"The Unauthenticatables"

[wonkaticket]

If that Smith auto is real he had one really nice sig. Neat cards Paul.

[milkit1]

Here is my contribution a t205 lewis richie with an autograph on back. No idea if its his. Im leaning towards no because its such a generic autograph but that doesnt mean anything either.

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[novakjr]

Sean, well we can rule it out as labeling by the collector, since the name is already on the back twice. That right there would actually lead me to believe that it may be real. But then again collector's have always done strange things. I've never quite understood autographs on the back of a card either. I picked up a '64 Ernie Banks, that "someone wrote on the back of"(according to the seller) a while back for under $5. I was pleasantly surprised when that writing turned out to be a legit Ernie signature.

[novakjr]

Originally Posted by wonkaticket

If that Smith auto is real he had one really nice sig. Neat cards Paul.

Agreed, that Smith looks really nice in white.

[milkit1]

Hi David!

That is a good point. Also if he was signing it in pencil it would make sense for him to sign it on back as it would show up more. It s a shame there arent more autograph examples of these more obscure players

[Bridwell]

Here's an example of a Frank Smith autograph from a book I have. To me, it doesn't look like the same person who signed your T206. Of course, the sources for the book could be wrong. I agree there are few examples known of these players.

[jerseygary]

A great resource for finding signatures that are all-but-guaranteed to be authentic is on WWI draft registration cards. Everyone in the US including foreign citizens had to fill one out in 1917-18 if you were born between Sept 11, 1872 to Sept 12, 1900. You can access them at most libraries and on sites like ancestry.com

[Clutch-Hitter]

At first glance, the two Smith examples, the card and the book, look very similar.

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Actually, the Smith exemplar used in that book is more likely an early version of the Frank Smith who pitched for the Reds in the 1950's. His signature very quickly became a nearly-illegible scrawl.

Frank "Piano Mover" Smith's signature bears no resemblence to either depicted in this thread. Unfortunately, the book in question ended up using a few exemplars which did not match up to actual examples, to which Smith apparently fell victim. Bob Groom was another, as confirmed by both his granddaughter and the few known examples in the hobby.

[milkit1]

Here is Lewis Richies draft card. The lewis isnt bad but the richie is a little different. The most suspicious letter being the r in richie. However, I like the Lewis so this might have a chance. Thanks for the advise regarding ancestory!


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