Old Mickey Mantle Autograph and others help ;)
 

Hey guys. I recently purchased an autograph book at an estate auction, and I'm trying to learn more about Mickey Mantle's autograph. This book does not have any authentication, but was guaranteed by the auctioneer at least. It was a kid's book from the 50's and each autograph was dated with the year he got it and where. The Mantle autograph appears to be his older signature, so I'm curious as to the best way of going about selling it, or the value of an old signature as opposed to the later in life signatures. Thanks for any help!

http://i59.tinypic.com/29s9ih.jpg
http://i60.tinypic.com/mwtqhl.jpg
http://i59.tinypic.com/xqflm1.jpg

This is a 1953 for comparison....

http://www.psacard.com/ResourceImage...-closeup-3.jpg

I don't think the autograph book surrounding it is helping - realizing that its history could be that someone from Nova Scotia was visiting Boston and only had a piece of paper and pencil when they happened to get the opportunity to have Mantle sign, so when they got home they cut it out, bought the book and glued it it. Still, not the best.

I don't like pencil cuts like this, especially when decent 1953-ish Mantles can be found, but since you are asking about enhancing a sale, I would send it to SGC, as they will put it in a holder and it will look more attractive. Or they will reject it.

The K looks like a re-drawn train wreck. Appears slowly executed and wobbly.

the 2nd crossing is just the 'e' flipped up and around. My exemplars are on a different machine, so can't check to see if he ever did that.

I'm curious what SGC would think about this one.

Yes, I saw that on second look and edited my post accordingly. :)

It still has other issues IMO.

I can't remember ever signing my name with a pencil, so not sure what can be forgiven on such autographs. I know a lot of forum members love them.

Interesting, thanks for the information. I'm a bit new to older Mantle autographs. Would it be best to take Mantle out of the book? The rest of the book doesn't have any huge names... It has Dick Van Patten, Jimmy Carter, a whole bunch of 50's midget wrestlers, and Goose a Harlem Globetrotter. There's 21 autographs, but they are definitely before my time, and I believe most are not valuable but I don't know for sure.

I would wait for the Mantle experts to add their opinions to this thread. I don't get autographs validated, and I never buy pencil cuts, but if this one dropped in my lap and the experts said "good", I think I would send that first page to SGC. If they liked it, ask them to remove the cut and slab it. Maybe that's a bad idea, but that's my thinking.

I do have a bunch of 'sort of valuable' cuts at the moment, and I've wrestled with sending some of them to SGC. But that would make me a hypocrite :confused:. Personally, I see no value in owning a cut that comes with a piece of paper authenticating it;however, a uniform-size slab would make it presentable.

Thank you very much Runscott! I'll wait a bit for some other thoughts and then talk with SGC. Much appreciated

Steve is an autograph expert - I'm just a Mantle collector. If he thinks it is bad, it probably is, but there are other autograph experts on this board who specialize in Mantle.

Jimmy Carter is probably the easiest US President to get. If the "Goose" Globetrotter is Goose Tatum he's hardly a nobody. There are some wrestling fanatics out there that might be interested in the midget wrestlers.

Autograph books generally are worth a lot more for individual pages.

PM me if you decide to break up the book, I'd be interested in the Goose. And you might want to post more scans, I'm sure folks here can help you identify the rest.

Did no one notice how the description of the Mantle cut seems to be in the same handwriting as the Mantle cut.:rolleyes:

It's not the same handwriting at all.

I wouldn't authenticate it but it would still be worth a submission. With early sigs the variations can be really confusing. It passes my initial eye test of "does this look legit". But then, as others have said, the signature has some oddities not typically seen in early mantles. I don't like the ending e or that k as has been stated. I say submit and pray.

I think it is good and from 1952-53 ish. Therefore, consistent with the date in the album.