Babe Ruth Signature Authenticity Question

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Originally Posted by Mark17

A trimmed or altered card is still genuine, and bats and jerseys (flannels, anyway) are very hard to fake. There may always be the possibility a player didn't actually use a bat or jersey, but the item itself can be determined to be genuine. Unless it's a very valuable piece, creating a fake bat or old jersey that would fool any serious collector would not make financial sense.

Unlike someone taking pencil or pen to old paper, genuine baseball, photo, or card.

For instance, I could spend $5 today, buying a 1963 Topps Ken Hubbs card, and faking an autograph on it. But there's virtually no way to create a counterfeit 1961-64 Hubbs H&B bat, or a flannel jersey that would match exemplars down to the materials, thread color and stitching, pass the table lamp and black light tests, include all appropriate tagging, age, wear, puckering, etc.



Exactly. I can say I definitely have a 1963 Bob Allison Twins home jersey. Can't say for certain Allison wore it, unless I am able to find a conclusive photo match, but I am 100% certain the item was prepared for him in '63 and is genuine. The guy with that ugly Ruth? He cannot make any assertion whatsoever. To me, spending dough on a bunch of "maybes" wouldn't give me the warm fuzzy feeling. The uncertainty would nag at me, never to be satisfactorily resolved. I'd have nightmares of Ed Filbertson carefully penning the Ruth, then looking up at me, laughing maniacally.

Even with game used items, the difference in price between a game issued jersey of an all time player and a game used jersey of same player is monumental.

Yes, the jersey may be real but the value is negligible compared to a game used one and you are counting on mainly experts just the same as on autographs to determine the liklihood of game use.

The opinions of John Taube on game used bats carries weight in the market whereas someone else unknown in the hobby with more knowledge than him carries zero weight.

It is all just something to collect anyway and the added value is only important if you are selling.