Why are pencil autographs from the pre-1950s era so disrespected by collectors?

[Fuddjcal]

Originally Posted by David Atkatz

Here's my pencil beauty:

F ME, that's a beaut David!!!!!!!!!!!

I'd erase the "Nick" and write in "David". Better yet, just save the erasing and cut out the "Nick" part...then you'd really have something special there

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by Fuddjcal

F ME, that's a beaut David!!!!!!!!!!!

I'd erase the "Nick" and write in "David". Better yet, just save the erasing and cut out the "Nick" part...then you'd really have something special there

+1

[chaddurbin]

missed out on this good thread the 1st go round. agreed would never erase any personalized inscription. i'm one of those who don't mind personal inscriptions, even if i'm the farthest-looking from an "otto".

great gehrig sig from david, but does the "nick" look out of place to anybody else? i don't know gehrig's handwriting but the nick just look odd when you compare to the "best wishes, lou gehrig" part. if you'd told me nick wrote in "nick" there himself i would believe it.

[David Atkatz]

Originally Posted by chaddurbin

missed out on this good thread the 1st go round. agreed would never erase any personalized inscription. i'm one of those who don't mind personal inscriptions, even if i'm the farthest-looking from an "otto".

great gehrig sig from david, but does the "nick" look out of place to anybody else? i don't know gehrig's handwriting but the nick just look odd when you compare to the "best wishes, lou gehrig" part. if you'd told me nick wrote in "nick" there himself i would believe it.

The "Nick" doesn't look odd at all, Chad--it's most definitely in Gehrig's handwriting. Here's how he addressed the other side:

[Michael B]

David,

I can see why Chad may have thought it was in a different hand. I looks like Gehrig wrote the salutation and then stopped to double check the name and when he started again he left a large space between 'wishes' and 'Nick'. It also looks like he may have turned the pencil a bit and gotten a new edge. That is why pencil signatures are so great. They can have a lot of character, much like a fountain pen. From my perspective it is easy to see that it is all in Gehrig's hand. The flair in 'Nick' fits with the rest of the writing and the 'i' is very consistent.

Cheers,

Michael

[chaddurbin]

michael--you summed up my observation perfectly and your theory makes alot of sense. that's a beautiful piece and you'd have to be crazy to erase the "nick".

[PowderedH2O]

I've got quite a few signatures in pencil in my Olympic collection. This is especially true when dealing with signatures in scrapbooks or small pieces of paper on athletes prior to 1960. I think they look just fine. What's funny is that these might be frowned upon, yet people will get baseballs and index cards signed with sharpies and have no problem with it, and in ten years those autographs will look wretched.

[David Atkatz]

Originally Posted by Fuddjcal

F ME, that's a beaut David!!!!!!!!!!!

I'd erase the "Nick" and write in "David". Better yet, just save the erasing and cut out the "Nick" part...then you'd really have something special there

Nick's my son's name. One day, it will be his.
(Not that it's not a good idea...)