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Willie Mays Autograph - Real or Fake?

Bought this at an auction for $50, could I get your opinions?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by terrier8HOF on August 22, 2013 at 3:23pm

I don't know, Mike. it looks off to me, now that I see it up close. when you posted it before, it was at an angle, and impossible to really make any determination. but this one, the slant is not correct, and it actually looks like his first name is "Dave".

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Permalink Reply by Mike Kaminski on August 22, 2013 at 3:26pm

Yeah I agree. I think both the Williams and this are "decently made" fakes. Looks like I lost $100 :(

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Permalink Reply by Mike Shepherd on August 22, 2013 at 3:50pm

Do you know when it was supposed to have been signed Mike?

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Permalink Reply by Mike Kaminski on August 22, 2013 at 3:56pm

No idea. Both autographs I bought I would say have good characteristics about them, but also have negatives.

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Permalink Reply by Mike Kaminski on August 22, 2013 at 4:47pm

Here are two examples I found that give me *some* hope about this photo:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-14M9h1sUSVU/TnDZc6eekLI/AAAAAAAACM4/p13L0...

http://i.ebayimg.com/t/WILLIE-MAYS-2008-DONRUSS-AMERICANA-II-AUTO-A...$(KGrHqN,!k8FF-p5pwp+BRkvRl,5(!~~60_57.JPG

And also this, but I'm not sure if it is authentic:

http://thumbs2.ebaystatic.com/d/l225/m/mB_21Rd2PdqFDTZUd1M4F6w.jpg

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Permalink Reply by Erich Jerozal on August 22, 2013 at 5:43pm

isn't that ball a sayhey certed ball. I would say your 8x10 is no good. Just from the examples. Just IMO though.

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Permalink Reply by Mike Shepherd on August 22, 2013 at 6:27pm

Mike, the examples that you posted links to do not really compare very well to the one that you are questioning. There is something about the slant that concerns me.

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Permalink Reply by Mike Kaminski on August 22, 2013 at 7:34pm

Whoa, that's nearly exactly the same haha. Did anyone figure out if it was real or not? I was also wondering what you guys meant by slant, is it just that Mays usually signs very horizontally?

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Permalink Reply by Mike Shepherd on August 22, 2013 at 8:31pm

Not necessarily. It is just not typical enough for me to want it in my own personal collection unless I saw him sign it myself or trusted the seller to be reputable.

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Permalink Reply by Mike Kaminski on August 22, 2013 at 8:41pm

Yeah that makes sense. I took a chance on it and it seems people are unsure about. I'm planning to take it to some authenticators near my area and get it checked out sometime in September.