Not Lizzie Borden
It all started with a stolen sign. On March 17th, 2006, a seller on eBay, one leejeansct (powerseller) put up for sale one Lizzie Borden B&B metal street sign. From their auction ad:
Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast Museum Mass Metal Sign. There really is a bed & Breakfast with Museum, located in Fall River, Massachusettes – in the restored Victorian home of Lizzie and her parents Andrew and Abby – site of the famous 1892 hatchet murders. Guilty or not guilty? Hmmm. Sign measures 12″ by 18″. Sign has a picture of Lizzie and part of a hatchet. Has 2 holes in the center to mount it. Blank white back. Great conversation piece. Get this one and make your parents nervous.
I contacted the current owner of the B&B inquiring about the provenance of this object and whether she had others for sale. She told me that as far as she knew, the sign was one of eight that were made, and three that were stolen off of Columbia Street, back when the city of Fall River put up directional makers to 92 Second Street. The seller said they got it from a flea market. The sign was sold to capecollector (also a PowerSeller on eBay) for $93.
Then a photo, supposedly of Lizzie Borden, appeared. What do these two things have in common, you might ask? Well, the person running around town trying to sell the photo was none other than capecollector, one Dan Dunn of Dan Dunn Collectibles. According to his AboutMe page on eBay, following graduation from college, Dan spent two years working for Leland’s Auction House in NYC.
Dan offered the image to the owner of the B&B but wasn’t happy with the price offered and so went along his way, attempting to get some Borden person to authenticate the image as Lizzie. As far as I know, the Fall River Historical Society did not offer him their blessing, nor did several other experts on the case. Some were unsure, and said so, but none were willing to say that this was definitely her.
Recently, the image appeared on Leland’s auction site online, with a description stating unequivocally that it is an image of Lizzie Borden. Here is that description:
Lot 1026. Newly Discovered Lizzie Borden Photograph. Lizzie Borden took an axe. Gave her mother 40 whacks. When she saw what she had done she gave her father 41. This recent find is an image that was not known to have existed until 2005. It’s a cabinet photo taken around the turn of the century that shows Borden standing in a studio by a small table. On the table are a basket and a book. Her right hand sits atop the book while her left hand grips another book. Image was taken in the Robinson photo studio in New York and marked on the mount at the bottom. Lizzie was quite wealthy and known to travel to NYC quite a bit. This photo is one of only a handful known to exist of her. It is one of only two to show the large, masculine hands that gripped the axe that allegedly felled and massacred her father and stepmother. Looking at her it is not difficult to picture her doing the deed. . . . Photo is EX-MT while mount is VG.
This woman is not Lizzie Borden. The ears, lips, chin, and eyes are different from any of the known images we have of her.
When tying to confirm whether an image is someone, the most telling feature is the ear. According to a paper “Shape Model-Based 3D Ear Detection from Side Face Range Images”, authors Hui Chen and Bir Bhanu (University of California, Riverside) assert that the human ear is an important recognition biometric because “it is a stable structure which does not change with age; it doesn’t change its shape with facial expressions, cosmetics and hair styles.” (Study, PDF)
Elementary, my dear Watson. Simple examination shows without doubt that this “new” photo is someone other than Lizzie Borden. The ears never lie!
So back to the sign. This same Dan Dunn who bought the sign for $93 on eBay in March, turned around in May to offer it up for sale on eBay, this time with a BuyItNow price of $200. It isn’t a timed auction, so it looks like the seller has it up for sale until someone purchases it. His description:
ITEM DESCRIPTION: Authentic USED Fall River street sign from in front of the Bed and Breakfast made famous by the August 1892 Axe Murder that is still unsolved. Sign was used in front of he building for years then replaced. It is heavy guarge metal and measures 12 x 18 inches. Light wear. Definite use!! Shipping $12.
Unfortunately, this ad is misleading. According to the current owner of the B&B, the sign did not come from the front of the B&B, although that hatchet arrow pointing up might make you believe it did. The seller has no proof that it was used and then replaced.
And the beat goes on.