What are the odds these are real? Thoughts? - AUCTION UPDATE

SouthWestIA · July 18, 2010 7:27AM

These two signed photos are up for auction next weekend in South West Iowa and I would doubt they are real. I do not want to see people get taken advantage of and maybe they are real but I thought I would post here.

Thanks

mikeschmidt · July 18, 2010 10:12AM

very hard to tell. The scans shows sigs that share some of the characteristics of real signatures -- but the picture quality on both the Gehrig and Cobb look really crappy. Usually vintage signed photos have pretty high quality photos.

It seems unusual that both signatures would be signed at almost exactly the same upward-right angle...

stevek · July 18, 2010 10:16AM

For me, I would need more details about the seller to offer a good opinion. If it's not a well respected dealer in autographs, or some different scenario such as a long time collector who passed, and his collection is being offered for sale by a respected auction house, then in my opinion the chances of those autographs being genuine are close to zero, if not zero. Even with those best case scenarios, there would still be a risk, but at least less risk.

SouthWestIA · July 18, 2010 10:24AM

Well the auctioneer said they were found in a safety deposit box which means nothing. I would guess that someone will pay big money and they are not real. The people running the auction would have no clue if they were real or not but I'm going to guess that they say the items are real on the day of the auction.

Stone193 · July 18, 2010 10:30AM

I stink at sigs - they look like the sigs in appearance but that's about all that can be said with such a small scan of the auto.

Found in a SD box? Interesting...

I would not take a chance on these unless authenticated by someone trustworthy.

SouthWestIA · July 18, 2010 10:32AM

Do you think that it is odd they are both signed in blue?

stevek · July 18, 2010 11:16AM

The problem is for the money that they will probably sell for, given the chances that in my opinion they are likely fake, in my view it's not even close to worth the risk, and it's a very easy call.

slaphappy · July 18, 2010 11:40AM

They look like they are done in blue sharpie. If that is true then the Cobb is most likely not real, but it could have been a sharpie predacessor, but the sharpie was invented in 1964 and blue was not available til later, Cobb died in 1961. The blue ink is very troubling to me. Almost all autos that age are in black.

Dpeck100 · July 18, 2010 12:09PM

I know nothing about auto's but this was a great post! Extremely insitefull and hopefully a help the board member asking the question.

MooseDog · July 18, 2010 1:01PM

The Gehrig has no shot. The Cobb might be OK but usually photos are personalized and odds are they came from the same person. Of course the only way to render a better opinion would be closer scans.

hammered · July 18, 2010 1:05PM

I agree with a few here who see odd consistencies between the two photos - both same quality pics, both same size, in same type of frame, signed same location on pic at same upward angle with same type of pen in same color. I'd bet autopen.

stevek · July 18, 2010 1:35PM

Perhaps Fred's Autographs Kards Enterprises could issue a letter of authenticity.

storm888 · July 18, 2010 3:01PM

The sigs look like they came from fountain or cartridge pens.

Blue ink was fairly common - in non-biznez settings - until
after 1965.

The backs of the pics might offer some clues.

.

HeritageSports · July 18, 2010 11:16PM

Definitely not real. I can state this with 100% certainty. I've seen these before--they're some sort of premium, and the "autographs" are part of the print.

zep33 · July 19, 2010 12:14AM

I was hoping to see boobies in this thread

Carew29 · July 19, 2010 3:08AM

Man... i wanna do a political zinger to above comment...but i know Carol's got her finger on that darn delete button!!

SouthWestIA · July 24, 2010 1:16PM

Auction is tomorrow. I will let everyone know how high they go.

Pigs · July 24, 2010 2:25PM

<< Definitely not real. I can state this with 100% certainty. I've seen these before--they're some sort of premium, and the "autographs" are part of the print. >>

I'm hoping the people running the auction know about this post and know they are not authentic.

stevek · July 24, 2010 7:32PM

<< 

<< Definitely not real. I can state this with 100% certainty. I've seen these before--they're some sort of premium, and the "autographs" are part of the print. >>

I'm hoping the people running the auction know about this post and know they are not authentic. >>

I tried to Google it and find the auction, but I couldn't find it - it would be interesting to read the auction description.

WinPitcher · July 24, 2010 11:42PM

I thought I read somewhere that Cobb only signed in green?

Maybe Marc can shed some light on that.

Steve

WinPitcher · July 24, 2010 11:46PM

From google:

Baseball Hall of Famer Ty Cobb was well-known for his green ink letters and signatures, but we have seen botched forgeries using a color that not only isn't correct,

I knew I read that somewhere, I think on Net 54.

IMO if these were real why didn't the auction house get them authenticated by a reliable source?

Steve

stevek · July 24, 2010 11:53PM

I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if the auction description does the usual "sales pitch" explaining what a magnificent find this is...and then does the little disclaimer thing at the end of the description that they are not 100% sure if the sigs are genuine or not.

WinPitcher · July 24, 2010 11:56PM

If the signature is in blue I wouldn't touch it.

Steve

Stone193 · July 25, 2010 12:14AM

Hi Steve

I checked ebay for PSA/DNA signed Cobbs and found a few - like this one - that are in blue ink. Tho, I do agree - the cut sigs I've seen over the years are in green ink.

Also, there's a check signed in blue ink.

Pigs · July 25, 2010 3:29AM

<< I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if the auction description does the usual "sales pitch" explaining what a magnificent find this is...and then does the little disclaimer thing at the end of the description that they are not 100% sure if the sigs are genuine or not. >>

And then followed by........."What do you say we start the bidding at $300? OK here we go,"

scooter729 · July 25, 2010 3:52AM

<< If the signature is in blue I wouldn't touch it.

Steve >>

Cobb was well known for signing in green ink, esp. later in life, but not exclusively. My signed pic (PSA / DNA) was signed in 1930 with black ink. Wish I had a scan to share...

stevek · July 25, 2010 3:54AM

<< 

<< I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if the auction description does the usual "sales pitch" explaining what a magnificent find this is...and then does the little disclaimer thing at the end of the description that they are not 100% sure if the sigs are genuine or not. >>

And then followed by........."What do you say we start the bidding at $300? OK here we go," >>

Many years ago I worked for a short while for a live auction house. No doubt in my mind that the shills will really be on top of this one hoping to draw in a sucker with some ferocious herd mentality bidding. Sadly, if there is a winning sucker, oh excuse me, winning bidder, it wouldn't surprise me to eventually see these items on ebay. The winning bidder might even realize he could be suckered with this, but figures he may find a bigger sucker on ebay and turn a nice profit.

SouthWestIA · July 25, 2010 8:40AM

Well I told them they were fake and someone still bid $50 for the pair. What can I say?

WinPitcher · July 25, 2010 8:44AM

50.00 and won the pair? Not bad of a gamble.

We here can only speculate, they could be real for any of us know.

Steve

hhmag70 · July 25, 2010 8:51AM

For $25 each if they are nicely framed could be displayed on the cheap as just player photos.

SouthWestIA · July 25, 2010 9:35AM

Looking at them up close you could tell without a doubt that they were not real. The auction had three more photos of movie stars that were signed in blue. They looked really cheap to me.

Pigs · July 25, 2010 9:45AM

<< Well I told them they were fake and someone still bid $50 for the pair. What can I say? >>

Have to commend you for telling them, I think that's great you spoke up. Maybe it helped people to be cautious with their bidding.

SouthWestIA · July 25, 2010 10:30AM

I just didn't want to see people throw money away on fake items.

What are the odds these are real? Thoughts? - AUCTION UPDATE

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