Old Balls and fading signatures?

[RichardSimon]

The care that the baseball is given is certainly the key to its survivability.
Keep it in a cool dry place. Do not expose it to sunlight or fluorescent light and you give the ball a much better chance to survive in decent shape.

[drc]

Old letters can last well. I assume in part because they're not exposed to sunglight and air.

[David Atkatz]

Sounds like me and my collection.

[JimStinson]

Light is usually the culprit. On more contemporary autographs from the days I used to do private signings the ink that seemed to hold up the best on baseballs was from those cheap medium point Bic blue ball point pens.
_______________________
Always Buying and Selling Vintage autographs
jim@stinsonsports.com

[mr2686]

I'll second that...the Bic Medium Point pen was always my pen of choice and the balls I've had signed with them have held up well (of course, keeping them out of the light for the most part has helped too). Baseballs are tough to collect because you have to worry about the type of ink used, how much the ball was handled (oils from people's hands on the ball makes thouse brown splotches we see at times), how well the leather of the ball accepted the ink, UV light, etc etc.
The bottom line is, baseballs will fade over time, but if you find a vintage signed ball that looks good today, proper handling and display should keep it good for years to come.

[Fuddjcal]

Originally Posted by mr2686

I'll second that...the Bic Medium Point pen was always my pen of choice and the balls I've had signed with them have held up well (of course, keeping them out of the light for the most part has helped too). Baseballs are tough to collect because you have to worry about the type of ink used, how much the ball was handled (oils from people's hands on the ball makes thouse brown splotches we see at times), how well the leather of the ball accepted the ink, UV light, etc etc.
The bottom line is, baseballs will fade over time, but if you find a vintage signed ball that looks good today, proper handling and display should keep it good for years to come.

+1 from an old feverish ball collector.

The older AL & NL balls hold ink much better than many seligs as well. The challenge is finding the signature as bold as you can and the ball as white as you can.

[Scott Garner]

Originally Posted by David Atkatz

Sounds like me and my collection.

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