needed: walter johnson feedback

[Scott Garner]

Originally Posted by chaddurbin

"circa 1924 WJ signed". here's a link to the auction: http://legendaryauctions.com/LotDeta...ntoryid=151891. thanks for all the opinions/thoughts so far on the thread and pm.

the area of the picture below is 3.75" x 5.25" to give some visual context

I'm going to go out on a limb and tell you that I would be not be comfortable with some of the inconsistencies of this Walter Johnson autograph, especially given the time frame it was supposed to be signed. I will PM you with my specifics...

[Hankphenom]

I like it, but here's how I do Walter Johnson autographs: I look at them for several seconds and then say, "If I had to say yes or no, here's what I'd say." I'm no autograph expert, in the technical sense, but I might have seen (as in paid attention to, because I always pay attention to Walter Johnson material) more Johnson autographs short of somebody like Jimmy, Grad, or other longtime major authenticators. I've also been known to be wrong, at least according to "experts." So there's my two cents. I especially like the writing of the salutation. I've seen so many variations of his autograph that I know were real, so the name itself is less important to me, although I like this one, too. However, if any of the guys that really know their stuff, and there are at least two of them here on Net54, declared that they didn't like it for one reason or another, I'd go with them. Of course, the big guys also disagree with each other ALL the time. I'll run it by Keating and see what he says.

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by Hankphenom

I like it, but here's how I do Walter Johnson autographs: I look at them for several seconds and then say, "If I had to say yes or no, here's what I'd say." I'm no autograph expert, in the technical sense, but I might have seen (as in paid attention to, because I always pay attention to Walter Johnson material) more Johnson autographs short of somebody like Jimmy, Grad, or other longtime major authenticators. I've also been known to be wrong, at least according to "experts." So there's my two cents. I especially like the writing of the salutation. I've seen so many variations of his autograph that I know were real, so the name itself is less important to me, although I like this one, too. However, if any of the guys that really know their stuff, and there are at least two of them here on Net54, declared that they didn't like it for one reason or another, I'd go with them. Of course, the big guys also disagree with each other ALL the time. I'll run it by Keating and see what he says.

Hank, What do you think of the "J"? My concern is the break at the top. Because I sign the "S" in my first name that way, I'm fairly sure that Johnson would have started at the bottom of the top loop, gone to the left, NOT STOPPED, then come down on the right, gotten some air at the bottom, the up and to the right. The break seems very weird to me.

[Scott Garner]

Originally Posted by Runscott

Hank, What do you think of the "J"? My concern is the break at the top. Because I sign the "S" in my first name that way, I'm fairly sure that Johnson would have started at the bottom of the top loop, gone to the left, NOT STOPPED, then come down on the right, gotten some air at the bottom, the up and to the right. The break seems very weird to me.

That was one of 4 concerns that I had as well...

Hank,
I appreciate you checking in with your thoughts!

[chaddurbin]

yes interesting i've had a couple WJ collectors saying they think it's bad, then hank with about as much of an authority on WJ as anyone saying he thinks it's good. just when i thought i had figured it out .

the J is a big sore spot for me also, have you seen writings like that from WJ hank? i appreciate your input.

[Rob L]

The "j" is all sorts of wrong. The rest isn't bad, but the J pops out! All IMHO obviously. I'm not an auto expert but my favorite dead ball era player is The Big Train so I have seen many of his autographs!

[Hankphenom]

I don't have a file of exemplars, so I don't know if the J is so different from all others as to be conclusive that it's bad. And even if so, things can happen during the course of signing an autograph to make it different. But for all the rest of it, and especially the salutation, if this is a forgery the guy really got it down as I look at it. Another point: if this is a forgery, why wouldn't he do the "J" in a more common way? I'd like to hear what our resident experts think, and that will be good enough for me.

[Runscott]

An interesting website:

PSA Autograph Facts - Walter Johnson