Gentleman James (Jim) Corbett authenticity opinions

[thenavarro]

One fun thing about this board is that it's not typically shy about giving opinions. I recently bought this (haven't even received it yet), and wanted to get the board's opinions as to authenticity. I believe it's authentic or I wouldn't have purchased it, but I don't have a whole lot of experience with boxing graphs. As a matter of fact it will be only the 2nd signed boxing photo in my collection. (the first is a photo of me and Ali)



Inscription reads:

“To my old pal, Frank Cooley with best wishes from His old friend, Jim Corbett, Mar. 2/’22”

Here's the whole pic:

Here's the up close view:

[travrosty]

I will try find some 1922 examples and report back.

i got a call in to fighttoys.com and we will get some exemplars and look at it.

[thenavarro]

Originally Posted by travrosty

I will try find some 1922 examples and report back.

i got a call in to fighttoys.com and we will get some exemplars and look at it.

Thanks Travis. And in case anyone is wondering, this isn't a "gotcha" or something like that. It's a photo I found at one of the vendors I do business with and thought it would make a neat addition. I also got a Buffalo Bill Cody signed check from them that is pretty sweet.

[travrosty]

Originally Posted by thenavarro

Thanks Travis. And in case anyone is wondering, this isn't a "gotcha" or something like that. It's a photo I found at one of the vendors I do business with and thought it would make a neat addition. I also got a Buffalo Bill Cody signed check from them that is pretty sweet.

i appreciate a boxing post, i know it is not a gotcha, we are gonna look at it for awhile to give a qualifed, informed opinion, as first glances and opinions either way might be incorrect after further review. i like to study boxing a autographs very thoroughly, even though i might have an initial thought on it ji still like to give it the full treatment just to make sure because each and every autograph deserves a proper, full inspection, and then we give the opinion so we don't feel sorry or regret later should a 'quick opinion' turn out to be wrong.

[shelly]

Originally Posted by thenavarro

Thanks Travis. And in case anyone is wondering, this isn't a "gotcha" or something like that. It's a photo I found at one of the vendors I do business with and thought it would make a neat addition. I also got a Buffalo Bill Cody signed check from them that is pretty sweet.

Why is it when you want an opinion some one thinks that its a gotcha. I dont care if any tpa said it is good. I would trust Travis when it comes to boxing over anyone on this site or to be honest anyone.
Trust me it is like taking a pice of chalk and scraping it on a board. It really hurts that much to say that

[GrayGhost]

Great photo and yes, Travis is a boxing expert and has more knowledge than the TPA's. Plus, it will be STUDIED carefully he says..thats what you want to hear.

Not to bring up an old topic, but how can some TPA authenticate Ruth, Gehrig, Orr, the Beatles, Thomas Edison, George Washington, John Hancock, Neil Armstrong, Jimi Hendrix, etc.

[travrosty]

Originally Posted by shelly

Why is it when you want an opinion some one thinks that its a gotcha. I dont care if any tpa said it is good. I would trust Travis when it comes to boxing over anyone on this site or to be honest anyone.
Trust me it is like taking a pice of chalk and scraping it on a board. It really hurts that much to say that

because there has been too many gotcha's in the past. that's why.


whats kind of weird is that authenticity answers are looked at with a time limit, and people want them fast, but there is no rush. getting it right is most important, not turn around, the tpa's are in a race to turn it around the fastest, at the sake of accuracy in my opinion. the one who turns it around the fastest, gets the business because collectors believe they can do the job real fast, and give an accurate opinion, but the collectors don't know what the real deal is. go fast, and make too many mistakes.

[thenavarro]

One thing I've learned from Travis is that the two primary TPA's are not really too proficient concerning boxing autographs. That's why I posted my Corbett photo here, rather then throwing the picture up on ebay and doing a "quick opinion".

From examples I've looked at online, I feel fairly confident that my Corbett photo would pass PSA/DNA and/or JSA, however, I'd rather know whether or not it's authentic, as opposed to whether or not it would pass a TPA.

Mike

[steve B]

Originally Posted by travrosty

whats kind of weird is that authenticity answers are looked at with a time limit, and people want them fast, but there is no rush. getting it right is most important, not turn around, the tpa's are in a race to turn it around the fastest, at the sake of accuracy in my opinion. the one who turns it around the fastest, gets the business because collectors believe they can do the job real fast, and give an accurate opinion, but the collectors don't know what the real deal is. go fast, and make too many mistakes.

I've got to say that while I'm not always on board with Travis opinions of TPAs, I totally agree with this point.

