Recently a pair of boxing gloves attributed to the Academy Award winning 1976 Sylvester Stallone film, Rocky, have been in the news.

Auction house, Profiles in History, well known for having some of the biggest and the best in original Hollywood props, costumes, and artwork, was featuring lot #1069, which consists of one of the pairs of Rocky’s training gloves, jump rope, speed bag, and button from the 1976 film, in their Hollywood Auction 44 on May 14th and 15th in Beverly Hills CA.

Web site TMZ received a letter written to Profiles in History from Mr. Stallone’s attorney’s, Lavely & Singer stating that the gloves were not authentic and wanted them pulled from the auction. Within the letter however is no reason as to why Mr. Stallone believes the gloves are not from the film. Earlier today I emailed Martin Singer from the law firm asking if he could provide the reason(s) as to why his client believed the boxing gloves are not from Rocky and have not yet received a response. I also asked Lavely & Singer’s why only the boxing gloves authenticity was questioned and not the speed bag, jump rope, or buttons.

Upon receiving Lavely and Singer’s letter, Profiles properly withdrew the lot pending further research.

After reviewing articles about this story from blogs and a few other news outlets, I contacted Profiles for more information. Though Joe Maddalena, President and CEO of Profiles was busy with his two upcoming auctions and television show, he had no problem answering my questions about the gloves.

Joe told me the gloves were consigned by Ronnie Cunningham, who served as the Executive director-business agent of IATSE  Local 44 Hollywood Affiliated Property Crafts Persons Union for movies, television, and commercials for 16 years.

I asked Joe if he could provided me with a copy of the letter of authenticity (LOA), the consignor (Mr. Cunningham), included with the lot and Joe said, “sure no problem”.

Joe told me the same LOA below was sent to Mr. Stallone’s law firm, who as of this writing, have not responded.

According to my research, Mike Miner was the property master of the first Rocky film in 1976 and would have had access to, and handled, the props and costume pieces for the film.

The gloves appear to be consistent with the training gloves Rocky uses in the training sequences. The speed-bag, jump-rope and buttons also seem to be consistent with those from the film.

Again I am not an expert on the props used in Rocky, nor was I present during filming. Only those who were there and part of the film at the time could possibly remember specifics. I do know as property (prop) master, Mr. Miner was one of those people, as well as others who were part of the production.

Joe told me that neither Sylvester Stallone nor his attorney’s asked to examine the gloves, other items in the lot, or the documentation above included with the lot. I do not see how anyone could definitively claim the items were not made for the film without at least examining the items personally.

A few movie related prop blogs jumped on this story and seemed to make assumptions without contacting either party involved. It was very easy for me to call Profiles in History and get more information before writing anything on this subject. I don’t know why others couldn’t do the same.

Before a news article is written, the writer should always try to contact those involved in the story for accurate information. Making possibly baseless and sometimes libelous claims against an individual or company serves no one.