Question about Babe Ruth underwear box

ctownboy · #1 12-02-2010, 12:05 PM

FKW,

Go to eBay and look under completed auctions for "Babe Ruth underwear". The very bottom listing on the page is for a FAKE tin sign made in 1993. The sign is said to be authorized by the family as a REPRODUCTION.

If you will see, the graphics ARE different on the fake sign and match the graphics on the white sided underwear box. The nine around Ruth is thinner on the fake sign and the fake sign does NOT have "The Champion Nine" at the bottom JUST LIKE the white sided underwear box.

I am NOT an expert in graphic design BUT I think, with a little practice, I could take a fake sign to Kinkos and make a COPY of the front and THEN make copies of that picture and past them on old boxes.

In short, I think;

1) the white sided underwear boxes are fake

2) scam artists will do ANYTHING to make a buck even if it means going to great links to steal money from people. Links which are far harder and take much more time than actually getting a job and going to work.

David

ctownboy · #2 12-02-2010, 12:07 PM

FKW,

Oh yeah, I forgot to add. You said you sold your white sided underwear box a couple of years ago and that you had owned it for 10 years? Well, that would still mean the fake sign was made five years before you bought your underwear box.

Now, if you had owned your white sided underwear box for 25 years and the fake sign came out in 1993, then I could see there is a chance the white sided underwear boxes are real.

David

fkw · #3 12-02-2010, 12:33 PM

Good point on the repo sign... never seen one of them (Im going to look it up to see).
But what came first, the sign or the white sided boxes??
Usually those signs are copied from original pieces, ie the green sided box.

someone still had to redraw the whole thing, and why would a modern faker spend the time doing so when they could quickly rescreen the original.

If someone has a white sided box with the underwear still inside that would be good proof IMO.

Good Mystery

bigtrain · #4 12-02-2010, 12:34 PM

Okay, so its possible someone made a label from a copy of the sign, acquired a stash of vintage, yellowed, aged, mildewed clothing boxes and artificially aged the glue marks etc. Doesn't that raise another question? Why would the sign company completely redesign the image instead of making a copy of the original? Isn't it possible that the sign was made from the later version of the box and not vice versa?

bigtrain · #5 12-02-2010, 12:34 PM

Great minds think alike Frank. You beat me by a minute.

fkw · #6 12-02-2010, 12:54 PM

Looked at the sign, its the same design exactly.

http://cgi.ebay.com/BABE-RUTH-ALL-AM...-/130453656061

The "whites of the eyes" on the box are more white, and some parts of the image of the hair seems crisper/clearer.

Maybe someone can find proof these boxes existed before 1993.

Maybe an ad in Baseball Hobby News, SCD, or The Traders Speak, or a picture in an early auction catalog maybe???

Better would be to find the underwear inside the box.

*Negative about these white sided boxes is they are too common, and always seem to be flat, with no bottom. Anyone seen a complete white sided box?
Also the 18 year old repo sign seems scarcer than the box too.

Lets solve this mystery

HBroll · #7 12-02-2010, 02:26 PM

The photo of the tin repro sign and the green/white box top are not exactly the same. The tin sign HAS the square line surrounding Ruth's image (like the all green box top) but the green/white box top has no square line surrounding Ruth's image. So what we have are 3 different designs.

ctownboy · #8 12-02-2010, 03:00 PM

Hbroll,

I still think the green/white boxes are fake.

As far as the differences between teh fake sign and the real box, I think the company making the sign got permission to use Ruth's image and name but either didn't get permission to use hte EXACT same graphics as on teh box or the person making the graphics decided to change things around a little. Either so that people could recognize the original 1930's design fom the 1990's design OR just as an exercise to see if theycould do it or to put their own personal stamp on the piece.

I know there was a person who made fake gold coins that passed for real (even the GOOD grading companies were grading them as authentic) UNTIL someone noticed a certain design or mark on the fakes. Come to find out, the forger copied EVERYTHING the original coins had BUT they made one little extra mark in a certain place and did so to put their own personal stamp on the piece.

I haven't held the fake sign in my hand but I would guess it is larger than the green/white box lid. If so, then the white line around the edge of the fake sign would be at the edge of the graphics on the green/white box lid. In short, the box lid was too narrow to be able to incorporate the white line. and still keep the same diminsions of everything else.

David

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