Postcard 'written by Jack the Ripper' expected to sell for thousands at auction
'I got a call from the donor and she said I’ve got some notes from Jack the Ripper and I said well I’ve got a note from Napoleon’
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Your support makes all the difference.A postcard which could have been written by notorious serial killer Jack the Ripper is up for £1,000 at auction next week.
Historical experts have validated the postcard, which was once used as police evidence in 1888 in an attempt to capture the murderer.
“Beware there is [sic] two women I want here they are bastards, and I mean to have them my knife is still in good order it is a students [sic] knife and I hope you liked the kidney,” the postcard states. “I am Jack the Ripper,”
The unusual artefact was held by Ealing Police until the 1960s when many files were released, allowing the evidence to go underground.
It was addressed “to the high street Ealing Police Station sergeant”.
Now, its elderly owner has put it up for auction and interest in the morbid note is massive.
“I got a call from the donor and she said ‘I’ve got some notes from Jack the Ripper’ and I said ‘well I’ve got a note from Napoleon’,” said Jonathan Riley, a 19th century history expert at Grand Auctions in Folkestone, Kent.
“Then when she told me about its history and how it was police evidence and I realised it was real. Our card was one of a number of notes sent to police claiming responsibility during the long-running manhunt, but the postcard has a very strong provenance due to the period it was sent and the fact it was contained in police files."
The card was received at Ealing Police Station on 29 October 1888 from someone claiming to be responsible for the murder of at least five women in the East End of London.
Mr Riley said: “Victorian London was stunned and horrified by the gruesome deaths, involving women whose throats were cut prior to abdominal mutilations and one victim, Mary Kelly, being especially badly mutilated.”
Mary Kelly was killed by Jack the Ripper on 9 November 1888, days after the postcard was delivered.
Mr Riley said: “We are in the fortunate position of nobody being able to say the card was not written by Jack, but equally we cannot prove it was – it’s one of those conundrums, you will never know.
“Our card is the first time a ripper letter or card has ever been offered on the market for auction with police provenance, it is an unusual item for an auction house of our size to handle.”
The note was checked by ex-police officer and Jack the Ripper expert Stewart Evans, who corroborated the authenticity of the note, which has a guide price between £600 and £900.
It measures 2.75 inches by 4.75 inches and is written in ink, while the card is in good condition for its age.
Icon Films in Bristol and an American video company contacted the auction house with the intent of creating a film about the card.
Mr Riley added: “We are a small company, but our sales room is due to be packed out beyond its capacity and we have phone bidders locked in, with one calling from the USA.”
The auction will take place on 30 April at the auction house in Folkestone, Kent, with the card being sold at 1.30pm.
SWNS
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