Sitting Bull playing card autograph reproduction help.
Allen
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I saw one of these at a flea market and I wondered if it was worth anything. I did not know much about it and I looked on ebay and found this one. So I guess I know they are reproductions. Does anyone here know anything about these? I know this is not exactly sports related but it is kind of close since it is a card and sitting bull is in a few sets.
I saw one of these at a flea market and I wondered if it was worth anything. I did not know much about it and I looked on ebay and found this one. So I guess I know they are reproductions. Does anyone here know anything about these? I know this is not exactly sports related but it is kind of close since it is a card and sitting bull is in a few sets.
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Comments
The Buffalo Bill Museum has received numerous examples of souvenir playing cards with Wild West performer signatures; however we believe the items we have seen are undoubtedly fake (see image to right). Here’s why. First, there are several anomalies in the circular stamp. There are no known authentic usages of that stamp. The name of the show was always "Buffalo Bill’s Wild West." Never in any of the advertising or show papers was it called "Buffalo Bill Cody’s" or "Wild West Show."
Second, we know of no similarly autographed playing cards existing in any collections or appearing on the market before 1998. The image to the right shows examples that have been given to the museum to validate our case. In other examples we have received, the cards all have the same stamp with the same date for the year 1884; especially note worthy is an example signed "Sitting Bull." Sitting Bull was with the show for only one season - the summer of 1885.
Third, there are anomalies in the card itself. For example, the symbols are not uniform. Considering the soiling of the card, the signature seems to be unnaturally fresh. Also, for a card showing so much wear and soil, the edges and corners show none of the rubbing or chipping that one would expect. The Buffalo Bill Museums at Lookout Mountain, Colorado, and at North Platte, Nebraska, received copies and inquiries independent of those that came to the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. So far, no letter or statement of authentication from a reputable collector or dealer has been shown to us, and none of the cards has been offered, so far as we know, with demonstrable provenance. Like the supposed Annie Oakley tintypes that appeared on the market a few years ago, these cards, and others like it, cannot, in the absence of clear proof to the contrary, be assumed to be what they are purported to be.