Babe Ruth Post Card

[Lou Criscione]

I'm getting ready to go to the National and i found this Babe Ruth Post card in one of my old boxes. I can't remember where I got it- but I've had it over 20 years. Can anyone tell me if it's real and what it's approximate value would be if it is?

thanks!
Lou

[aelefson]

Unfortunately, I am fairly certain this is a fake/fantasy piece. I do not believe there is a real one with a small image of Ruth like that. I think the fakes started showing up in the late 1980s.

Alan

[mr2686]

Lou, there are a couple of repro's of this card on EBAY, but the interesting thing is that there's a repro 1927 calendar which shows the exact same picture of the stadium including the small picture of Ruth. If it is real, I would place it around 1927. One more thing, the age marks on the back of one of the repros does not match yours, so that might be a good thing towards yours not being a mass produced repro from the same original. Hope that helps

[Leon]

Unfortunately, I am fairly certain this is a fake/fantasy piece. I do not believe there is a real one with a small image of Ruth like that. I think the fakes started showing up in the late 1980s.

Alan

I agree with this. Pretty sure it is a repro too.....Very poor lithography and card stock....

[slidekellyslide]

It's a fantasy piece.

[JollyElm]

In general, what are the methods for determining if an old postcard is legitimate? With the vast majority of baseball cards, the who/what/when is pretty straight forward. Overall, the process is easy. But with postcards (for a non-collector like me) where in heck do you begin??

As an example, if you go into NYC or San Fran, there are countless different postcards showing, for instance, the Statue of Liberty or that big orange bridge crossing the Bay. These are seemingly produced by innumerable numbers of different outfits. And new ones are continually released year after year. (Can you even imagine trying to collect them all??) So, back in the day, with 'The Babe' being as world famous as he was, wouldn't there have been untold numbers of different postcards produced (in and out of the NY area, via official and non-official avenues) by a wide range of different sources with him and/or Yankee Stadium on them??

To be clear, I'm in no way giving an opinion on the legitimacy of the postcard in this thread. I literally have no experience in that arena, but who keeps the official 'record' of what old time postcards are legitimate? And I'm not referring so much to the science aspect. Examining the ink, printing process, etc., will tell you if the timeframe is right, but never underestimate what scamming forgers can do, too.

Bottom line, aren't there plenty of Babe Ruth postcards out there that time has forgotten?

[Lou Criscione]

Hi Guys!

Thanks for the feedback. I was hoping it was real, but my gut told me it probably wasn't. I wish I could remember where I got it- but it was probaly a throw in to some deal years ago that was forgotten by me. The truth is- I have way too much stuff - most of which I have forgotten about. Sure is fun though going through old boxes- ya never know what you're going to find. I've had a blast in this hobby.

Hope to see you guys at the National. Check us out in Booth 1117/1119- lots of interesting things.

Lou
Inside the Park Collectibles