Joe DiMaggio “death bed” signatures

I found a seller who has what he’s calling DiMaggio deathbed autographs.  It felt a bit morbid to even consider buying one of these at all, let alone for the prices he’s asking.  Are these real?  And why does a sloppy, shaky “deathbed” signature go for 5x what a clean, prime signature does?

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Permalink Reply by terrier8HOF on April 13, 2020 at 6:00pm

you hit it on the head.  Morbid. Who would want one at any price, never mind at these prices.  

Permalink Reply by D R on April 13, 2020 at 6:29pm

I had the pleasure of meeting Stan Musial while he was alive.  A few years back, when Musial passed, I almost lost it when I saw Leaf had released shaky, last-day signatures of his.

However with Musial, I’m told he wanted to sign autographs until the very end because he enjoyed his fans and wanted as many people to have his autograph as possible.  (I want to believe that, so if I’m wrong, please don’t tell me otherwise.)

Everything I’m reading with DiMaggio, says his family made him sign until his last days for financial reasons.

Permalink Reply by Steve Zarelli on April 14, 2020 at 5:17am

Very strange to me that anyone would pay extra for an old age, infirm sub-par signature. 

"Deathbed" signatures seem to be a thing from some dealers. My sense is that it's just a gimmick to pawn off poor quality signatures. I do not think there is significant collector demand for these.

Permalink Reply by D R on April 16, 2020 at 3:47pm

Aside from being morbid, they’re ugly.  I cringe when I see them.  But they actually sell (not just asking prices) for 2-3x as much as normally visually appealing balls.

Im not sure if that is because of the “deathbed” element or the rarity of having Joe D sign a commemorative Joe D ball...

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