Bryce Harper from a fellow board member:

Attachment 134924

1939 Play Ball Art Jorgens

Attachment 134925

Attachment 134926

Love the black pen on the B&W card/image

Just picked my photos up at my framers today.

Nice^^^^

#208 (I was looking at his stats-how did this guy get in the HOF? wasn't cronyism)

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...ps044fdb46.jpg

Sweet Wallace Taz. Did you pick that up from Jim Stinson? I was considering the Wallace myself but went with the Kid Nichols instead (thanks Jim). My number also sits around #207 or #208 although its been slow going for me lately.

Yes, it was a Jim pickup (of course!). The Nichols is nice as well. Nearly every pickup now is a three digit investment, minimum.

You should post pictures of your collection, would love to see.

You say now it is a 3 digit investment minimum.....wait until it becomes a 4 and 5 digit ( not counting decimal points) investment. Separate checking accounts and a fellow collector as your banker will help!!!
Good luck with your collecting. I am down to needing 16 signatures to complete the HoF collection. I started 25 years ago and it has gotten harder and more expensive. And yes I also buy from Jim .

16? Holy cow! Who are your more recent pickups? Who's left?

I agree, I need to see pictures so I can get my monthly drooling in! Do you own the hotel ledger from Halper, what about the Ledger from Keefe? Which 16? What do you do for a living? Are you hiring? Seriously, I figured there had to be 20-50 guys off hand where it seems like-forget the amount of $$, they don't exist to the General Public.

If I am interpreting it correctly, his screen name tells it all 'dds". 'Mrs. Smith all 6 of your children will need root canals I just found a Rube Foster signed contract and an Addie Joss signed check.'

Just joking, of course. Very impressive to build a collection like that. A good friend in Switzerland needs only 3 signatures to have a complete collection of every person who has won a World Cup ski event since it started. Another friend in Germany needs less than 40 signatures to have every Olympic gold medalist from 1896 to date, excluding the new ones from Sochi.

I bet Coaches Corner has all 16 for $100!

Seriously though. I would be interested in hearing who else you need. That's awesome

Sweet card! ;)

LOL it is!! And thanks for selling it!

Yes.. It is true I am a DDS, but I was lucky enough to grow up in FL and go to spring training games. I began with lots of letters with a SASE, and bought some stuff from Bill Zekus. I began with Doug Averitt in the 80's and have bought some from Jim Stinson, whose opinion I value a lot. I also got some autos from Richard Simon 20+ years ago . I got some negro league stuff 15-25 years ago as I could. Additionally I partnered and bought a Napoleon Lajoie autograph book with Doug Averitt and picked up Hulbert and a Joss, in fact it is the Joss in Ron K's book....Jim knows about this item!!!
A member of this sight bought the Wilkinson envelope I was considering but I was a dollar short and a day late so to say.
Needless to say the economy and 2 boys have curtailed my " heavy" buying for the past few years. I need Willis,Davis, Selle, McPhee, O'Day, Cooper, Sol White, Mendez, Torriente, Suttles, Mackey,Grant, Hill, Rogan, Smokey Joe Williams, Santop, and Wilkinson...so it is 17 total.
Remember I started years ago and I believe that with the exception of Ruth and Gehrig ...most vintage autos were real . And even with the fakes of Mantle, Ted Williams, and Di Maggio, most autos were real until the 90's when eBay and fraudulent criminal dealers entered the market. There is no way that I would consider beginning that quest now to get every HoFer.
One thing that has helped tremendously was "gambling " on the Veterans and Negro committee selections. Many of these negro league and veterans committee selections I have had for 5-20 years before election... so my up side has been amazing.
Additionally I need only Lefty Williams and Fred McMullen to have all 8 Black Sox.....Shoeless Joe is on a document.
The last 5 years I have concentrated on players who died during the season only...and my only want on this is Miguel Fuentes; as well as umpires and execs from the 1800s forward, and also 19th century ball players. Jim Stinson and Bill Corcoran have helped me on this.
Enough pontificating I love this site and am glad I found it last month.
Happy collecting!!!
Any questions I will be happy to answer.
Who knows next I may talk about insurance, security systems, safes, and bank safe deposit boxes.

Wow, what a collection! I must see pictures one day. Do you own the Halper hotel ledger also? You must have one of the nicest collections, if not the nicest.

No I do not own the ledger from Halper or the ledger from Keefe...as always they would be great acquisitions.

Whoa. If I had to pick just one autograph in your collection to see...I couldn't. Amazing.

