NFL Officials marks on footballs

[Runscott]

I was digging around looking for information on how to photo-match NFL footballs, and found an old post on the Game-Used Universe forum that describes the marks that various officials put on balls: http://www.gameuseduniverse.com/vb_f...1&postcount=11

There was some useful information, but I was able to determine that at least one of the marks attributed to an official was incorrect. Does anyone have any additional information on these marks? i.e-a list of officials and the marks they use?

Also, I'm realizing after getting zero responses to my posts over on GU Universe that that is probably not the best place to be asking such questions. Are we it? Or is there somewhere else where the discussions on game-used are more in-depth? I'm also batting zero on this forum, so I'm guessing we're not it either.

[Runscott]

Not really expecting anyone here to have such a list, but I would be very grateful if any of you could point me to a discussion forum where I might possibly find such information. Thanks.

[drcy]

Your best bet might be to contact individuals-- dealers and collectors who have those items, equipment people, teams officials, etc. People on boards likely don't answer because they don't know.

I remember when I started in photography years back, I asked a bunch of big wigs on a broad topic of dating photos-- few give much an answer, but a curator at the J. Paul Getty museum gave me lots of info.

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by drcy

Your best bet might be to contact individuals-- dealers and collectors who have those items, equipment people, etc. People on boards likely don't answer because they don't know.

I remember when I started in photography years back, I asked a bunch of big wigs on a broad topic of dating photos-- few give much an answer, but a curator at the J. Paul Getty museum gave me lots of info.

Yeah, I remember how hard it was ten years ago to get any discussion going regarding vintage photographs. Now I'm finding that there are plenty of guys who were collecting back then, and still are - I just didn't have a way of getting hold of them.

I recently passed on a ball that I really wanted to purchase, but I had no way of verifying the officials' marks on the ball; without that, I wasn't willing to touch it.

[drcy]

Many years ago, no one on this board would have known what a wirephoto literally meant or knew anything about the stamps or the paper caption tags, and I did the research on my own, wrote articles on the subjects and issued a booklet about it. I had to do the homework and research on my own, because there was no one in the hobby who know it, much less would tell me it.

This was numerous years before the Portrait of Baseball came out. And this is why I get piturbed when the resident PSA/DNA jock sniffers hold up that book as the original hobby source for all that information. Portrait of Baseball is a good book, has new information and research, and I recommended it. But it didn't invent the information and certainly didn't credit me or my earlier publications or original research.

But my main point is a collector often has to find the information on his own. Others in the hobby and on chat boards simply don't know, and it will be that collector who introduces it to the hobby.

And, yes, I said resident PSA/DNA jock sniffers. I can be funny yet biting, even on a Monday morning.

And when readers read my book on what to look under a microscope for on early baseball cards, I researched and came up with that information on my own. I did research on fine art and ancient printing in general, then applied it to baseball cards. It may be commonplace now, but I bet no baseball card collector or grader owned a 100X microscope before I came out with my book.

And, if one doesn't already deduce it from my post, I'm very competitive.

[Runscott]

I agree with most of what you said, provided you haven't since edited your post , (as I just did)

[drcy]

A number of years back I was going to write a beginner's book on how to authenticate original prints by famous artists (Dali, Rembrandt, Renoir et al). Looking around when I started writing, I couldn't find such a guide in bookstores or online. At first I thought that was bad. Then i realized, far from being bad, the lack of other guide or book was good. I'd be writing the first book on the subject, and when it came out it was.

Being the first is good. Original research is your friend.

Those who know me well in daily life, know my worst insult for a person is to call him or her a 'crowd follower.'

No, wait, the worst is 'pseudo rebel.'