In stamps they don't specify any turnaround time. And the more controversial something is the more you need to send in along with it. In other words, sending in any stamp will take some time, I think 30-90 days. If it's something that's not well known sending in supporting documents cam be important. And that means it may take longer. And usually the result is "We decline to render an opinion" Which is neither good or bad just that with the current technology and knowledge they can't say with a comfortable degree of certainty. There's a group of Hawaiian stamps that are different from the known ones, but have supposedly good provenance. Multiple places have declared them as fakes, and finally they went to the royal philatelic society in the UK --- Which published a book explaining their opinion that they're fakes after 5 YEARS. (The group sold for I think 2-3 million anyway)

And yet, with a card or autograph the more it's expected to be worth the quicker they want it judged and shipped back out.
I get how a dealer might have a bit of cash tied up, and maybe the insurance co wants it in and out of the building as quickly as possible. But rushing the expensive stuff seems completely backwards.

Steve B

[Lordstan]

Originally Posted by Mr. Zipper

Thanks for the insight, Jim.

Very good to see you posting again.

+1 million.
Jim,
We need a few good stories.
Mark

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

[ibuysportsephemera]

So when everything was said and done....what did Travis say about this autograph?

Jeff

[thetruthisoutthere]

Originally Posted by ibuysportsephemera

So when everything was said and done....what did Travis say about this autograph?

Jeff

Has it been six weeks yet...........

[thenavarro]

Originally Posted by ibuysportsephemera

So when everything was said and done....what did Travis say about this autograph?

Jeff

Jeff,

I did not hear a final decision from Travis, nor did I see one posted anywhere. However, we all know authentication cannot be rushed, so he is probably still studying and researching to make his determination. In all fairness, I did not pay for his opinion, so I shouldn't expect to receive it, nor do I subscribe to his particular mantra, so if he doesn't want to assist when the time comes, that's fine too. However, another very knowledgeable boxing collector, Mark Ogren, posted a couple of screen shots from his fantastic exemplar collection, which leads me to believe that Mr. Ogren thinks my Corbett was authentic. I make that assumption, perhaps erroneously, from the file names that you can see at the top of each exemplar. If you look at my photo on his screen, you will see the date and sr.jpg. I'm not 100% sure, but I believe that is the convention he uses for naming the authentic ones. If you look at his exemplar screen shots, you will see some termed Non authentic or something along those lines in the file name. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the file name on mine does not say that and is in the convention of the authentic exemplars. Who knows though. Perhaps Mark will chime in and say that's not what his file naming conventions mean, or that he mistakenly labeled mine authentic and it's not. I do know that after all my research into it, in my untrained boxing autograph eye, it appears to me to have enough similarities to other Corbett signatures of that time period that are purported to be authentic.

I believe it's 100% legit.

Here's the screenshots to peruse.

[ibuysportsephemera]

Originally Posted by thenavarro

Jeff,

I did not hear a final decision from Travis, nor did I see one posted anywhere. However, we all know authentication cannot be rushed, so he is probably still studying and researching to make his determination. In all fairness, I did not pay for his opinion, so I shouldn't expect to receive it, nor do I subscribe to his particular mantra, so if he doesn't want to assist when the time comes, that's fine too. However, another very knowledgeable boxing collector, Mark Ogren, posted a couple of screen shots from his fantastic exemplar collection, which leads me to believe that Mr. Ogren thinks my Corbett was authentic. I make that assumption, perhaps erroneously, from the file names that you can see at the top of each exemplar. If you look at my photo on his screen, you will see the date and sr.jpg. I'm not 100% sure, but I believe that is the convention he uses for naming the authentic ones. If you look at his exemplar screen shots, you will see some termed Non authentic or something along those lines in the file name. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the file name on mine does not say that and is in the convention of the authentic exemplars. Who knows though. Perhaps Mark will chime in and say that's not what his file naming conventions mean, or that he mistakenly labeled mine authentic and it's not. I do know that after all my research into it, in my untrained boxing autograph eye, it appears to me to have enough similarities to other Corbett signatures of that time period that are purported to be authentic.

I believe it's 100% legit.

Here's the screenshots to peruse.

I agree Mike...I think it looks good as well. I hated to hijack your thread...but with all the drama surrounding Travis, I wanted to see what constructive threads (if any) that Travis was involved in. This was the best I could find, and it didn't appear that he followed up with you.

All the best.

Jeff

[chaddurbin]

funny, so they hijacked your scan to put in their examplar files, but didn't have the courtesy to at least tell you it's authentic...or taking your photo.