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Mantle, Williams and DiMaggio: Authenticating Baseball Forger Favorites

 It is unquestionable that Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams, and Joe DiMaggio have been American sports icons since the mid-20th century. It comes as no surprise that these three have been favorites of autograph collectors since the advent of autograph and card shows in the 1980’s. Unfortunately it is equally unsurprising, as attested to in the FBI’s famous 1990s Operation Bullpen, that they are also the three most forged sports autographs. Although most experts believe the forgery problem in sports memorabilia has lessoned tremendously since Operation Bullpen (estimated at that time to be “between $500,000,000 and $900,000,000” by the FBI), sadly large numbers of forged material still exist.

While it would require far more than a single article to educate the autograph collector to detect Mantle, Williams and DiMaggio forgeries, there are some general as well as specific warning keys to these three autographs that may aid in detecting possible forgeries.


Genuine Mantle, Williams & DiMaggio signed photo provided by EAC Gallery.
Click to enlarge:



 

As a general rule, one of the first things I examine in an autograph is its feel – how it was written. When an individual signs his name there should be an easy, smooth flow to the signature. We’ve all signed our names countless times, and we don’t need to think about it. An item we offered in one of our past auctions was a sheet of paper signed several times by Joe Jackson. Jackson, who was almost completely illiterate, actually had to practice, in essence work at, writing his name prior to signing documents. Likewise, when a forger writes a signature, he or she is working at it and therefore upon close examination it’s often possible to detect such warning keys as a slowness of motion, stops and starts at inappropriate spots, and possibly even a shakiness in the writing. An invaluable aid to help detect these keys, taught to me by John Reznikoff of University Archives many years ago, is to turn the autograph upside down. When you view an autograph in an unnatural position these warning keys are often easier to detect.

In addition to such general warning keys there are specific warning keys, unique to an individual’s autograph, to keep an eye out for.

In the 1980’s and 1990’s Mickey Mantle stated on numerous occasions that he was blessed to be able to earn more money signing his name at one single weekend show than his father had earned in an entire year working as a coal miner. Because of this Mantle always felt his fans were deserving of a clear, elegant signature. In authentic Mickey Mantle autographs Mickey would always end the “y” in “Mickey” on an upswing, and because he would be quickly flowing through his signature, he therefore started the “M” in “Mantle” on a higher level or plane than he had started the “M” in “Mickey”. Most forgers, because they were “working” on writing Mantle’s signature, would pause after completing “Mickey” and begin anew in writing “Mantle”, therefore placing “Mantle” on more of a straight line with “Mickey”. If one places a ruler or sheet of paper straight across the item Mantle signed (not straight across the signature) all that appears below the ruler or paper of an authentic Mantle is the bottom portion of the “M” in “Mickey”. In the case of most forgeries the ruler or paper completely covers the entire signature. Another difficulty forgers have with Mantle’s signature was his unique way of looping the bottom portion of his “M”. Such curved lines were executed in one easy movement by Mantle, but are most often elongated by forgers who again are “working” the signature. Such slow, elongated forgeries are especially easy to recognize on baseballs as their curved surfaces only add to the forger’s difficulty.

In the case of Ted Williams autographs, with the exception of the capital “W” in Williams, Ted would consistently make the size of all the letters in his last time nearly the same exact size. