unless they negotiate separately to acquire that right from the authors of the letters). ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2024, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-celebrity-person-of-historical-interest-is-it-tacky-to-be-selling-your-love-letters-while-everyones-still-alive/999312/5 "2024-03-25T02:21:22Z")
Yikes. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2024, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-celebrity-person-of-historical-interest-is-it-tacky-to-be-selling-your-love-letters-while-everyones-still-alive/999312/6 "2024-03-25T02:48:49Z")
Yes, I have a friend who discovered some old letters her mother had received, before her marriage, from someone who was well-known in his field. She is doing a project for publication about her mother (not anticipating wide circulation, her mother is not particularly notable except for a couple of people she knew, it will be an art book not a best-seller) but she has to get permission to publish from the man’s surviving wife, who now owns the copyright. So it’s not just when the sending party is alive, apparently, the copyright passes along with their estate. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2024, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-celebrity-person-of-historical-interest-is-it-tacky-to-be-selling-your-love-letters-while-everyones-still-alive/999312/7 "2024-03-25T02:51:01Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > What struck me as well tacky was that she was auctioning off love letters from her famous exes like Eric Clapton, George Harrison, and possibly others…I would think the thing to do would be to leave them in a box with a relative and say … OK sell these when we’re not alive anymore … Just to be clear – you are aware that George passed away in 2001, yes? ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2024, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-celebrity-person-of-historical-interest-is-it-tacky-to-be-selling-your-love-letters-while-everyones-still-alive/999312/8 "2024-03-25T04:39:50Z")
yeah …i did ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2024, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-celebrity-person-of-historical-interest-is-it-tacky-to-be-selling-your-love-letters-while-everyones-still-alive/999312/9 "2024-03-25T05:32:05Z")
I don’t care how famous you are, it is _absolutely_ tacky. Though I’ll let it slide if both parties consent to it. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2024, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-celebrity-person-of-historical-interest-is-it-tacky-to-be-selling-your-love-letters-while-everyones-still-alive/999312/10 "2024-03-25T05:44:42Z")
It is vaguely amusing to think about how this will be a self-solving problem going forward into the future. It’s not like there’s going to be much of a market for a screen shot of someone sending an eggplant emoji. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2024, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-celebrity-person-of-historical-interest-is-it-tacky-to-be-selling-your-love-letters-while-everyones-still-alive/999312/11 "2024-03-25T06:15:18Z")
(Patti Boyd isn’t Patti Smith.) ---
**Author:** ![UDS1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47774/32.png) [@UDS1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS1)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2024, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-celebrity-person-of-historical-interest-is-it-tacky-to-be-selling-your-love-letters-while-everyones-still-alive/999312/12 "2024-03-25T06:33:42Z")
Oops. My apologies to both of them. ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2024, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-celebrity-person-of-historical-interest-is-it-tacky-to-be-selling-your-love-letters-while-everyones-still-alive/999312/13 "2024-03-25T10:24:33Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > I don’t care how famous you are, it is _absolutely_ tacky. Though I’ll let it slide if both parties consent to it. Agreed on the tacky part. But the “absolutely” part, well, how much are we taking about now?? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2024, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-celebrity-person-of-historical-interest-is-it-tacky-to-be-selling-your-love-letters-while-everyones-still-alive/999312/14 "2024-03-25T10:29:12Z")
Damn, i was really wanting to read those letters! ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2024, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-celebrity-person-of-historical-interest-is-it-tacky-to-be-selling-your-love-letters-while-everyones-still-alive/999312/15 "2024-03-25T14:11:25Z")
Boyd claims that Clapton gave his blessing: [Guardian article](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/feb/26/eric-clapton-letters-reveal-details-of-george-harrison-love-triangle-pattie-boyd) Insanely tacky. Who the hell would want to own someone else’s love letters? People are nuts. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2024, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-celebrity-person-of-historical-interest-is-it-tacky-to-be-selling-your-love-letters-while-everyones-still-alive/999312/16 "2024-03-25T14:13:52Z")
I would, too! ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2024, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-celebrity-person-of-historical-interest-is-it-tacky-to-be-selling-your-love-letters-while-everyones-still-alive/999312/17 "2024-03-25T14:22:51Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > And say if Eric found out they were up for sale could he have legally stopped them? No, because the letters were knowingly and willingly sent to her, and they are now her property. I never put anything in writing that, as far as I’m concerned, the entire world can see. LOL ---
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2024, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-celebrity-person-of-historical-interest-is-it-tacky-to-be-selling-your-love-letters-while-everyones-still-alive/999312/18 "2024-03-25T18:11:28Z")
> [@UDS1](#): > > Fun fact; the copyright in the letters likely belongs to the people who wrote them; ownership of the documents to the person who received them. Interesting. Do you know if this is true in the UK as well? ---
**Author:** ![UDS1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47774/32.png) [@UDS1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS1)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2024, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-a-celebrity-person-of-historical-interest-is-it-tacky-to-be-selling-your-love-letters-while-everyones-still-alive/999312/19 "2024-03-26T01:04:38Z")
> [@CaveMike](#): > > Interesting. Do you know if this is true in the UK as well? Yes, I believe it is.