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I don't
want to get too much into trying to figure out if an Autograph is real
or FAKE. An Expert Authenticator can pin out a FAKE, but can also be
fooled by a good forgery. So a third party C.O.A. might as well be
printed on a piece of toilet paper. In an emergency at least you might get some
use out of it. Unless you are there in person, and witnessed the
signing, you can not state 100% that an Autograph is authentic. A true artist
with lots of skill and work can "paint" a Mickey Mantle
signature, that has fooled some of the top Authenticators in the
Business. But most forgers make common mistakes that can be picked up by
even an educated eye.
Sign your name 10
times on a piece of paper. First thing you will notice they are all SIMILAR. They Vary slightly from signature to signature, there are not
any major differences in any part of the signature, but they are all
different. If you sign your name with a Pointed "A" you are
unlikely to sign it at another time with a rounded "A" All
your signatures should have the same flow. not stopping in the middle of
the signature, and re starting, or slowing down at one point, as a
traced signature might show, with points of heaver ink where the pen has
stopped or slowed. These are some of the things that an expert would
look for.
Another tell tale sign,
are signatures that look too SIMILAR, and are exactly alike. Forgers will use Autopens, A
mechanical device that "signs" flat objects. They will use
Stamps, and even Photo copies. These type of FAKE signatures are easy to
detect, especially when you compare them with others that are not only SIMILAR, but EXACTLY the same. Which
leads me into what I really want to talk about. FACSIMILE Autographs.
 Lately I have
noticed a large amount of people being fooled by FACSIMILE Autographs.
I'm not talking about a FAKE Autograph trying to be passed off
for the real thing. People unknowingly coming across a signed
photograph,
or ball thinking it is real. Usually
someone selling off a loved ones collection, who has passed on, and
does not know what they have. They see the autograph on the photo, and they
get all excited $$$$. Throw it up on ebay, and the Description starts
off with, " My Uncle recently passed away, and was a big collector
of Memorabilia....WOW! Look what I found stashed in a box, a Mickey
Mantle Autograph! Sometimes they are sold to an uneducated buyer, or if
the Buyer is lucky does not reach the Reserve price of $10,000 and
nobody gets hurt.
A FACSiMILE
autograph is not really a FAKE. It is not meant to fool anyone
into thinking its real. It is a pre printed signature usually used on Souvenir baseballs,
promotional photos, Postcards, Bats, Gloves, advertisings etc. A
preprint, or Facsimile is simply a photographic copy of an original
signed photograph. A preprint signature often appears to be below the
surface gloss of the photo, and the signature is often very
"flat." Hold the photo up at an angle to a light
source. A real signature is written on the surface of the photo, and
should have a different level of reflectivity than the rest of the
surface. A preprint will blend right in with the surface because it's
underneath the surface gloss. Obviously, preprint signatures will match
exactly, and the signature will be in the same exact place on each
photo. On Balls, gloves or Bats, Stamps are created and printed on
the object.
Another way of
telling a Facsimile autograph is the ink is too consistent. When you
sign your name, you use different angles, and pressure as you sign. This
is more evident when signing with sharpie. Some
parts of the signature will be darker, or lighter depending on the
pressure you put on the pen, or sharpie. On a facsimile, especially a
ball, it is usually
all the same density, and thickness. When you cross a "T", or
at the end of your signature you might tail off as you come off the
page. A Facsimile might start, and end with no variation at all.
Getting back to signing your name 10 times. you can sign 1000
times, again they will all be SIMILAR, but they will all be different.
None will be exactly the same. The size of a loop will vary,. the length
of "a letter" will vary, The dot on top of an i will be
higher, lower, more left or right. I compared a dozen signatures of the
old Master Casey Stengel, and I have never seen so many Differences from
signature to signature, But they were all SIMILAR. Mickey Mantle always
tried to give the perfect signature. He took pride in it. Yet as alike
all of his signatures were you will find differences. When you come
across a signature that looks exactly like another you have to put up a
Red Flag and investigate it.
From a
promotional give away photo, to a Souvenir baseball sold at the
ballpark. FACSIMILE Autographs Are very desirable. There
are many collectors looking to buy that Photo with the FACSIMILE
autograph that came with the glove they bought when they were a kid. Most
kids first souvenir from the ballpark was a FACSIMILE Baseball.
Below are some examples of FACSIMILE autographs that I have seen
on ebay mistaken for the real thing.
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Stadium baseballs do not have any logo, and are not on official
baseballs. Most, not all in both cases. So this might be one way of deciding
if the Ball is a Stadium souvenir, or a Actual signed baseball. The
Casey Stengel autographs shown here are from two different balls. The
Top is claimed to be an actual 1960 autographed baseball. The bottom is
from a 1955 FACSIMILE baseball. 5 years apart, two different
camera angles, two different balls, photo taken by two different people,
at two different times, but too similar for me. you decide. In my
opinion Casey was too old, and too inconsistent to sign both autographs
that SIMILAR to each other 5 years apart. Before dropping down a
load of cash for a Signature like this request better photos, ask what
kind of ball is it signed on? how did the seller acquire this autograph?
Chain of custody? any one with a good laser printer can create a C.O.A.
Life time Guarantee? Who's life time? I bought a life time membership at
a Gym. Two years later they went out of business. I'm still alive.