Posted By:
barrysloateI've brought this up before but would still like to get some professional opinions:
About fifteen years ago I was selling a group of documents that originated from the Alexander Cartwright family. They were all handwritten in ink by Cartwright himself (not the onion skin letter press copies), and none had baseball content. Almost all were family histories, and since there were many descendents of the famous Cartwright with the same name, "Alexander Cartwright" could be found penned throughout them.
I lost track of the documents but a few years later a major auction house had an Alexander Cartwright signature in the same form as the Jackie Robinson above. Amazingly, I recognized it, and was able to go back to my photocopies and determine that it had been cut from one of the documents. Because it had a stray mark on the cut, I was able to find exactly where in the document it was taken. Turns out it was not a signature at all, but a reference Cartwright made to his father or grandfather.
Now admittedly, there is no question Cartwright penned what was in that PSA slab. But can it be considered a signature? I felt it wasn't, and pleaded my case to the auction house. It goes without saying that they paid no attention to me.
Do others feel this can be considered a bona fide signature?