Opinions on a Ruth auto
 

I think the B looks off, but I'm no expert. Anyone here have a strong opinion?

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/f...Ruthletter.jpg

Doesn't look good IMO at all.

Horrid fake... not even close.

+1

Fascinating though. Most fakers make mistakes in the more complex items. Whoever did this must have done some research.

Ruth did apparently spend some time at that hotel. It was a major resort and there's a picture out there of him playing golf there.

And 345 W 88Th Street was An address in NY where Ruth lived.

Maybe someone wrote the letter for him?
If it comes along with a signed book, is the one in the book good?

Steve B

Seems pretty ambitious for a flat out forgery. Did he have a secretary or assistant who could have written this?

Clair?

Yeah, the book this came in was from the Heritage Signature auction. The signature in the book is good. This one clearly is not, but I do believe it was signed by a secretary or perhaps Claire. Interesting to be sure.

Here is the inscription in the book:

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/f...20NFT/Ruth.jpg

The letter is not a modern day forgery. Secretarially signed it would appear.
A clever forger would not be that far off on the autograph.

Is it me, or is the "Ruth" on the letter actually very close? The "Babe" is the dead giveaway.

And I agree with you on the secretary. This letter will stay with the book as I believe Ruth himself had the letter written, and it adds provenance to the book. Too bad for me he didn't sign it himself!

That book was sold in our April auction, but we didn't even notice the letter inside until after the catalog had gone to print and the consignor apparently didn't know about it either. So we never made any claim about the letter, though very clearly it is not in Ruth's hand (but it is undoubtedly a period/secretarial piece, not a "forgery.") The inscription in the book is good. Hope that clears things up.

It is well known that Claire would sign for Babe, particularly near the end of his life. She wasn't bad at replicating his signature, but you could tell. This is likely signed by her.