Ted Williams Autograph Authentication Help

[JimStinson]

The Ball is not even close , Prove it to yourself. It appears that the writing was applied AFTER the ball was aged , shellacked, buttered, glazed or whatever that shine is on it , look at it under magnification, it will be ON TOP of that, then consider this in 1951 Ball point pens were relatively new and messy , they would throw off globs of ink, (spotting) easily visible around where the signature is. Look under a magnifying glass and you'll see what I'm talking about. My GUESS is that the ball might have been used in the game, a fan catches a foul ball and writes the name of his hero and the date he caught it on the ball years later

[JimStinson]

1941 ?????? Forget it , its ball point

[thetruthisoutthere]

Delete.

[thetruthisoutthere]

Originally Posted by JimStinson

1941 ?????? Forget it , its ball point

Exactly.

[markf31]

Originally Posted by thetruthisoutthere

Reads to me like you're trying to convince yourself that your Ted Williams autographed baseball is authentic.

Is it because you want to believe it is authentic?

Chris I have a similar response as the OP when somone simply states an autograph is not authentic without providing justification. It's not that I don't trust their opinion and it's not that I'm trying to convince myself an autograph is authentic. I like to learn as much as I can as a collector, so when someone says an autograph is not authentic I like to know how they came to that decision so I can look at the autograph, see those observations, learn from them and become a more informed collector moving forward.

With tha being said here are my observations.

The use of a ball point pen is a dead giveaway as Jim stated. Ball point pens were not introduced in the states until the very end of 1945 so it would have been virtually impossible for an autograph dated 1941 to be made with a ball point pen.

This is an important fact to remember when dealing with vintage autographs, you will easily be able to tell the difference between a fountain pen and a ball point pen. If you can't, go buy a fountain pen and ink and compare it side by side with a ball point pen. Even with today's ball point pens the difference screams out at you.

Another important characteristic in the signature is the "d" in Ted and "W" in Williams are connected and continuous. While this was a characteristic of his signature later in life and in most of the examples you probably compared it to, his early signatures do not exhibit this characteristic. In his early signatures from the 40s and into the 50s there was a clear separation and pen lift between his first and last name.

[TyrusRCobb]

@Mark, thanks for all of the info. Just the kind of knowledge I was hoping to gain when I originally asked for thoughts regarding the conclusions that the signature was not authentic. If I wanted to believe that the signature was authentic I would have never sought the opinion of those more knowledgeable than myself.

[TyrusRCobb]

Originally Posted by JimStinson

The Ball is not even close , Prove it to yourself. It appears that the writing was applied AFTER the ball was aged , shellacked, buttered, glazed or whatever that shine is on it , look at it under magnification, it will be ON TOP of that, then consider this in 1951 Ball point pens were relatively new and messy , they would throw off globs of ink, (spotting) easily visible around where the signature is. Look under a magnifying glass and you'll see what I'm talking about. My GUESS is that the ball might have been used in the game, a fan catches a foul ball and writes the name of his hero and the date he caught it on the ball years later

Oh. Wow. The ball point pen. That should have been glaringly obvious! Clearly, I have a WHOLE LOT to learn about collecting!