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Mantle Difficulty

I've been a collector nearly 30 years. As a Police Officer, I incorporated my hobby in to my work, and studied Forensic Handwriting Analysis. I came across this Mantle, and it caught my eye. I noticed several key similarities, and only a few irregularities at glance. Upon comparison, and under magnification, I see no irregularities in the flow. I find no irregular impression points. Nor, do I see any dragging in the flow of the pen. I've had several Mantle collectors say it is a fake.

Needing more insight, I hired Richard Simon to offer his opinion. As well respected as Richard is on Yankee items, I trust his opinion. He deemed it good. A friend who works at the FBI Crime Lab with Forensic Handwriting, also viewed the signature, and agreed it is good.

That said, there should be little question as to the findings. Thoughts?

I will post photos of the ball, and my comparison exemplars from various years.

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Permalink Reply by terrier8HOF on December 26, 2017 at 2:47pm

speaking of the one Forensic Authenticator, take a look at the fees they charge,

http://gfaauthenticated.com/services/

Then look at what the items from these florida forgers (with GFA cert) are selling for, and explain to me the economics (and the math).

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Permalink Reply by CJCollector on December 26, 2017 at 2:50pm

Exactly, and that is why Forensics and FDE's hit a nerve here.

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Permalink Reply by Jason Charnick on December 26, 2017 at 3:22pm

I love when people post the GFA web site, because it always gives me the chance to point out the trash on their "team" page:

http://gfaauthenticated.com/team/

Check out that awful photoshop job on the stock photo with Jackie Gomez's face pasted on top. Would you trust these guys?

I also think the prices are just there to obfuscate their "true" business of certing forgeries. They're artificially high to chase off any real customer who might be looking to certify an item they own. Being so much more expensive than PSA/DNA, JSA, SGC, or BAS, plus the low ROI of a GFA certified item, of course no one in their right mind would use them unless they're an under-the-table handshake deal at cut rate prices with unscrupulous dealers.

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Permalink Reply by CJCollector on December 26, 2017 at 2:43pm

I wonder how many thousands of forgeries Drew Max (who calls himself an FDE) has "authenticated."

Below is just one of my many threads on Drew Max.

https://live.autographmagazine.com/profiles/blogs/drew-max-forensic...

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Permalink Reply by goodcat on December 26, 2017 at 2:53pm

Thanks for posting those links

I'll have a look at them and see what all the "hubbub" is about

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Permalink Reply by CJCollector on December 26, 2017 at 2:56pm

Thank you, and that's only a few. I have posted hundreds of threads on "Forensic Authenticators."

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Permalink Reply by goodcat on December 26, 2017 at 3:18pm

Oh my lord !!!!

If I didn't see the fear factors before, I certainly do now much more clearly, after reading those links. Well done.

I've stated a few times before that a special committee needs to be implemented to battle these crimes. This would make for a good 20/20 episode to get the word out on a larger scale. Has any big news reports ever been done to try and expose these frauds?

We here about forged art pieces and documents etc. but what about the ebay ring of criminals?

Hey Matt... here's a case you can tell your buddies to work on to the benefit of the public.