sharpie or pen on vintage?

[Scott Garner]

I prefer pen every time for my collection.
My thought is that this is the writing instrument that the athlete would likely have had in his hand when signing the card in the era that the card was produced.

[AFLfan]

I prefer pen as well. In fact, about 12 years ago I bought a collection that had 40 signed 1963 Fleer football cards. All had been done in pen. I went and bought about 50 ballpoint pens, and included one with each TTM request to the remaining living players. Now my set is complete, and all in ballpoint. A handful are black, as I had to take what I could get on deceased players, but the full set is pen at least.

[T206Collector]

One of the great things about collecting signatures from T206ers is that they never used a sharpie. I find sharpie generally unappealing in nearly every context.

[conor912]

The only time I permit sharpie into my collection is on an item where pen won't work (dark items, textured items, etc.). Otherwise, pen all day.

[homerunhitter]

at what year do you prefer to see ballpoint pen on cards? for me it was 1979 and below, but lately I have been thinking anything 1969 and below for ballpoint pen and 1970 and above for sharpie.. your thoughts on this?

[sreader3]

Originally Posted by homerunhitter

1970 and above for sharpie.. your thoughts on this?

I am working on a '72 Topps signed set and prefer Sharpie (or other felt tip) autos -- although I have settled for ballpoint on occasion. I like the way felt tip autos pop.

That said, I really don't like smudged felt tip autos and some are too fat/flabby.