Help with an ali
 

This one looks like other examples i have seen on these pamphlets, but i just dont know ali that well.

Any thoughts?

Opinions are much appreciated.

Many thanks!
Dave

99% of all Ali signatures for sale are fake. Not only is his signature easy to forge, but he had Parkinson's. I would avoid all Ali signatures. Every single one of them unless you have a letter that it came from Ali himself or his family. Find something else to do with your money. Fund a business. Help a charity.

Dave,
You might want to email the owner of this site. From my understanding, he is one of the most knowledgeable people on Ali sigs.

http://www.aliautos.net/

Mark

Ali
 

Thanks Mark,

I greatly appreciate it!

What if it comes with a photo of Ali signing the item?

Probably won't help much given when it was signed but this one is authentic. He signed this for me in July of 1971.

Attachment 332522

There was a huge scandal recently that was covered in a television investigation where a dealer was caught photoshopping the photos and inserting the item for sale into the photo. Someone found the real pictures and they were busted.

You also don't know how many photos Ali signed at that session. Maybe he signed only 100, but the dealer uses the photo for hundreds more.

Alisite
 

Mark this site was very helpful... good writeup on these pamphlets.

Thanks for the help everyone!

I don't understand such a blanket statement.

Ali signed tons, there's probably an argument for his signature being the most widely available of any high profile celebrity/athlete ever (I'm not including the Bob Fellers of the world here). Authentic examples of his signature are easy to obtain if you really want one.

Yes, Parkinson's distorted his autograph to where it became quite jagged instead of the free flowing autograph that he had previously. Nonetheless, other than really late examples (I believe he stopped signing in the late 2000s) these are still autographs that can be authenticated. Those late 2000s autographs are also ones that were signed in the presence of companies like PSA and Online Authentics and come with proper documentation - authentic. His pre-90s autographs? Even easier to authenticate!

Saying something like you should avoid all autographs of one of the most celebrated human beings of all time just seems naive.

I like the pamphlet in the OP (which is probably the item that Ali signed the most of and you can buy for <$100 easily) but would like to see a better photo.

I was actually going to reply to the same quote above as well. I would agree that there are many, many Ali fakes on the market - in fact, over 50% on eBay at any given time might be fake. However, Ali was a gracious signer and even as his health declined, he continued to sign in high quantity. Ali also did many, many private signings and was never really that hard to obtain.

Interestingly enough, Ali is one of the few cases where his autograph actually went down in value after he passed away. After he passed, more and more autographs were made available and the supply drowned out the demand. 8x10 photos that used to be easy $400 sales became tough to sell at $300. Items such as pamphlets and paper cuts can typically be had at $100-$150 now, far less than a few years ago. The reason for this all is the fact that he is far from a tough autograph - many exist and they are readily available.

As for authentication, I don't believe it is that tough. It would be pretty easy to develop an evolving timeline of this autograph and up until the last decade, they were pretty consistent. Anyways, he did have a nice signature back in the day - it got smaller but somehow kept it's flair in the 90's.

This is one of the dumbest statements uttered in this forum.

I met Ali several times in the 90's, twice while he was traveling in his RV for baseball tournaments for son or grandson? But Ali was a very willing signer and as long as he wasnt feeling bad or napping he sat in the drivers seat of his RV and welcomed anyone and everyone aboard for him to sign their items and take pictures. I seen him even draw sketches for women on their purses of him and fraiser fighting. His signature was still very readable but when he signed it was like he was moving in super slow motion to make sure you got a perfect autograph. To say he couldnt sign his name would be a false statement. He made sure everyone had his autograph before he stopped. That was the 3 times or so I met him so I imagine he was like that with everyone.

Glad it helped you out.

Yes. Ali was at many youth tournaments with his son and signed readily. My wife and daughter got to meet him in his RV about 15 years ago and he signed several sports illustrated mags. Between innings he would sign or pose for pics. Very kind man to all. If he was not feeling well he would go to his RV and rest.

Yes. Ali was at many youth tournaments with his son and signed readily. My wife and daughter got to meet him in his RV about 15 years ago and he signed several sports illustrated mags. Between innings he would sign or pose for pics. Very kind man to all. If he was not feeling well he would go to his RV and rest.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

totally agree!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ali signed those pamphlets continually and in great quantity for many years. He believed that part of his religious duty was spreading the word on Islam through these pamphlets, which he signed so that people would keep them. They are probably the easiest, cheapest and least forged Ali signed items. The one shown in the OP looks like a nice post-career signature.

As for the general statement that 99% of the Ali signatures are fakes, that is just ignorant. In addition to the hundreds of thousands of pamphlets he signed and handed out and all of the good will signing he did (and as the people here have attested to, he was the most gracious and willing signer you could imagine for a sports superstar), he signed thousands of cards for various certified card issues over 20 years. There are thousands of 1992 Classic signed cards, for example.

https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...%20Classic.jpg

To get some idea of scope, he signed 2,750 hand numbered versions of the card (a 2,500 and a 250 issue) plus thousands of additional cards that are unnumbered. People are still pulling them from packages of the cards.