Al Simmons Bat Question

[mefer]

Greetings All--

I am a long time reader of the forums who just signed up for an account. In any event, I found an auction on eBay for a game used Al Simmons bat. Being a collector of vintage A's items (but not yet a game used collector) this item caught my eye. However, I will admit that I am a complete novice when it comes to back collecting and that scares me. Here is the auction:

http://cgi.ebay.com/1921-31-Al-Simmo...item563d08d6f1

Here is the bat where it previously sold:

http://www.gameuseduniverse.com/auction/lot.php?id=729

Now, what I have learned from what research that I can find is that a 40k bat is not a "pro model" bat and there are only a few scant H&B records of pros ordering such bats. I can't find any information that Simmons ever ordered a 40k bat nor could I find any pictures of him using such a bat (believe me, I tried).

Given the foregoing, I am beginning to seriously doubt this purchase would be worth. Even if graded and passed, and from what I can tell, it would appear that it would not receive anything higher than a grade of 4 or 5 (again, I am a novice at this and this is just my conclusion from what I have read).

I would kindly appreciate any insight and collective wisdom any of you more advanced collectors could shed on this.

Kind regards,

Matt