Great back story, thanks. How did you get some of the tougher ones (Plank, Waddell, Ewing, Galvin, etc)? Who did you roll the dice with and get right for their eventual HOF induction?

Why no pictures?

It may sound paranoid but I do not want the possibility of the items photos becoming templates for reproduction or publication, as well as possibly for templates for forgeries.
Also I do not want to possibly get into a battle of " experts " or so-called
" experts " opinions on the items themselves... that is: this looks different from my item , or it doesn't match Ron K's books' photos, or I saw this item in an auction and they all look different. I know this may seem like a strange thing to do but it has been my decision.

Doesn't seem strange at all. Since there is a very strong probability that a good number of signatures in your collection are forgeries, no one can blame you for trying to protect your own peace of mind. But if you are not willing to submit your rarities to scrutiny, you really shouldn't come on a board like this claiming to have what surely would be the most complete HoF collection this side of Cooperstown.

Very we'll then maybe I will stop coming on the site. Thank you

Put a watermark on your images.

The possible reproduction of the images is not the real problem, Alex.

Then what's the problem?

The problem is he doesn't want to get involved in the controversy when some of his rarities turn out to be of questionable authenticity.

If someone doesn't want any opinions on their stuff then they shouldn't post pics and probably shouldn't discuss it on the board.

He listed a handful of reputable sources for some tough graphs he owns. If he was completely full of BS then one of the several he named, who are members, should pop up and call BS. I haven't seen Stinson, Simon, or Keurajian pop in and call his bluff. He could be 16 short or he could be 116 short, I don't know, but pissing on his parade in the open seems trifling to me. Honestly though, after selling out except for my Bridges material I'm starting anew in autographs so I'm just trying to inject myself with the piss and vinegar you guys rock over here. :cool: All's be good.

.

So Steven, I have to ask. Why Tommy Bridges ?

I have to agree with Steve here, innocent until proven guilty. He admitted to owning the one of the only Addie Joss signatures that is considered genuine. I would think this would be somewhat easy to disprove, plus only a true collector is going to own this, not someone who is trying to get every HOF signature and call it Little Cooperstown.

It does seem a bit of a tease when someone discusses a collection of this potential magnitude and then doesn't share any pics. And I understand the thinking that there may be a bunch of fakes.

But in his defense, we often see knee jerk claims of "fake" from people who frankly don't have a clue. So I understand not wanting to open one's collection to doubts generated by people who have no business opining.

We both hail from the thriving metropolis that is Gordonsville, TN.

"Innocent until proven guilty"? My ass. He claims to have autographs that no one has. No one. He might. But what are the chances?

"Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence."

"Trust, but verify."

And thanks to your handling of the discussion, we may never know. Well done.

That's right, Mark. I forced him away by asking "why no pictures?"

And then, when he explained why he would not post pictures of his rare autographs (because he didn't want anyone questioning their authenticity), I agreed that that was a completely understandable position.

I sure hope his skin is a little thicker when he's practicing dentistry. It would be terrible if he quit in the middle of a procedure because a patient questioned him.

(I guess I just shoulda gone along with the others, heaping praise on his remarkable (but invisible) collection.)

I miss these discussions. Does that make me a bad person?

Sent from my SM-G730V using Tapatalk

After viewing posts to this thread, after I said I would leave the site, I have found it rather humorous that I am still the "topic of conversation" and an obsession of David Atkatz. I am posting some pictures of my items to help settle this controversy concerning my collection. I do not feel that after this is done, I will post any more photos. This should satisfy the curiosity seekers and doubters. I do not care about authenticity opinions, because I have a few well-known vintage autograph dealers whose opinion I respect, but feel free to post your opinions provided you have the evidence to back them up; and I do not consider Ron K's book the end-all-and-be-all for authenticity opinions.

Please note the following for the posted pictures:
1. The Hulbert and Addie Joss are from the Lajoie scrapbook. And the Joss is the one in Ron K's book.
2. The Dean is his 1936 contract. Note: The Rare full name signature.
3. The Taylor is an HLS.
4. The White is a legal document.
5. The Ross Young's is a photo from the early '20's.
6. The Clarkson is a check endorsement. You can see the date on the scan. Did not load on this will post later
7. A final tidbit is Shoeless Joe Jackson's 1948 South Carolina Driver's License. This was purchased through the Sothebys auction in the late 90's.
Since I am a private person I do not go about posting/publishing pictures of my items. Close collector friends of mine have seen my collection and know what I have....they have never expressed any doubts.

