I am new - need help with mantle, Williams, DiMagio
 

Hi all - I have been collecting for 25 years. I have over 100 signed baseballs -vintage. I also collect astronaut, military, politics, celebrity, and vintage race car drivers. I have studied exemplars all these years and know the "fake" stuff. Or so I thought. I bought mantle, Williams and DiMagio single signed balls in the early 90's (pre operation bullpen, JSA or even PSA) when I lived in FL. Got from dealers at shows (with COAs, but that means little to me). I got burned on a Robinson and Cobb. James Spencer helped me....and he had to study them and even get other experts. In the end they had to say no. Bummer - but he is an A+ guy to work with.
So back to these balls. They look darn good to me, but PSA at a show did a free look and said no. I must be missing the signs of what makes them think they are fake. Of course, these 3 are often faked, so I was hoping somebody on the board here could take a quick look at photos and let me know thoughts. It's ok if they are fake...I would like to know why since I thought I knew them pretty well. I thank you so much...it has bugged me for years ;-(. Casey

0 for 3.

Sorry.

What are the signs they are fake?

Banana M's
Open A's in Williams
Joe d is just bad

I agree. Those are no good.

They are common mass-produced cookie cutter forgery styles.

Many thanks!! I will mark them and let the dogs play with them. I got 25 years of enjoying thinking they were real :-). Never planned to sell them anyway. Now...off to find real Mantle - maybe just a pic this time. See some on eBay I like.

Aren't most autographs of Mantle's M's banana looking? I see PSA pics on eBay that seem that way to me. Perhaps I misunderstand what you mean by banana?
Enjoy the hobby and trying to learn... Casey

Yes...to a degree. The one we label bananas just seem to be more exaggerated like these are. Some are even worse.

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Open d and open a on the williams Never good. Mantle you just have to look at real ones and you will figure it out. The Dimaggio the same thing.

I've seen you guys post numerous times on the open d & open a. I see many authentic exemplars where the d is quite literally closed with an overlap, but I see many others I felt were authentic where the d is just shy of closing the loop like the one below. Is this the kind of d that causes concern or is it generally a bit more blatant than this? Thanks for the education!

Closed "d" or not, I do not believe this one is authentic.

+1

That one looks like it took 45 minutes to pen it.

Darn it, just when I was starting to think I knew what I was doing! Back to the drawing board. Tough hobby to figure out. Thanks gentlemen, I appreciate your feedback.

+1

Thanks to those who respond with courtesy. Great group of folks here.

Here is a little hint on the Williams. Williams can be tough to nail down, but I have found the fakes often have a "too smooth and neat" look, whereas authentic examples have a more herky jerky messy feel.

The Williams you have shown... that style seems to have a soft loopy "lli"... once it "clicks" for you, it sticks out like a sore thumb.

Your Ted ball is authentic.

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To slow to neat