White whale Henry Aaron signature

[JoeyFarino]

If PSA could label it as a 1954 Auto I would buy it back in a heartbeat

[ATP]

Interesting...

[bender07]

Funny that that seller has pinpointed all of those signatures to their rookie year without any supporting documentation. They do all look early but no way to know if they're actually from their rookie years.

[daves_resale_shop]

The Mickey, Joe D, and Williams all resemble other rookie exemplars I have seen... The Aaron shows characteristics of the contracts dated 53-54 on Psa's site... I can't speak on behalf of the Clemente, f Robby, or killebrew...

The Williams is stunning, but seems overpriced at 2k

[Augy44]

What kind of premium would you guys place on rookie era signatures in comparison to a mint later in life autograph? I know a lot of that has to do with how much someone is willing to pay, but is there some sort of premium that is usually realized just because it's a signature from the players rookie year?

[packs]

To me it doesn't matter when exactly a playing days signature was signed. I guess maybe if the date factored in, like say a GPC dated the same date as the player's first hit or something. Otherwise I'd pay the same price whether it was the player's first year or last year as a player.

[daves_resale_shop]

It's tough to put an exact figure on it, but I relate the premium to the scarcity of the variant... My guess is that there are 3-500 regular mantle signatures for ever circa 1951 exemplar (very different), so I don't think that paying 3-5 times is unreasonable... I had been looking for a Williams rookie signature for ages. An ap came to market that could be attributed to spring training of 1938... I had absolutely no problem paying $450 for it...

Originally Posted by Augy44

What kind of premium would you guys place on rookie era signatures in comparison to a mint later in life autograph? I know a lot of that has to do with how much someone is willing to pay, but is there some sort of premium that is usually realized just because it's a signature from the players rookie year?

[JoeyFarino]

The story behind the autographs is pretty cool. The person who got them had a scrapbook full of them and would obtain them all in person. Do you think PSA would re-label some of these as rookie signatures if requested and found to be true?

[bender07]

Originally Posted by Augy44

What kind of premium would you guys place on rookie era signatures in comparison to a mint later in life autograph? I know a lot of that has to do with how much someone is willing to pay, but is there some sort of premium that is usually realized just because it's a signature from the players rookie year?

I absolutely see a premium for rookie era signatures. It's a niche market but the supply is very low.

[Fuddjcal]

Originally Posted by bender07

I absolutely see a premium for rookie era signatures. It's a niche market but the supply is very low.

but stupidity is so high it evens out...

[Mark70Z]

Originally Posted by Augy44

What kind of premium would you guys place on rookie era signatures in comparison to a mint later in life autograph? I know a lot of that has to do with how much someone is willing to pay, but is there some sort of premium that is usually realized just because it's a signature from the players rookie year?

I'm sure it would depend on the player, but in my experience there definitely is a premium for rookie and/or early signatures. I think the pricing would also depend on the item the autograph is on, i.e. ball, picture, postcard, index card, etc. as well as the condition.

I mainly collect Brooks Robinson and his very early signatures are pretty tough to come by. Anyone ever see a Brooks Robinson early signature on the SS of a ball?

[chaddurbin]

for me a signature is a signature. most of the time i prefer the more matured "classic" of the athlete than the archaic looking early sigs...like williams, aaron, mantle etc. i am sure that kind of thinking is the opposite of the norm, but hey i want that and it's cheaper so win/win for me.

collecting modern graphs if i can make out a couple letters from their names instead of the usual squiggly lines i'm happy.