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500 HR Club, Are the Autographs Authentic?

Hello,

I purchased this piece a while back and have been hesitant to send it off for authentication with all of the industry delays. The photo itself is glossy so I’m certain the picture is a copy. There is etching into the photo on all autographs. I’m a novice though and can’t discern a “banana” shape to Mantle autographs. Are any/all/none of the signatures real you think?

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6AC47E74-8D41-49F4-AEC1-CD81E4DFF606.jpeg, 3.5 MB

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on May 10, 2021 at 10:26am

That is not authentic unfortunately but the Mantle isn't a 'Banana Mantle forgery. Those are mostly if not all machine signed forgeries on retail inkjet printer photo paper. Mickey Mantle died in August 1995 and retail inkjet printers came out in August and September 1995. Mantle was not signing volumes of autographs buy then, if any, due to illness and there are tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of these.

If you take it out of the frame there's a good chance there's a water mark on it, but not all do. That will be precut retail photo paper.

I'm glad you asked because it saved you 100's in authentication fees.

If you want to keep it, please write forgery on the back once you are confident I gave you correct information.

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Permalink Reply by Seth Miller on May 10, 2021 at 10:38am

Thank you!

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Permalink Reply by JK on May 10, 2021 at 10:32am

Based on your excellent and deductive assessment based on the technology in involved it seems they are not personally signed. But forgery? I'd call it a preprint.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on May 10, 2021 at 11:21am

They're not printed signed, JK, they're signed with a Sharpie or similar marker. I have pieces here from the same source. Click to zoom in on the signatures.