Quote:
Originally Posted by JollyElm
Hey Andrew,
That's precisely my point. It is 'generally accepted' to be a spouse signature while other people say Willie signed it himself. I still never see any sort of evidence that points to Mrs. Mays signing for him, not even a single statement such as, "Willie said in a 1978 interview that his wife signs all autograph requests received through the mail." Nothing. Nada.
Yet the same people state over and over again **as fact** that it's the case. It seems to have the same level of validity that any urban legend has.
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I understand your point of not having a 'smoking gun' that establishes the contention as fact. One may exisit, as some of the longtime dealers here have yet to weigh in.
However, I cannot recall that I have ever seen that signature reputably attributed to Willie. Especially in a sharpie. He did have a more 'traditional' autograph early on in his career, though not as flamboyant as above. I have often seen the above described as a non-malicious forgery (secretarial, clubhouse, wife, agent, etc). Slabbed or not, real is real, forged is forged.
My methodology? I examine against known good, and stay away from variations if at all possible. MANY players vary WAY too much for me to be comfortable identifying on my own. That's when I put my trust in smarter people.
