A Good Day?

[71buc]

I just visited a local antique store and found these three autographs in a rolladex card holder full of autographs. The signatures ranged from Elizabeth Taylor to Arnold Palmer. I pulled out these three and paid a VERY nominal asking price. I'm almost embarrassed to say what I purchased them for. They looked real enough to me to roll the dice as they were very cheap and worth the gamble. I know when a deal seems to good to be true it's likely not real. Nonetheless I'm looking for more informed opimions than my own. So what do you think?

[packs]

No opinion on authenticity but the bleeding on the Paige and Maris would concern me. From what I understand old paper signed at a later date tends to bleed whereas contemporary paper signed in the moment does not.

[71buc]

Thanks for the input. I had not heard that before. I think a majority of them were signed in the late 70s to early 80s based on the dates a few of them had. They looked right to me but I'm no expert. The fact that these were mixed in with minor celebrities and players like Luis Tiant, Bobby Grich, Ken Singleton, and Mark Bellanger, eased my mind for some reason.

[packs]

They look authentic I just know its a common tactic by forgers to use old paper to try to age a signature, but you can usually spot that deception when you notice how much the ink bled. Not saying that's the case here, just that its something I look for.

[Scott Garner]

Hi Mike,
Great pickup!
All 3 of these are the real deal. Ol' Satch is particularly cool!
Congrats on your terrific find.

[71buc]

Thanks Scott!

[joed25]

Authentic

[joed25]

Authentic

[johnmh71]

Not an expert myself, but I think you struck gold.

[71buc]

Thanks everyone. Based on the feedback I returned and purchased a few more. The three above were obviously the best. Nonetheless I picked up a Willie Mays, Nolan Ryan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sugar Ray Robinson, Howard Cosell, Rickey Henderson,,and Hank Greenberg. They were only $10 each so what the heck. Thanks again.

Mike

[GrayGhost]

Originally Posted by 71buc

Thanks everyone. Based on the feedback I returned and purchased a few more. The three above were obviously the best. Nonetheless I picked up a Willie Mays, Nolan Ryan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sugar Ray Robinson, Howard Cosell, Rickey Henderson,,and Hank Greenberg. They were only $10 each so what the heck. Thanks again.

Mike

wow. home run for a great person. congrats!!

[71buc]

Thanks Scott it does appear I got lucky. Who knew that a hole in the wall antique store in Seattle could have such a largely intact 35 year-old collection. The collection was obviously a work of love by the original collector. I wish I could just buy them all as it seems a shame to break them up. However, that could start me down another collecting rabbit hole. I don't have the knowledge to take that chance. There is still a plethora of autographs sitting there. A few off the top of my head are Lucille Ball, Elizabeth Taylor, Mickey Rooney, Connie Hawkins, Jerry West, George Mikan, Arnold Palmer, Ben Hogan, Maurice Richard, Peggy Fleming, Joe Frazier, Larry Holmes, Fran Tarkington, Bart Starr, Gayle Sayers, Lloyd Waner, Robin Young, Pee Wee Reese and many more. I will likely study a bit and buy more of them for trade material down the road.

[71buc]

I purchased most of the collection and sold the Football, Boxing, and Golf autographs on the BST forum. Although they aren't baseball autographs I have decided to keep these actors as although not very valuable they are fun. I thought I would share them with you.

[JollyElm]

Originally Posted by 71buc

Thanks everyone. Based on the feedback I returned and purchased a few more. The three above were obviously the best. Nonetheless I picked up a Willie Mays, Nolan Ryan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sugar Ray Robinson, Howard Cosell, Rickey Henderson,,and Hank Greenberg. They were only $10 each so what the heck. Thanks again.

Mike

Can you post pics of those guys, too?

[71buc]

Originally Posted by JollyElm

Can you post pics of those guys, too?

Here are the ones mentioned previously and all of the rest of the baseball autographs I picked up. The Cosell and the Robinsons have been sold. As you can see there is nothing terribly exciting but at $10 each I was happy to add them to my collection.

[JollyElm]

Thanks. The reason i wanted to see them was to determine if the Mays looked similar to the ones I got TTM in the late 70's/early 80's (below), because the signatures you acquired seem to be pretty old, and some possibly originating from that same time period. Did the person you bought them from give you any sort of provenance? Or were you told where they came from? In other words, is there any reason to believe they are not valid?

You so often hear around these parts that Willie Mays never signed his autograph with such flair (even though the one on his 1967 card has similarities to it) and/or it's "his wife's" handiwork. Perhaps it's wishful thinking on my part, because he's my hero, but I never bought any of that and no one ever offers any sort of proof to that being the case. Plus, in my mind it's pretty simple to see how his modern signature (with the 'W' in Willie looking like a '4') evolved from his old signature style.

Very interesting.

mayssig.jpg

[71buc]

The seller reported that he purchased them a number of years ago. They were all inside an old rolladex. They remained there until I purchased them. I was the first buyer to go through them. The autos ran the gamut baseball, basketball, hockey, racing, and entertainment. There were no astronauts or musicians. The only track athlete was marathoner Bill Rogers. A few were dated and personalized to Mike and Todd Dupey. The earliest date was 1978 the latest was 1983. There were many Sonics from the championship year. They all looked good when I compared them to other examples on-line. How they were obtained is beyond me. The only clue to their origin was on a Charles Starret I purchased for my father. He collects B western memorabilia. On that card Starret wrote a note that seemed to indicate he knew the collector. He mentioned their travels on the Hollywood trail. Perhaps the original collectors were in a business that gave them access to celebrities? Of course that is pure speculation based on the format of the autographs. They could have been received through the mail as well.

[MooseDog]

The collection very likely was all obtained through mailing to the various celebrities and sports figures. The baseball signatures at least all look like mid to late 1970s era ones you'd get back from them.

While I did try a few non-sports TTMs back in those days, I think that a lot of the movie stars, especially, were secretarial but I am by no means an expert on movie autographs and not passing any judgement on those the OP obtained.

Congratulations though, on a great find!

[71buc]

I kept all of the baseball autographs and sold the remainder. I considered selling the baseball signatures a couple of times because of the medium they were signed on is odd. I have since reconsidered and have decided to play around with Corel Draw and Photo Shop and see what I could do to improve the aesthetics by creating custom photo mattes. Here is my second effort at Roger Maris. As David pointed out I resurrected Roger by putting him in the new stadium with my initial effort. This is what the corrected version will look like after I print and cut it. Thankfully these cost me less than $2 to make.

[David Atkatz]

Why would you have Roger in the new stadium?

[71buc]

Good catch I guess I better fix that

[71buc]

Satchel Paige

[almostdone]

I REALLY like that Paige. Very nicely done a great way to display an otherwise odd medium signature. Looking forward to seeing what else you might come up with.

Drew

[71buc]

Koufax

[Scott Garner]

Terrific stuff, Mike!

[71buc]

Rizzuto

[71buc]

Greenberg, Henderson, Dickey

[71buc]

Thought I would share my recent efforts.

[mr2686]

Man those look great. Mike, sent you a PM.

[71buc]

I haven't messed with these for almost six months. I recently completed these and thought I might share them.

[mr2686]

Great job Mike, those are awesome.

[71buc]

I picked up a Mantle cut so I reconfigured the Maris to match.

[71buc]

Koufax and Drysdale

[scmavl]

These are great!

[71buc]

Thanks Jarrod

[Sophiedog]

Beautiful work!

[71buc]

Its been a while since I worked on these. I completed these two tonight.

[71buc]

Johnny Mize