it can be hit or miss
:-) There's no real "science" to evaluating what amount to handmade balls made to varying degrees of specificity, leftover materials, and under unknown conditions. Balls meant to be played with on a long forgotten playground outside the professional arena in some possibly nebulous time frame. I admire your resolve to learn FIRST. Too many people take the test and then learn the lesson. In the long run it will save you money and some peace of mind but I have learned quite a bit by making a mistake or two.
No real dedicated literature on the subject but it is covered in a few memorabilia books albeit in relatively light detail. In today's cyberweb environment - I would start with the few major auction houses like Edwards, Legendary, Leland and research the "sold" history as they frequently deal in base ball memorabilia. When reading the descriptions be sure to see through the hyperbole and remember they likely don't actually know that much about them. Keep in mind it's all a leap of faith and some of those balls in major houses may be fake as well. I think just by registering with them you have access and with others I don't think you even need it.
The other thing to do is talk with people that know baseballs. Simple as that. After handling them a while, the leap is reduced. One developes a spidey sense - when that happens - don't do it - another will come along that you might like even more.
It's fairly easy for someone to re-purpose the component parts and make another old ball. I've seen some poorly constructed fakes and there are plenty of capable people trying to seperate others from their money. The dating a bit problematic as well given that they were not professionally manufactured items and maybe someone in 1905 made one without regard to the current "style" (figure 8).
In general as the rules for the construction and elements of baseballs used in that construction in the professional leagues changed/evolved - so too the handmade balls - although presumably lagging a bit behind. Materials, weight, circumference, threading, stitching, aging of the leather, and more all contribute to the equation. Good Luck!
OK. I'll stop rambling now :-)
recent pic of the ones I have
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