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Charles Heard recently bought what was said to be Errol Flynn's whiskey flask for $4,200.

Some of the hottest items in Hollywood memorabilia are sold in Dallas. That's because one of the world's largest auction houses is here. It's called Heritage.

However, News 8 has learned, the authenticity of some of the celebrity items Heritage has sold is highly suspect and Heritage is now offering refunds.

Some items may have been ordinary, vintage pieces purchased for a few dollars on eBay, then later sold for thousands at Heritage as having once belonged to Hollywood stars.

Charles Heard, a Dallas collector, recently bought Errol Flynn's whiskey flask at Heritage for $4,200. But just like the movies, not everything is what it seems to be.

Heard began to doubt the flask's provenance, which is an item's paper trail, that shows all the previous owners.

The Errol Flynn flask came with a certificate saying it was from private collection of Ann Sothern - a popular 1940's actress. When Sothern died, her daughter sold off her mother's valuables. So, Heard contacted the daughter, Tisha Sterling, to see if the flask ever belonged to Ann Sothern.

Sterling sent him a letter stating, "My mother did not collect, nor did she sell Hollywood memorabilia of other stars."

Sothern's daughter provided News 8 with detailed records of all the things she did sell when her mother died.

There's no mention of an Errol Flynn flask. But there's also no mention of an Elvis Presley travel razor, a Frank Sinatra cigarette case, or a Humphrey Bogart cigarette case.

Last year Heritage sold 22 items from "The Ann Sothern Collection." Sothern's daughter says none of them ever belonged to her mother."

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Rick Spector is a respected expert on Hollywood memorabilia and has consulted for some of the biggest auction houses in the world.

Spector says, based on his review of many of Heritage celebrity items, he says, "(Heritage) ignores provenance. They don't even ask for it. And that's their fatal flaw."

Heritage auctioned "The Ann Sothern Collection", and nearly $360,000 worth of items, on behalf of a company called LA Prop and Wardrobe headquartered in Meridian, Mississippi.

Heritage says LA Prop supplied a letter from Sothern's daughter along with the Errol Flynn flask.

"It was terrible. I couldn't believe it," said Spector.

In a world where provenance is everything, there is no mention of a flask. Or any item at all.

"There's no date, there's no provenance, there's nothing. There's no facts in it," Spector said.

In December, Heritage investigated Heard's complaint about the Errol Flynn flask and wrote him, "we cannot see any issue or area of concern."

Heard was shocked; "Absolutely, I'm getting the run around from this firm," he said.

We shared all of our documentation with Heritage's president Greg Rohan. "We are mortified and embarressed about this," he said.

Heritage is now offering refunds to anyone who bought an Ann Sothern item.

"We took the letter at face value and we should've asked more questions about it. We're not gonna do that in the future," said Rohan.

But it's not just Ann Sothern. Spector says, while researching items on eBay, he stumbled on something else: someone buying vintage items for mostly less than $100. Spector says those same items then resurfaced at Heritage.

"He is buying generic items and selling them as movie star items," said Spector.

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Like Steve McQueen's luger from "The Great Escape", a tophat from the classic film "Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde", and Johnny Carson's microphone from the Tonight Show.

"These pieces are absolutely not real for what they say they are," Spector said.

News 8 has learned that all the items were purchased by Billie Null. He is co-owner of LA Prop in Mississippi and he's the man behind a Johnny Carson microphone which sold at Heritage for $2,600. A microphone with identical markings as a microphone that he purchased on eBay for $250.

"Are these pieces real?" we asked.

"Absolutely," said Null.

Null says he uses eBay items for parts to refurbish his real pieces. But that still doesn't explain why both microphones have the same serial number.

"That would indicate to me that it's the same microphone," we said.

"It would appear," answered Null.

"So is it just a coincidence? Or what's going on?" we asked.

"Yeah, absolutely," said Null.

And what about provenance? Where did all these items come from? Null says nearly every item comes from the collection of Dave Kupp.

Kupp's family says he was a collector, but he died two years ago. So, we can't ask him why he alternately signs his name Dave and David and misspelled his own street name on a letter of authenticity.

Heritage says it's a victim "a systematic misrepresentation" by LA Prop.

"Management of this company did not hear about this problem until last week," said Heritage's Greg Rohan.

But News 8 has e-mails from at least four customers or collectors who have alerted Heritage about the questionable eBay items.

"This is written in May. Shouldn't you have known about this a long time ago?" we asked.

"Absolutely. I wish I had known about it a long time ago. We would've stopped doing business with them immediately. And started our own investigation like we're doing now," said Rohan.

Heritage says it has added new safeguards to prevent future problems.

But Spector says Heritage should have known better than to accept Hollywood fantasy on good faith.

"Why are you backing up a truck from Meridian, MS and giving me hundreds of pieces of stuff that I've never seen the likes of before that is wonderful" said Spector. "I just landed in Oz, Dorothy and here it is. The Wizard is bringing me this stuff and it's magical," he added.

In addition to Hollywood memorabilia, Heritage also auctions eleven different product lines like coins, rare books, and stamps.

Heritage says its mistake represents a tiny fraction of its $600 million total business.

And Heritage says it will now carefully review the authenticity of all the questionable items it sold for LA Prop and there could be more refunds.

E-mail dschechter@wfaa.com.