Lou Gehrig glove display sign (ebay)

[thebigtrain]

Anyone know if this is authentic? My hunch is no, seems like this would be worth a lot more than 199 if real?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/180811387541...#ht_804wt_1270

[GrayGhost]

NO GOOD IMO. I don't think I've ever seen a real one. All Ive seen are either tin or "aged cardboard" versions.

[thebigtrain]

I just found one that sold at Heritage a while back for a whopping $89:

http://sports.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleN...No=61194#Photo

Guess this item is usually a dud.

[gnaz01]

Fantasy piece

[perezfan]

This topic comes up once a year, without fail... these are not authentic to the time period, and there are literally tons out there. Every now and then someone will get taken for a couple hundred bucks, but more often they just sit there and don't sell.

[deebro041]

I am relatively new to vintage baseball memorabilia, 1 year on this forum, i have seen this item come up in posts. My question would be to experienced collectors that understand this is a fantasy piece, How does a novice differentiate what is legit and what is not without outing an auction? What can a novice look for to understand it is a reproduction for this item and other fantasy pieces?
Dan

[CarltonHendricks]

deebro041, You could send a private message to a member that has posted on the subject and sounds like they know a fake...send to me if you like I'll give you my thoughts on a given piece....Good of you to not want to out a piece....you're handling it right in my book.

One of the things that are usually tell tale is brownish toning on the back. I'm sure Induced fatigue could be misleading to a novice...especially going by a photo

http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=113444
I think I'm a little slower than some at dismissing stuff...I like to examine carefully before deciding. Especially since that four foot tall Babe Ruth Fro Joy sign on eBay a few years back....that I thought was fake that later turned up in REA and sold for $26,000.00....see it below...it was restored but it's real.

By the way, on that Ken Wel sign...I think I see repros of that sign but there isn't a grommet hole at the top so I'd put a stay of execution until the prosecution can produce more evidence. Grommet hole at the top is a fast way to tell a fake generally.

http://www.robertedwardauctions.com/...2010/1456.html

[CarltonHendricks]

Just a little more on fake signs...Sure there's a lot of fake sports signs out there but there can still be finds of real ones....this proliferation of repros just makes it where you have to be more careful...careful not to get taken and careful not to pass on a legit one. That said, eBay would have to be the worst place to examine one...you're looking at a photo....not the sign in person...If you pull the trigger on a piece from a dealer that states no returns...you really better know it's real...

About twenty years ago I was at a large sports memorabilia show at the Mosconie Center in San Francisco...I was just getting going in this...Those fake Ted Williams Root Beer signs were all over the place in the antiques world...There was a guy set up named John Spalding from San Jose I think..and he had a real Ted Williams Root Beer sign on cardstock...same size as the fake metal ones...Novice that I was I could still tell it was real and bought it for $50.00....Josh Evans was there and I proudly showed him my find...He asked what I paid and I told him...he goes, do you what to sell it?...I said how much and he put up two fingers...I ended up flipping it to him for the two hundred...

There is a chasm between veteran collectors and newbies whish we veterans usually don't stop to consider...We've been around this stuff for decades and take our experience for granted...we can usually tell a fake pretty easily...but someone new can't. Dan Knoll pointed that out to me once in a discussion...about his trepidation at having to tell people offering him things that their stuff was bogus....He said as much it killed him to have to tell someone who had put a lot of money into things which they were counting on to pay there children's college tuition with...that their stuff was no good...said as much it was devastating to people and he had to quit because of it.