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Permalink Reply by Steve Zarelli on December 15, 2016 at 10:06am

I am not aware of Maris ever using an Autopen, but that Maris sure has the characteristics of an Autopen.

Mantle looks ok.

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Permalink Reply by Mike Kaminski on December 15, 2016 at 10:25am

Yeah, not a fan of the Maris but Mantle looks fine. 

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Permalink Reply by Mike T on December 15, 2016 at 10:31am

Both legit IMO.. I think you are seeing the stop transitions Steve is referring to more prominently because of the fading. Maris signed a lot TTM.

Probably worth getting authenticated, but the magazine page and the faded signatures tank the value pretty hard.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Zarelli on December 15, 2016 at 10:39am

I wasn't referring to just the hard dots. The Maris also displays what I call "machine wobble." Look at the curvature at the top of the R, the flare at the top of the M... even the dot over the i... they all show a slightly slow, wobbly look. Not a smooth flow. Perfectly even pressure throughout with no signs of variance or tapered ends.

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Permalink Reply by Mike T on December 15, 2016 at 10:49am

I see what you're saying, I think the uneven fading of the signature makes it look "wobblier" than it actually was when it was originally signed. You get a feathering look around the borders of the pen stroke, but it's uneven making it look wobbly. If I was Pete however, I would take your assessment over mine 10/10 times.

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Permalink Reply by terrier8HOF on December 15, 2016 at 10:46am

I have to agree with Steve.  I received several autographs TTM from Maris at his Gainsville, FL distributorship.  Thankfully, none of them look like this.  I also never knew of any autopen from Maris, but this one sure is shaky. 

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Permalink Reply by Steve Zarelli on December 15, 2016 at 10:59am

You also have what looks like a touch up. What is this stop and start in the middle of the M?

I could be wrong... but it sure looks odd.

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Permalink Reply by Pete Bendu on December 15, 2016 at 11:10am

Thank you guys.

The Mantle I liked but it was pretty well shot thanks to the fade, and the Maris even though it seemed to be structured correctly, sure looked to be shaky throughout the whole graph. I had no idea if he was still signing during the time he was ill.  I couldn't explain it, and didn't feel right telling this guy to send it away for a sticker without checking with people that knew the graphs better than I do.

   

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Permalink Reply by Mike T on December 15, 2016 at 11:21am

The uneven fading makes it really difficult to tell. Could be someone tried to re-trace it to fix the fading (although it appears to be the same exact pen), could just be the layers of ink fading differently. Maybe he paused to sneeze in the middle of signing the M. Idk.

Even if it gets certed, I don't know that the end value would be worth the effort and expense. Which is probably the more important piece.

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Permalink Reply by terrier8HOF on December 15, 2016 at 12:19pm

the more I look at it the more I am convinced it is just a slowly drawn forgery.  the baseline, and the Maris, is way off.

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