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Input on authenticity of Pele autograph

Found this at an unusual place for a great deal and it looks legit to me, but I wanted other members of the autograph community's opinion.

Brazilian Soccer Legend, Pele on a soccer ball.

Tags: Brazilian, Pele, legend, soccer

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P8060438_1.jpg, 1.9 MB

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Permalink Reply by matthew george on August 6, 2013 at 10:55am

that is his style of writing but what I don't like is that it has been written and signed very slowly and carefully,50/50 on this one as he is very easy to forge

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Permalink Reply by Julie F. on August 6, 2013 at 11:21am

Thank you for your feedback.

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Permalink Reply by Bill Morris on August 6, 2013 at 11:26am

I'm conflicted as well. I looked at a number of available PSA and JSA authenticated Pele signatures recently when I was contemplating a purchase. As Matthew stated, the basic style is correct. The spiral "P" and the loop of the first e being larger than the second are correct. The overall messiness of the cursive inscription is common. I have only seen a few authenticated signatures that had a period after his name and every one I saw had a open or elongated circle as the accent over the second e. Because he is so easy to forge, I would get a PSA/DNA Quick Opinion for $10 before I purchased it. Nice find if it is authentic.

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Permalink Reply by Ian Baldock on August 6, 2013 at 6:52pm

This is a tough one for such a "simple" signature, not much of a slant on the L but maybe because of scrunched up on the ball , the second E finishes perfectly (sharply} . My icons jersey has the circle after the 2nd E. My P is a little different. The story where this came from would have to give this some extra weight to prove authentic.

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Permalink Reply by Julie F. on August 7, 2013 at 12:20am

Believe it or not I found this at a Goodwill store in Texas. I took at chance for an ultra low price as it was totally worth the gamble in my opinion.

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Permalink Reply by Julie F. on September 5, 2014 at 8:39pm

I just thought I would give an update. So there was a Heritage Auctions free appraisal event in Texas this year, where the ball was located. I thought I would take it and see what they said. One of the appraisers seem to state with confidence that it was real and gave me an appraisal value. Though this isn't official without a written document, it gives me a little more confidence that it is real.

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Permalink Reply by Dan Gregory on September 5, 2014 at 8:42pm

Sorry this ball is definitely not real. I know his signature very well and would state with confidence this is not real. The P is the biggest clue and most forgers use the straight line P

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Permalink Reply by Julie F. on September 5, 2014 at 10:51pm

Thank you for your opinion and I will take it into consideration. I didn't pay a lot since I found it in a thrift store, but FYI, I checked out Steiner Sports online and they also have what I would think is a straight line P. Again, I don't know what the deal is but you may want to be aware of that as well.

Thank you again for your feedback. All feedback is welcomed with this hobby.

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Permalink Reply by Dan Gregory on September 5, 2014 at 11:22pm

Hi Julie, I have studied Pele for a few years and have seen many good and bad ones. This is a forgery but a good one if there is such a thing

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Permalink Reply by JackGotLucky on September 6, 2014 at 4:02am

Hello Julie, I kinda agree with Dan on this regarding being authentic. It's very difficult to determine if it's real because he signed it with a thick marker and a lot of the details are lost. To me the "L" in Pele is off. it's to pointed at the top. I have over a dozen Pele in person sigs and they are all very consistent with each other.( I attended the Pele Soccer Camp for a month where my father was a coach and was privileged to have met him and always got a sig when he was signing for all the kids). Here is another example for your comparison.It is a Cosmos banner with all in person sigs including Pele. I think yours is a good forgery in my opinion.