Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Randy on February 1, 2016 at 3:04pm

To be honest, unless they are in really nice condition, the cost for authentication by either JSA or PSA/DNA is prohibitive as they will charge $150 or so plus shipping and insurance both ways and the balls may only be worth a little more than that. Also, they likely have some clubhouse signatures on them. Best bet is to either sell on Ebay and offer a return if an authentication company rejects them or possibly consign to a smaller auction house which handles $100 items. They generally get items pre-certified for a fairly small fee that is passed on to the consignor. They could also be listed for sale on a site like this with a similar guarantee mentioned for Ebay. Likely, some experts here will be able to opine on the authenticity if all panels are pictured.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Mike P on February 1, 2016 at 3:39pm

I agree with Randy. Your best bet is to post pictures of the ball so that any possible clubhouse signatures could be identified.  Depending on the signatures on the ball (I think PSA charges the highest value fee for the most expensive autograph on the item and then a flat rate based on the number of signatures), the ball could be estimated a value.  Like Randy said, if it the ball has signatures that aren't desirable, it may not be worth getting it authenticated by a TPA.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Terry G. on February 2, 2016 at 9:25am

I wouldn't dismiss either ball because there aren't major stars on the teams- for a team collector, sometimes the lousiest rosters are the toughest to find a team signed ball for- because they stink, nobody goes to see them, nobody collects them, there are just fewer out there. I've seen team-signed balls from the '78 Mets go for over a grand- just because they are tougher to find. Not sure why the others are making assumptions about clubhouse signatures- how do we know that they originated from the team? Maybe a collector put them together, like I used to do, slowly, sometimes painfully slow, over years and years..

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by David Seideman on February 2, 2016 at 9:39am

Thanks, Randy, Mike, and Terry. I put pictures up of one of the balls, Tigers from the early 1960s.

David 

• ▶ Reply