lajoie opinion

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Looks like a Coach's Corner special to me. Ink looks watery and appears to have been applied yesterday. Slow, heavy-handed, deliberate. Lots of stops and starts in strange places, too.

The oddest part is that there was a Merritt P. Durkee in upstate NY at the time; a very quick look shows that one census record finds him living in nearby Ostego. Makes me wonder if this letter may have been based upon an authentic example which was used as a template. Far from the first time something like that has happened. Think of the famous Abraham Lincoln forgery to Mrs. Bixby.

[chaddurbin]

thanks guys i also think this was forged from a similar style examplar, i just couldn't locate it through google.

billycox3 has probably forgotten more about autographs than i'll ever know so consider this thread closed!

[tlake22]

NO chance this is good.

[judsonhamlin]

I’d also be put off by using war bonds stationery three years after the end of the war

[GrayGhost]

No good IMO. Way too neat, and the formation of the N in Napoleon looks lousy too.

Coach's Commode

[BRoberts]

Scott nailed it.

[steve B]

Originally Posted by judsonhamlin

I’d also be put off by using war bonds stationery three years after the end of the war

My parents still had a drawerfull of random stationery that came in letters asking for donations for various causes. They were using stuff at least a decade out of date.

Yes, it's a red flag on something like this, but maybe not a huge one.

[BRoberts]

The big red flag is it is not signed by Nap Lajoie.