Interesting Story

[MacDice]

It is amazing what technology has done to the autograph hobby. I know a lot of people on this board are not into autographs but I thought that I would share with you a new trend. For autograph collectors it is very difficult to prepare for any chance encounter with an athlete or celebrity. It is impossible to always have a photo or a card of a specific person in case you get a chance to get a signature. You never know who you will bump into but technology that is no longer an issue.

Using a certain type of photo paper, a blue sharpie and a photo printer anything is possible. Once an athlete / celebrity has signed the photo paper in a blue sharpie the collector or dealer can then go and print a photo on the paper and the signature comes out perfect (assuming that it is not on a dark are of the photo that is being printed). The ink in the printer does not effect the ink of the blue sharpie. I did not believe this until I saw it done first hand.

Imagine this scenario, someone gets Willie Mays to sign the proper photo paper in blue sharpie, they could later print his obituary (when he passes away) onto the paper and you would have an authentic signed obituary. Weird to think that could happen.

[HRBAKER]

Originally Posted by MacDice

It is amazing what technology has done to the autograph hobby. I know a lot of people on this board are not into autographs but I thought that I would share with you a new trend. For autograph collectors it is very difficult to prepare for any chance encounter with an athlete or celebrity. It is impossible to always have a photo or a card of a specific person in case you get a chance to get a signature. You never know who you will bump into but technology that is no longer an issue.

Using a certain type of photo paper, a blue sharpie and a photo printer anything is possible. Once an athlete / celebrity has signed the photo paper in a blue sharpie the collector or dealer can then go and print a photo on the paper and the signature comes out perfect (assuming that it is not on a dark are of the photo that is being printed). The ink in the printer does not effect the ink of the blue sharpie. I did not believe this until I saw it done first hand. Imagine this scenario, someone gets Willie Mays to sign the proper photo paper in blue sharpie, they could later print his obituary (when he passes away) onto the paper and you would have an authentic signed obituary. Weird to think that could happen.

I am not sure you are going to find a lot of celebrities that will sign a "blank" sheet of paper with such technology available. I can think of a few untoward applications of that scenario. I guess if it clearly photo paper, maybe. I can tell you that at Spring Training I used to like to get blank sided 3x5s signed for years, you might as well leave them at home now. I got tired oh hearing, "we've been instructed by the Players Union not to sign those."

[RichardSimon]

Originally Posted by HRBAKER

I am not sure you are going to find a lot of celebrities that will sign a "blank" sheet of paper with such technology available. I can think of a few untoward applications of that scenario. I guess if it clearly photo paper, maybe. I can tell you that at Spring Training I used to like to get blank sided 3x5s signed for years, you might as well leave them at home now. I got tired oh hearing, "we've been instructed by the Players Union not to sign those."

What?? That is absurd. What does the union have against signed 3x5s?

[HRBAKER]

Originally Posted by RichardSimon

What?? That is absurd. What does the union have against signed 3x5s?

Richard,

I have been told several times that the PU warned them against signing anything blank because of potential "identity theft" issues.

[novakjr]

Originally Posted by HRBAKER

Richard,

I have been told several times that the PU warned them against signing anything blank because of potential "identity theft" issues.

Why does it matter? Most of them are already using stolen identities

[mschwade]

Originally Posted by RichardSimon

What?? That is absurd. What does the union have against signed 3x5s?

I started a blog about my autograph experiences this past weekend and my first relevant blog entry was today and pertains to the above quote:

http://autographnation.blogspot.com/...rspective.html

[novakjr]

I remember seeing a few Roy Campanella rubber stamped items that had been psa/dna slabbed. I'll tell ya, the ebay seller flipped out on me royally when I pointed it out to him. He insisted that it was signed..

[RichardSimon]

Originally Posted by MacDice

It is amazing what technology has done to the autograph hobby. I know a lot of people on this board are not into autographs but I thought that I would share with you a new trend. For autograph collectors it is very difficult to prepare for any chance encounter with an athlete or celebrity. It is impossible to always have a photo or a card of a specific person in case you get a chance to get a signature. You never know who you will bump into but technology that is no longer an issue.

Using a certain type of photo paper, a blue sharpie and a photo printer anything is possible. Once an athlete / celebrity has signed the photo paper in a blue sharpie the collector or dealer can then go and print a photo on the paper and the signature comes out perfect (assuming that it is not on a dark are of the photo that is being printed). The ink in the printer does not effect the ink of the blue sharpie. I did not believe this until I saw it done first hand.

Imagine this scenario, someone gets Willie Mays to sign the proper photo paper in blue sharpie, they could later print his obituary (when he passes away) onto the paper and you would have an authentic signed obituary. Weird to think that could happen.

Where did you see this? And can you explain how the ink in the photo does not totally cover up the sharpie ink of the autograph?
I can see this coming to card shows. The promoters and players charge more for "premium" items,, how much will they now charge for signing this special photo paper?

[novakjr]

Richard. I could be wrong here, but I believe printers don't actually print white. So if you were to play around finding the right photo for the placement of your signature it could technically work. I'm not thinking that it would be all that appealing to have ink cover any of the signature at all though.

Another option would be a temporary cover for the signature, to be removed after printing. It would create a natural frame for the signature within the photo.

[MacDice]

Originally Posted by RichardSimon

Where did you see this? And can you explain how the ink in the photo does not totally cover up the sharpie ink of the autograph?
I can see this coming to card shows. The promoters and players charge more for "premium" items,, how much will they now charge for signing this special photo paper?

I saw a buddy of mine who runs a sports memorabilia place do it. He goes to a lot of celebrity golf tournaments and this is what he does. He does not know why it works, it just does if you have the right set up. Not all printers will work on this process and for some reason it only works with blue sharpie. It totally sounds BS I know. Maybe someone with a printing background can explain. It could be that the chemicals in the sharpie does not allow the ink from the cartridge to stick onto the paper. I will see if I can get a video of him doing it.

[RichardSimon]

Is it actual glossy photo paper or matte finish paper?
It almost sounds like something out of the twilight zone.

[RichardSimon]

Originally Posted by MacDice

It is amazing what technology has done to the autograph hobby. I know a lot of people on this board are not into autographs but I thought that I would share with you a new trend. For autograph collectors it is very difficult to prepare for any chance encounter with an athlete or celebrity. It is impossible to always have a photo or a card of a specific person in case you get a chance to get a signature. You never know who you will bump into but technology that is no longer an issue.

Using a certain type of photo paper, a blue sharpie and a photo printer anything is possible. Once an athlete / celebrity has signed the photo paper in a blue sharpie the collector or dealer can then go and print a photo on the paper and the signature comes out perfect (assuming that it is not on a dark are of the photo that is being printed). The ink in the printer does not effect the ink of the blue sharpie. I did not believe this until I saw it done first hand.

Imagine this scenario, someone gets Willie Mays to sign the proper photo paper in blue sharpie, they could later print his obituary (when he passes away) onto the paper and you would have an authentic signed obituary. Weird to think that could happen.

A little bit removed from technology and autographs but there have been instances with Gerald Ford and Richard Nixon where Ford signed a blank piece of paper and then the collector typed in "I believe Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone" (Ford was a member of the Warren Commission) and Nixon signing blank pages and then collectors typing his presidential resignation above his signature.