Genuine Babe Ruth Autographs

[cipollinaj]

Jim,
exactly.
As the definitions of SINISTER have to do with being on the left
and being a bad omen.

The definitions of CORRECT have to do with making things right,
to rectify and to remove from fault.

Possibly cultural (religious) issues came into play here and these became the standard of the day.

Also, as far as being right handed but a great lefty hitter, aren't there other factors to take into account like RT/LT eye dominance etc.??

[CardsFan999]

Originally Posted by JimStinson

If one is to rely strictly on things like "slant", "Formation", etc. etc. in determining an autograph's authenticity. You'll likely succeed in avoiding the crude, average to slightly above average forgers on the ladder.

The especially talented ones have NAILED the above mentioned characteristics because they are ...to quote Mick Jagger "Practiced at the art of deception".

Master counterfeiters whos deception is to produce fake currency can draw a twenty dollar bill FREEHAND is it not then conceivable that someone can produce an exact replica of a BABE RUTH autograph or anyone else's using known examples ?

In the book "The Art of Making Money" the story of a master counterfeiter ..I quote
"Art Williams. took to crime almost immediately, starting with petty theft before graduating to robbing drug dealers. Eventually a man nicknamed "DaVinci" taught him the centuries-old art of counterfeiting. After a stint in jail, Williams emerged to discover that the Treasury Department had issued the most secure hundred-dollar bill ever created: the 1996 New Note. Williams spent months trying to defeat various security features before arriving at a bill so perfect that even law enforcement had difficulty distinguishing it from the real thing. Williams went on to print millions in counterfeit bills"

My point being that there should be other factors at play in determining an autograph's authenticity than just what it LOOKS like. Subtle things that take years to learn because the REALLY, REALLY talented elite are not cranking out Rube Marquards, George Kellys or even Thurman Munson's or Roger Maris. They are doing SINGLE SIGNED mint to near perfect sweet spot signed baseballs of Ruth, Gehrig, Mathewson and the like that upon completion are going to command 6 figures or more.
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jim@stinsonsports.com

I'm about half-way through "The Art of Making Money" and it really is instructive to understand that forgery is really one of the oldest professions and those who are SERIOUS about it succeed often before being caught. I recently finished another excellent book on the topic, "Caveat Emptor" by Ken Perenyi. The same applies. People want to believe something is real even when alarms should be going off in their head saying that it's likely otherwise. People don't write much any more or read other's hand-writing so it's getting even easier as time passes to find your dupe.

I can easily see why Babe Ruth is the most prevalent high-dollar forgery. There are only four letters in each name. The signature doesn't seem hard even to a novice. Examples are numerous. He was known to sign a lot. Etc., etc. I'm pretty sure that practicing this one 500 times a day for a few
weeks would lead to a pretty good result for even a semi-talented forger. Get some old paper, old ink (easily done BTW) and you're there.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by JimStinson

I think it was a case of back in the day there was a CORRECT way and incorrect way, In a teachers way of thinking and that if someone was writing with their left hand that was by the standards of the day INCORRECT.

Ted Williams is one I always found "unusual" in that he was a NATURAL right hander , amazing in that the greatest LEFT HANDED hitter EVER was actually a right handed person.

When Williams was asked about it once he said he had no idea WHY ...and said it was not something he learned. He said that when he was a young kid the first time he ever picked up a baseball bat he swung it lefthanded
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jim@stinsonsports.com

I write right handed and bat left handed..I dunno why either......just sayin'.....

[I Only Smoke 4 the Cards]

To me the most telling stroke is the stroke between the lower case a and b. this is a very subtle stroke. In the forgeries it tends to be short and bunched, almost curved.

A trick I learned a while ago is to look at autographs upside down. It's easier to tell the subtle differences that way.