Babe Ruth Endorsed Check

[chalupacollects]

The tell appears not to have anything to do with the signature nor the check itself. The red cancellation on the stamp to me is the tell that this check was manufactured from blank checks someone ran across. The font style for the date is more modern than those in use in 1944.

Also Babe Ruth had a long standing relationship with Chemical Bank which if you look into seems to be what most of his check signatures are written on. Then about 1945 to 1946 his checks appear to be drawn mainly on Chase National Bank. Though this check was written to him and not from a personal account of his...

[steve B]

They're 1948, but these have a very similar stamp from different banks. It was probably supplied by the clearing house.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Judaica-25-...-/293768413159

Would it have been different in 42? Maybe, but a bit of searching for checks from NY banks from that era should eventually turn up a check to/from nobody important with the same stamp.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Are we 100% that it is live ink and not a stamp? I ask because junctions where letters cross each other aren't darker as they normally would be. The "H" especially on the right side where it crosses the upright doesn't look like a pen did it.

[JimStinson]

For what it's worth this might help. I thought that most everyone knew about these but obviously, I was wrong. One of the "tells" is the affiliation with Jamaica bank (see the stamp on your example). The other is the red smudged cancel mark on the front. I have seen many of these checks most are not endorsements but actual full checks, Not just by Ruth but have also seen Lou Gehrig checks drawn on the same Jamaica Queens bank. Real Ruth checks are on the Chemical Bank and Gehrig checks of which only a handful maybe 5 are known to exist are drawn on his bank in New Rochelle. The checks like these that I have actually held in my hand are laser printed signatures and handwriting most of the time only visible upon close inspection and with magnification. So while with a copy the signature and handwriting will LOOK correct because whatever stylus or process is being used they are using REAL handwriting and signature examples. This same process is being used with photos and just about anything you can imagine. Now there is a LONG SHOT CHANCE that the one you pictured might be OK. It's a VERY outside chance and the things I mentioned above are going to scare away most buyers. Hope this helps
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[JimStinson]

Originally Posted by chalupacollects

The tell appears not to have anything to do with the signature nor the check itself. The red cancellation on the stamp to me is the tell that this check was manufactured from blank checks someone ran across. The font style for the date is more modern than those in use in 1944.

Also Babe Ruth had a long standing relationship with Chemical Bank which if you look into seems to be what most of his check signatures are written on. Then about 1945 to 1946 his checks appear to be drawn mainly on Chase National Bank. Though this check was written to him and not from a personal account of his...

Also, this information is very much "on the money" Thanks
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jim@stinsonsports.com

[packs]

One thing that sticks out to me is that the signature appears to be in the same pen as the one used to write the check out by a different person.

[JimStinson]

Originally Posted by packs

One thing that sticks out to me is that the signature appears to be in the same pen as the one used to write the check out by a different person.

I would tend to disagree, I believe the writing on the front of the check is just someone writing with an old pen on an old check, the endorsement would be different because it's NOT hand-signed. I've seen the same thing done with Christy Mathewson and just about any expensive HOF name you can think of and not always on the same banks. Someone gets blank checks makes them out to whomever and then the replication process is used on verso. In the case of the Mathewson check I mentioned it was an endorsement that someone actually took the time to "hand perforate the "Paid" on the check. The writing on the front making the check out to Matty looked old, the stamping didn't seem to make any sense and were likely just there to make the check look "busy" The Mathewson signature (and others I've seen) Look 100% real because they ARE. They are just not hand-signed or stamped.
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ALWAYS BUYING VINTAGE AUTOGRAPHS
jim@stinsonsports.com

[Scott Garner]

Thank you!
Very educational post & thanks to everyone that contributed here.
Live & learn...

[packs]

Originally Posted by JimStinson

I would tend to disagree, I believe the writing on the front of the check is just someone writing with an old pen on an old check, the endorsement would be different because it's NOT hand-signed. I've seen the same thing done with Christy Mathewson and just about any expensive HOF name you can think of and not always on the same banks. Someone gets blank checks makes them out to whomever and then the replication process is used on verso. In the case of the Mathewson check I mentioned it was an endorsement that someone actually took the time to "hand perforate the "Paid" on the check. The writing on the front making the check out to Matty looked old, the stamping didn't seem to make any sense and were likely just there to make the check look "busy" The Mathewson signature (and others I've seen) Look 100% real because they ARE. They are just not hand-signed or stamped.
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ALWAYS BUYING VINTAGE AUTOGRAPHS
jim@stinsonsports.com

You know more about this than me. I mentioned it because I see the same flaring on the front and the back.

[JimStinson]

Blank checks and documents can be found on e bay by the thousands ...the trick is to link the item to the source for example was John Doe in Milwaukee in 1905? Does the other information add up? Sometimes this takes hours if not days. As far as aging ink it's a simple process and the things that would be obvious on a laser signature are all pretty easy to detect if you know what you are looking for but for obvious reasons don't want to discuss them on a public forum.
Another thing I've noticed since we are talking about checks is many years ago a cache of MORDECAI BROWN checks surfaced these were all from his gas station and he endorsed the verso. Those are unquestionably good but many of the checks were signed FOR him by his wife. Easy to spot. But what some grifters have done is cut the checks signed by the wife which are worthless in half and then endorse (forge) Brown's signature on verso. These are relatively easy to spot as the checks are NOT signed in the place where a check is normally endorsed and instead signed on the opposite end of the check
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ALWAYS BUYING VINTAGE AUTOGRAPHS
jim@stinsonsports.com

[David Atkatz]

Originally Posted by chalupacollects

The tell appears not to have anything to do with the signature nor the check itself. The red cancellation on the stamp to me is the tell that this check was manufactured from blank checks someone ran across. The font style for the date is more modern than those in use in 1944.

Also Babe Ruth had a long standing relationship with Chemical Bank which if you look into seems to be what most of his check signatures are written on. Then about 1945 to 1946 his checks appear to be drawn mainly on Chase National Bank. Though this check was written to him and not from a personal account of his...

This is a check written to Ruth, not by Ruth. Anyone, banking at any bank, could have written him a check.
That being said, Jim has pointed out that these checks, from this particular bank, are well-known.