I studied the "ll" variation on Paige several years ago before I purchased my "ll" version signature. Photos are listed below and as you can see this is a mortgage deed from 1950 and is 4 pages and it is a legal document and therefore is not a forgery. On the typed name page it is Satchell and it is signed Satchell very clearly. Paige used the double l version until the early 1950s and for an unknown reason he dropped the double l for a single l version. No explanation was ever given why.
The contract on Lot 20 was the correct spelling of his name as a white person probably typing this contract would do and not realizing the Negro League spelling of his name as well as Paige's own spelling of it.
When he got into the Hall of Fame and his mail increased he would sign some things and have a ghost signer sign others..no pattern ever existed as to who signed what. When he signed after his election he signed Satchel with 1 L but for some unknown reason the ghost signer almost always signed Satchell with 2 Ls and in a form that in no way resembled real Paige autographs.
So if you want the double L version it should be from 1953 and earlier.
Ron's book does a bad job explaining this key and important variation in Paige's signature.
Keating"s Autograph Guide to Negro Leagues does a good job of explaining this variation.
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