Help with a Mantle

[Fballguy]

Originally Posted by Lordstan

Thanks for the compliment, but honestly, I did not write it to change your mind. I wrote it for all those members who might be new or inexperienced with autos and are reading it. I want them to know that your assessment that people's opinions on autos are arbitrary and dubious is, in fact, incorrect.
We agree that using common sense like Steve suggested is worthwhile. You also seem to think that the "gut feeling" is more important than the study of letter formations, the study of the evolution of a specific player's autographs, and player habits. It is not. It is all important to consider when evaluating an auto. You focusing on the gut feeling alone shows your inexperience.
IMO, ignoring the opinion of someone who has more experience and knowledge than you is stupid. It's exactly what you would call someone who has cancer, goes to an oncologist, and then decides they are going to choose different chemo meds because they feel it's better in their "gut," rather than using the opinion of the person who actually knows what they are talking about. It may seem different, but it is not. Refusing to accept knowledge from others who have it is stupid regardless of the circumstances.

You are certainly allowed to have your opinion, but it doesn't make it right. Plenty of people thought the world was flat. Perhaps sticking to offering opinions on football pennants might be better for you as it is what you collect and admittedly autos are not. Your continuing this conversation trying to prove your point, especially reusing the comment about using your eyes to view the auto over and over, reminds me of a famous quote often credited to Abe Lincoln... "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt."

To be clear...I have nothing against autographs or autograph collecting. It's not the focus of my collection, but I do have autographs in it that I cherish. None of my comments were intended to denigrate the hobby of autograph collecting. I was simply commenting on those that are so confident in their skills that they can give the thumbs up/thumbs down by only viewing an online photo...and offering nothing to back up their "expert" opinion.

I find it particularly amusing when an assessment thread has piggy backing and increasingly confident "bad" responses...only until someone of apparent higher respect and/or skill comes along to say "good"...at which point all the predecessors suddenly change their tune and say..."well...I was on the fence".

If some rely on that to appease their doubts, so be it. It's not for me.

[thetruthisoutthere]

Originally Posted by Fballguy

I was simply commenting on those that are so confident in their skills that they can give the thumbs up/thumbs down by only viewing an online photo...and offering nothing to back up their "expert" opinion.

Do you own a Mantle autograph item?

By the way, my method of opining autographs works for me. That's all that matters.

[Fballguy]

Originally Posted by thetruthisoutthere

Do you own a Mantle autograph item?

By the way, my method of opining autographs works for me. That's all that matters.

i've owned and sold several over the past few years. Acquired as part of collections I've picked up. None were certified. All were sold as authentic with no complaints. And I had no doubt they were authentic. It would be highly unlikely they were fake given the quality of the collections and collectors I acquired them from. I'm not even close to being a Mantle expert, but his is one autograph I feel I do know better than most.

[btcarfagno]

Originally Posted by Fballguy

To be clear...I have nothing against autographs or autograph collecting. It's not the focus of my collection, but I do have autographs in it that I cherish. None of my comments were intended to denigrate the hobby of autograph collecting. I was simply commenting on those that are so confident in their skills that they can give the thumbs up/thumbs down by only viewing an online photo...and offering nothing to back up their "expert" opinion.

I find it particularly amusing when an assessment thread has piggy backing and increasingly confident "bad" responses...only until someone of apparent higher respect and/or skill comes along to say "good"...at which point all the predecessors suddenly change their tune and say..."well...I was on the fence".

If some rely on that to appease their doubts, so be it. It's not for me.

Real world analogy:

Ten family physicians say you don't have cancer, then a world renowned oncologist says you do. Who do you trust? Maybe the family physicians might reconsider their original opinions in light of this?

I am generally most interested in Mantle rookie era signatures. I have a very good "feel" for them as I seek them out and pay attention to them when I see them. I am not nearly as interested in his show era signature, though I do admire it as a thing of beauty. Thus I haven't studied this version of his signature, though I do know a few things to look for. That said, there are some on this forum who have seen tens of thousands of examples of his show era signature...good examples and bad. These are the real experts on his show era signature and I will defer to them 100% of the time.

Not sure how else to put it. I don't understand why it would be in any way controversial to defer to the true experts in the field?

Tom C