Ty Cobb full signature ball opinion
 

A local auctioneer auctioned off the "remainder" of Ernie Harwell's estate, with his son and Denny McLain in attendence. This ball, was included, although I doubt it was from Ernie's personal estate. Usually these auctions are filled with Frangiapani junk, but this ball brought in over $12K-Wondering your thoughts, looks too good to be true.

http://www.auctionzip.com/Full-Image/1550299/fi82.cgi

Hear is a listing of all the items, the Mantle is a joke
http://www.auctionzip.com/cgi-bin/ph...ry=0&zip=&kwd=

To me the Ruth didn't look good, no thoughts on Cobb.

Cobb is a forgery.

all the 'good' autographs are laughable IMO

I would stay away from this sale all together.

These items were not the remainder of Ernie Harwell estate, they were items his family did not want or need. Most of his collection resides in the Detroit Museum on Woodward Avenue. Denny McLain also had items in the auction.
Joe

If you have been to the Ernie Harwell room at the Detroit Library, you would see that Mr. Harwell was not much of an autograph collector. I think the highlighted item was an Ichiro signed glove.

And to the lucky buyer, two forgeries for the price of one.

JimStinson
 

Did the ball really sell for 12K ??? Even if it were real that would still seem HIGH to me for a Cobb ball.
Its not difficult to find a person with less than average intelligence and its not difficult to find someone with 12K but to find BOTH in the same package ? thats a marvel

Here is the proof:

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2...-legend-s-life

JimStinson
 

Wow !
At least 200 people came to the Comfort Inn hotel to bid and check out the items, many of which were of a more personal nature: Harwell's drivers license sold for $650, his travel trunk sold for $750 and his death certificate sold for $60, Paul said. Photos of Harwell and his wife Lulu went for $20

What better way to preserve the memory of a cherished family member than to sell his drivers license, and personal photos of he and his wife Lulu, and his death certificate ! :confused: Sold everything but the lint that was in his pockets.
Thanks for the link to the story and while indeed it appears the ball sold for the amount mentioned there is nothing in the story that says the ball actually came from his estate. I have a collector friend that knew Ernie personally and collects Ty Cobb. I'll ask him about it. In the meantime this thread has taught me a few important lessons
1) Never go to an auction where Denny McLain greets me at the door
2) Never go to an auction with 12K in my pocket after I have been drinking

Some great words to live by, except maybe #3. Rumor has it a "collector" from Rochester, MI reportedly bought the ball to donate to a museum. The auctioneer has done numerous auctions in the past, constantly selling fake stuff with COA from Frangiapani. I have gone and tried to warn people, but no-one listens. I have even contacted local authorities, I guess to no avail. I would love to get Ron K. involved, but don't know him personally.

JimStinson
 

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JimStinson
 

Mentioned this to a friend of the late great announcer Ernie Harwell this morning and he had this to say (with his permission to quote)

"I spoke with Ernie all the time, Ernie knew Cobb well. He told me he never got anything signed by him"

Jim, I'm going to have to disagree with you...I do believe the lint in his pockets was sold so that we can have 1/1 game used lint cards. Geez, I think this hobby is just passing me by!! :mad:

Selling the death certificate and family photos? WTF.

Ghastly and sad.

+1

The family said what they had to say about not wanting to keep things, but still,,, selling family photos and the death cert?? Did they really need the money that badly?

JimStinson
 

Did anyone but me notice this in the article ?

Huntington Woods residents Shirley and Bernard Malamud came out to the auction to see what was available. They have been friends of the Harwells for years and last saw Ernie the Christmas before he died.

"I know he gave a large portion of his collection to the city. Maybe, if we're lucky, we'll get something," said Bernard Malamud.

I thought to myself when I read it , that it would have been great to meet the Pulitzer Prize winning author who penned "The Natural" in 1952 , which was later made into a movie starring Robert Redford until I realized that THE Bernard Malamud has been dead since 1986

First, this is my blog on the Ernie Harwell auction held in Farmington Hills, MI.

http://live.autographmagazine.com/pr...ngton-hills-mi


Secondly, I recently discovered that the baseball that contains the Cobb signature (that allegedly sold for $12,000), is a post 1970's baseball which was stamped (re-stamped) to give the impression of being an older period baseball.

the cobb is for sure a fake....sorry bro