Signed T3's
 

I realized today that in 25 years of collecting I've never once, to my recollection, seen a signed T3. Have they just managed to elude me all these years, or are they really that scarce? Either way, show 'em if you got 'em!

I've never seen one, and am fairly surprised about that. I have heard that the Hall of Fame has a signed Walter Johnson T3 in their collection.

I searched on pricerealized.com and of the nearly 2000 T3 related lots none of them were autographed.

If only Rube would have had one, there'd be dozens.

Or at least a couple!!

Didn't Leon have a Hal Chase one signed by Chief Bender?

There are two graded by PSA
A Devlin and.......


A Mathewson !

I believe it was an M110 signed by Chief Meyers.

I'll believe those when I see them, and for the time being consider it an accounting error on the registry.

Located the picture, you are correct. Thanks for the clarification.

I'd never seen or even heard of a signed T3 Matty before this thread but, sure enough, the PSA registry says there is one. I am skeptical too. Like they say "pictures or it didn't happen".

"pictures or it didn't happen".[/QUOTE]

+1

Interesting. Most of those players lived 50+ years after 1911 so there was plenty of time, plus I'd think the size would have made them more preferable than a T206, of which there seem to be plenty of signed copies, relatively speaking.

My guess is that we see so few signed T3s because of their size. I am not an autograph expert, but I think a lot of pre-card show autographs were probably obtained through the mail. Much easier to mail a smaller card or notecard than a T3.

In 1991, I was going through the Johnson photo file at the HOF and came across a signed T3 that was mixed in randomly with the pile of photos. I took it to the librarian, Pat Kelly, and told her it would get damaged or stolen if kept in the regular file. There were several other items I recommended be separated from the general file for that reason, but I don't remember what they were.

It was an M110 Chase signed by Chief Meyers...Got it from another board member off of ebay, about 15 yrs ago, or so.....sold in the first collection sale.

And that's who I heard it from! :D

Good point, Bryan.

+1, though to see none....ever? Any of us?

Well, Hank has seen one (and what a one it must be). :D

I checked PSA for a few numbers:

T3 graded: 6,163
T3 signed: 2 (Devlin and Matty) + the HOF's WaJo=3. But let's call it 2 and assume 1 of PSA's was a mistake.
% signed: 2/6,163*100 = 0.032%

T206 graded: 197,763
T206 signed: 58
% signed: 58/197,763 = 0.029%

All the usual caveats that come with pop report data exist, but if we assume that T3 were a lot less likely to be signed due to their size and the much smaller number of both subjects and cards produced, I don't know that we should expect that there are more than 2-5 signed cards.

So by that calculation those could be the only 3 in existence. Certainly possible, but I'd venture to guess there's more out there buried in family heirlooms....at least I'd like to think so.