Opinions on this Joe D. Autograph

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Posted By: Andy Cook

I own this card. It's a 1978 Grand Slam set, I think it was produced by Renatta Galasso. I bought the whole set back in 78 and it came with home addresses for all the players. I sent off a bunch of the cards, including Joe D. and got them autographed through the mail between about 78-79. A friend of mine said he didn't think Joe really signed this. Opinions?
Thanks, Andy

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Posted By: Jon Canfield

in my non-expert opinion, something doesn't look right with the autograph; especially the Joe. Interestingly enough, I think the DiMaggio portion looks more like Dom's signature than Joe's.

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Posted By: JudgeDred (Fred)

Nobody will ever know for sure, not even the experts. Probably a good chance it's real. If you're keeping it then accept it as real. If you're going to try and sell it then explain what you have here and let the buyer be the judge.

Autos are so hard to collect because of this... Try collecting autographs on checks, documents and contracts. This doesn't always ensure legitimacy but it is probably one step closer to being accepted as authentic.

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Posted By: Anonymous

to me.. it looks good. its a small card, and if you look at alot of old players who sign cards, they are alittle different.

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Posted By: Sean Coe

He often had a family member sign mail requests as the sheer volume was too much to keep up with.

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Posted By: Chris

Joe D. had hss sister or sister in law, someone like that sign a lot of his mail in the 70's and 80's.

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Posted By: davidcycleback

This nice thing with you having personally sent and received this from DiMaggio's mail, is that you just have to compare the signature to his versus common 'helpers.' Unlike with the average eBay DiMaggio signed baseball, you don't have to worry if it forged by some 15 year old for eBay.

Similarly autographs with the original return envelopes, personal stationary, contracts, checks, vintage cancelled government postcards are all things safer things for collectors to collect. It's possible that the 'Virgil Trucks' signature on his personal check or photo with mailing envelope was written by his wife for him, but a quick comparison will give the needed answer. Mike Gutierrez once said that for collectors little beats an autograph that comes with the original envelope with the player's return address and postmark ... Plus, for display purposes, a letter or photo framed with the player's mailing envelope looks better than just the photo or letter ... One of my favorite autographs was Chemistry Nobel Prize winner Adolf Butenandt signed photograph with the mailing envelope (return address Max Plank Institute) and an accompanying letter on Butenandt's stationary from his personal secretary. In the letter, the secretary stated that she personally had Butenandt sign the photo in his office and the scientist gave his regards to the autograph collector. The envelope and letter was forward addressed to Roy Pitts, a legendary autograph collector from Alabama. The German Butenandt is one of 4 Nobel Prize winners who were not allowed to accept the awared by authorities. He won the award in 1939 and Hitler didn't allow him to accept. The photo was sharp by itself, but the ensamble was a short story.

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Posted By: Anson

It looks quite consistent with the Joe D's I've seen. I would agree that it's most likely real.

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Posted By: Rob L

This doesn't appear consistent with his signature.

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Posted By: Anson

Please have it sent to Spence and report back. I own a few authenticated Dimaggios and they have differences between them. However, they do have a few characteristics that remain consistent. I still feel that it is probably real.

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Posted By: Ted Zanidakis

I have 10 different items that I personally presented
to Joe to sign. The 1st one was in 1981 and the last one
was in 1989. I compared your signed item with all mine
and I come to the conclusion that your is real. My 10 items
(BB cards, photos, magazines, etc.) show enough variability
in his autograph to convince me of this.

But, mind you I am no expert in Autographs. Anson, has given
you the best advice.....present it to Jimmy Spence. He is at
all major BB card Shows.

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Posted By: warshawlaw

I have one DiMaggio signature, JSA authenticated, and this one looks similar enough that it is either real or the work of a really good forger. Odds are he rushed the sig, which is why it looks a bit hurried in the Joe.

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Posted By: Andy Cook

Thanks to everyone for their help and feedback. I'm hoping to get to Ft Washington either next weekend or in March, so I'll take it to Mr. Spence there.
Thanks again,
Andy

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Posted By: DJ

I believe that it's good as well. Joe D's sister did do a great deal of his signing until the mid-eighties but Joe did some of his fan mail himself around that time. This looks hurried but a variation I'm familiar with from the early 1980's.

DJ