I am helping a friend out. This ball was signed in person by a family member of my friend in the 50's. It has a very early Mantle autograph along with Marris and others. What would be the most cost effective method of having it authenticated? Can someone give their opinion on value? I know that signatures of players from different teams on the same ball can hurt the value but this version of Mantle's autograph seems to be very expensive.
save your money. That is a stamped, souvenir ball. Not hand signed. Looks like its from the early 60's, based the signatures, sold at ball parks. Here is an example of the exact same Mantle stamp on another ball:
Thank you for the information, it is very obvious what this is now. My friends ex lost this ball gambling and she paid 600.00 to get it back for her son, so you can imagine how ill I feel having to share this news.