Nap Lajoie Autograph Help

[daves_resale_shop]

This one is on my want list, and came across it with a low starting bid on the bay... Personally the "l's" feel a little off to me, and the form of the first R in larry seems to be different than all those I have come across...

I was hoping to get the opinions and thoughts of a few other board members...

Thanks in advance!
-Dave

[JimStinson]

Most (But not all) of the Lajoie autographs I have sold were dated by him usually in the lower right hand corner. I've even seen him do this on letters where they were already dated at the top.

[GrayGhost]

Looks VERY slowly written, aka "drawn" perhaps. Id avoid it like A burritto before going to an intimate gathering. Little formation too is a bit off.

[thecatspajamas]

And why did he take the photo through the screen door...?

[daves_resale_shop]

thanks guys, the auto is posted on ebay... i took the photo with my blackberry... which gives it the screen like effect...

as i thought if its to good to be true, than it porobably is...

[drumback]

How about this one? Does it look legit? I always assumed a postal cancellation mark pretty much meant a good autograph. However, I read somewhere lately that even those can be faked. Any thoughts?

[JimStinson]

The autograph looks good and the postmark is correct , He lived right on the border between two towns Daytona Beach and Holly Hill. As of about 1990 his niece and nephew still lived in the same house and I visited them there. The Holly Hill post office would have been the closest.

I have recently been offered Government postcards WITH postmarks that were NOT good so a postmark does not ensure authenticity. What they had in common is that they were all pristine unlike something that would have arrived through the post and had no other writing except the signature which was expertly done. Except for the Babe Ruth which had the salutation "Sincerely". Hope this helps

[JimStinson]

Also, Fred Merkle lived right up the street from Lajoie and they used to play cards. As of 1990 his house was still there too. At one time I had in my collection an autographed snapshot of Merkle posed in his front yard shaking some kids hand. So it was cool to see his house had not changed in what ? 50 years , Ed Walsh was friends with Nap too and used to visit him all the time when Walsh lived in Pompano beach.

His nephew said that after Nap's wife died he took all his baseball memorabilia , bats, trophies, and piled it on his bed and told family members to "Take what they wanted because he was taking the rest to the dump" which is exactly what they said he did.

[Rob D.]

Here are a couple more for comparison's sake:

http://photos.imageevent.com/ineedanap/postcards/1948-auto-exhibit.jpg


http://photos.imageevent.com/ineedanap/postcards/hofplaque.jpg

[canjond]

An interesting side note (at least for me personally). My grandfather is buried in Daytona Beach. A few years ago while visiting his headstone with my grandmother, she told me there is a very nice stone about 10 steps away with a carved baseball and bat on it. When she walked me over to see it, I was surprised to see Nap.