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DiMaggio - Does this look legit?

This was in a scrapbook of my grandfathers... roughly baseball card sized cutout from a magazine and signed in ballpoint. Unfortunately nobody in the family knows the history on this one.

Also, despite being in a plastic screw down case for decades, the ink is fading and the paper continues to yellow. Is there any way to better preserve this?

If it passes the sniff test with folks on the forum, who is the best authenticator to send it to these days? Beckett or PSA?

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on December 27, 2021 at 5:34pm

Mike, it's hard to see the writing clearly so I'd prefer a better image but from what I can see it's not real in my opinion.

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Permalink Reply by Mike O on December 27, 2021 at 8:00pm

Yeah, I'm researching it on my own and just found this article which includes a screenshot of a secretarial signature... which looks identical to the above. Even the pen strokes of the "Best Wishes" matches. Major bummer...

https://sportscollectorsdigest.com/news/joe-dimaggio-high-demand-au...

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Permalink Reply by Mike O on December 27, 2021 at 8:02pm

I do wonder if secretarial signatures carry any value or if there's a market for them...

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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on December 27, 2021 at 8:28pm

Sometimes. Ask about clubhouse sigs and if they have any collectable value.

An example of a collectable secretarial would be the Pat Saddleman "Gleason's" prior to 1959, especially closer to 1950. If you wrote to the Studio asking for Gleason's autograph you would get a Saddleman. Jackie Gleason signed very, very little. He is actually nearing "rare". But its an uphill battle when PSA has 50% forgeries and secretarials shown as genuine on the Gleason Facts page. It is so very important to know your subjects signing habits.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on December 27, 2021 at 8:50pm

Keep it in the family as a connection with your grandpa. Secretarials rarely have enough value to cover the cost of authentication and Joe isn't that expensive except on baseball cards unless with Mickey or Marilyn.