I have never said that my collection rivaled the Baseball Hall of Fame's or was a "little Cooperstown"; this opinion appears to have come from this thread.

I appreciate everybody's interest and, again, hope this will put the issue to rest. Feel free to contact me through this thread if you would like.

As for you, Mr. Atkatz, since you posted publicly your opinion of me, I shall now post publicly my opinion of your comments. You do not know me, nor will you ever know me well enough to state an opinion concerning my professional integrity, judgment or demeanor; or my personal integrity, judgment or demeanor. Please do not even insinuate that you can judge my collecting habits, judgment or demeanor. I do not deal with jerks in my office, personal life or collecting circles. I took your bait and posted pictures of some of my items, I am now cutting the line and hope that we will have no further contact with me via this thread.... let the matter end. I believe by the tone of your posts that you are a bitter, jealous and cynical collector. If you want to show me yours, I'll show you mine and I'll bet my collection is bigger. I hope that I never have the displeasure of meeting you in person.

Here is the Clarkson I promised....1883 check endorsement

These guys are way out of my comfort zone but I do appreciate you posting them.

collection
 

Thanks for posting. I am no expert on these impossibly rare signatures but congrats to getting them. I hope to add my Andy Cooper to your collection this summer.

Am I the only one drooling, I mean wow! I should have been a Dentist. Congrats on an amazing collection and best of luck trying to finish.

I don't think I appreciate how rare some of those signatures are. Very cool Joe Jackson license.

sweet
 

Amazing thank you for allowing us to view these gems.

Just went back and read the whole thread. Way to go to one member trying alienate one of the best collections in the country. Great stuff, and I hope Doc will continue to be active on these boards

Please note the following for the posted pictures:
1. The Hulbert and Addie Joss are from the Lajoie scrapbook. And the Joss is the one in Ron K's book.
2. The Dean is his 1936 contract. Note: The Rare full name signature.
3. The Taylor is an HLS.
4. The White is a legal document.
5. The Ross Young's is a photo from the early '20's.
6. The Clarkson is a check endorsement. You can see the date on the scan. Did not load on this will post later
7. A final tidbit is Shoeless Joe Jackson's 1948 South Carolina Driver's License. This was purchased through the Sothebys auction in the late 90's.
Since I am a private person I do not go about posting/publishing pictures of my items. Close collector friends of mine have seen my collection and know what I have....they have never expressed any doubts.

I appreciate everybody's interest and, again, hope this will put the issue to rest. Feel free to contact me through this thread if you would like.

Truly an impressive collection you have there, sir! :eek:

I especially like the Addie Joss. That was from when Addie was a sports writer for the Toledo Bee newspaper. Very cool!

Thanks for taking the time to share part of it with us and you are certainly welcome to weigh in any time that you would like. :cool:

Glad those were posted. Truly weird way to go about askign to see a collection.

Awesome autos!!! Thank you for showing them to us.

I did or said nothing to judge you, your collecting habits, or your integrity--professional or otherwise. I asked "Why no pictures?" You replied that, among other reasons you did not want your collection open to scrutiny. I replied that was totally understandable, but if you post here about your collection, folks are going to want to see pictures. Only natural, and it is what everybody here does. And, of course, extremely rare autographs will undergo much scrutiny, as they have a much higher possibility of being forged. You then turned-tail and ran.

Just think how much easier this all would have been if, when asked by those other HoF collectors (before my post) to see some of your collection, you, like the vast majority here, graciously complied. I'm no expert on the guys you show, but I'd question none of them.

As far as "showing you mine," I have, and have been for years. Look up my postings--you'll find images of a large number of my 1903-1927 Yankee pieces. And yes, there is a risk involved--anyone here in the autograph section can tell you how my most prized item (a 1927 Yankees signed ball) was determined by members here to be a forgery. (And with a Jimmy Spence CoA, too. Whoda thunk?) All due to my posting images. (The ball has been replaced with an authentic example BTW.) Perhaps that's why I have so little patience for those who refuse to post photos of their extremely rare and extremely valuable pieces.

I don't collect HoF autographs, but even if I did I'm sure your collection would be bigger and more valuable. You win.

PS On this board, the rule is that if you call another names--"bitter," "mean," "jealous," etc., you must use your own name in doing so. No hiding behind a username.

PPS If you are going to flaunt your degree, I'm just gonna hafta use mine.You can call me "Dr. Atkatz."

PPPS You've got a great collection. This started with my asking to see pics, and escalated. Why don't we chalk it up to misunderstanding, and temper on both sides, and start again? And then you can call me "David." ;)