1927 Yankees team ball forgery

[Caseyatbat]

This question is for David regarding your mint 1928 Babe Ruth signed baseball. Is it possible for that ball to be a "replica" Babe Ruth signed ball? I have seen a strikingly similar ball being offered several times over the past year or so as a replica. I have attached a couple pictures for you to look at. The first is your ball, and the second is a picture I found in my history of the replica. Please also note, this same replica was also offered in various forms considering pen color and ball condition.

[noserider]

Originally Posted by Caseyatbat

This question is for David regarding your mint 1928 Babe Ruth signed baseball. Is it possible for that ball to be a "replica" Babe Ruth signed ball? I have seen a strikingly similar ball being offered several times over the past year or so as a replica. I have attached a couple pictures for you to look at. The first is your ball, and the second is a picture I found in my history of the replica. Please also note, this same replica was also offered in various forms considering pen color and ball condition.

The plot thickens. Nice observation.

[yanks12025]

I don't think those two balls look alike(Notice the B). You have to remember the autos that guy used for his reprint balls came from real ones. And I'm pretty sure David bought his ball before the guy started making those reprints you showed.

[earlywynnfan]

Originally Posted by yanks12025

I don't think those two balls look alike. You have to remember the autos that guy used for his reprint balls came from real ones. And I'm pretty sure David bought his ball before the guy started making those reprints you showed.

Those autos are exact. The bad news would be that this is a repro. The good news would be that the artist used David's ball as his exemplar. I sure hope it's the latter, for David's sake.

Ken
earlywynnfan5@hotmail.com

[yanks12025]

Look at the loop in the B. The reprint one is alittle thinner, while David's is bigger.

[Forever Young]

same auto... Not sure if it matters but the stitching is going in opposite directions... def diff ball..so hopefully David's was used to make the reproductions.

[perezfan]

Same exact auto... note the placement of the quotes. Brock... the smaller picture may just distort it a little.

Also hoping that David's was the exemplar used to make the repros

[khkco4bls]

not the same, look at the line from the B to the E. one goes straight the other to the top of the E. I have to disagree

[Caseyatbat]

I don't think there is much question about whether they are the same or not. I believe they are absolutely the same. The big question is, is David's the original one? For this artist to make a replica of this ball; he either had to have possession of the original ball while doing so, or he would have to have very detailed close up images of the original in order to make a replica as detailed as that one is.

I did do a pretty thorough search through all of the major auction houses in the last 10 years to see if any of them had sold that particular Babe Ruth ball in the past and I was not able to find it. In order for the artist to get close up detailed images of the original Ruth ball he had to have gotten them from somewhere. There are not any on the internet of the original. If David has had possession of the original this whole time, where did this artist get such detailed pictures to make the replica? This ball looks like it would be a 50K+ Ball. It is usually not very difficult to find the Ruth's that sold for that much.

As much as it is going to kill many people on this forum for me to say, a simple PSA or JSA letter would be the end of this conversation. This is one of the exact reasons why I believe they are so important in this hobby. These replica's that are being made are actually pretty dam good. You really need to have the ball in person to know for sure. If you are just looking at pictures on the computer it can be very difficult to know the difference. The "indentation" of the pen really only shows up in person under magnification, or if somebody has extremely good vision they can tell the difference easily with the naked eye. But still needs to be done in person to know for sure.

[BrandonG]

I remember seeing the Replica baseballs start selling a couple of years ago on eBay, I questioned the seller as to the ball that they were on and was told that they were replicated baseballs made to look like the originals. I was also told that the "artist" only needed a photograph of a real ball to use as the digital replicated signature. David's ball was obviously the sample ball being used as this is the same signature. And I can also tell you, as I have seen one of these replicas in person, David's was absolutely not made by the same process.

[khkco4bls]

this makes me sick. Now i know why i dont do autos...

[earlywynnfan]

David, it's not like you to be so quiet. Can you tell us how the artist copied your ball? Has it been in your possession for a long time?

Regards,
Ken

[thetruthisoutthere]

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe I recently received an Ebay email stating that Ebay would no longer allow sellers to list replica coins. Maybe Ebay should consider banning replica signed baseballs also.

[Scott Garner]

Originally Posted by thetruthisoutthere

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe I recently received an Ebay email stating that Ebay would no longer allow sellers to list replica coins. Maybe Ebay should consider banning replica signed baseballs also.

eBay should also ban replica tickets. There seems to be a growing trend of sellers listing more and more of these. Everyone mentions that they are replicas, but it's just a matter of time that someone unscrupulous idiot buys and relists it as authentic. There undoubtedly is collector out there that will sadly get duped by the ruse....

I personally do not like replicas, period. Replicas = fake!!

[egbeachley]

Originally Posted by earlywynnfan

David, it's not like you to be so quiet. Can you tell us how the artist copied your ball? Has it been in your possession for a long time?

Regards,
Ken

I think that would be the realization that, at worst, he has the same replica autograph, albeit on a better ball. Or, at best, this ball has lost much of its value with there being 'near exact' duplicates easily available.

[henson1855]

To King , I make my own repo balls, I buy my balls custom stitched in red/black or red/blue, it would take me about 10 minutes to replicate that sample on the sweetspot of a baseball.I do not sell my creations, or even really show them,the photo I posted yesterday in the other thread was the first and only time, they are for the most part just impossible to find balls or non existant combos like Waddell and Plank or McGinnity and Matty.Today, I did a 1920 Indians team ball with Chapman and a Janis Joplin single signed Giles ball, I can use the same process for bats as well,keep in mind as I said, I am not making these for resale it's just a hobbly not looking to ruffle anyone's feathers.

[mark evans]

Originally Posted by egbeachley

I think that would be the realization that, at worst, he has the same replica autograph, albeit on a better ball. Or, at best, this ball has lost much of its value with there being 'near exact' duplicates easily available.

I don't see how the existence of 'replica' balls would much affect the value of an authentic Ruth ball. The larger problem, especially in today's 'climate,' could be establishing the authenticity of the Ruth ball to the satisfaction of potential buyers.