LOt#18 is an interesting lot for sure.
Let us consider this for a moment, and I am not being a naysayer or a proponent of the lot, just trying to express an opinion on it.
Is this lot really any different from the photographic album lots with the Joe Jackson, Christy Mathewson, John McGraw , etc autographed photos that was in Heritage Auctions a short while back? I mean we have an amazing story of the scorecard's history of being signed 80+ years ago for the great grandfather who had great passion for this game and the Giants especially; of it being unknown since being put up for 60 + years in a box and suddenly found in a box in miraculous condition in a house a few years later. I would think a true baseball fan would have saved more than this 1 scorecard, however I may be wrong about that. It was discovered in approximately 1989 and where has it been for these past 26 years, in that same box? Also besides the story you have 3 of the rarest HoFers together on this sheet along with a few others. Plus we have a cert from a TPA with a questionable history on certing autos. especially those of the rarer nature. Is this too good to be true? Additionally the signatures seem a little too neatly packaged and well executed in perfect straight lines and perfect ink. Doesn't this story seem to parallell the HA auction story a bit , and doesn't it ring familiar with what we hear a lot in this hobby?
Now granted these players are not as popular as Joe Jackson is in the overall baseball autograph market and their is no myth or iconic or pop culture status for them either, as it is for Joe Jackson. However, I would bet you that there are more Joe Jackson autos out there in the hobby than the total autographs out there for McGinnity , Welch and Rusie, and Gore all combined.
Yet this amazing find, whether good or bad, will not get a fraction of the comments that the HA Joe Jackson did.
The reasons are we have fewer samples of those 3 to compare to for authenticity compared to Joe Jackson, and the selling price will be nowhere near what the Jackson photo was, and fewer people will be in the market for this piece compared to the Jackson photo. On the otherhand is this piece real since there are far fewer forgeries in the market for these 3 players combined than totally for Joe Jackson, and Mathewson(since he was in that HA offering)? If this were the Joe Jackson piece we would have 50 posts and opinions about this lot by now.
This lot poses a problem for me at this time for those reasons. I will need time to decide what I will do or not do on this lot .It is interesting that most autograph lots already have bids , but this one as of my posting does not, so I wonder if others have the same concerns as I.
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