I think the date of death is very important to the value of an autograph (and not just for judging authenticity).
The first thing I do when considering an autograph purchase is search the internet for the date of death.
If the player lived into the mega-card-show era (say after 1980, but even more around 1990), I typically discount those autographs substantially. There were unprecedented numbers of autographs being signed in this era for resale.
If the player died long before any of this stuff (ie. 1930s, 1940s, 1950s) I want to know that...it will usually translate to a much scarcer autograph (of course except for the very most popular players who freely signed, like Ruth, Cobb, etc...these are valuable because of demand, not short supply.)
Cheers,
Blair
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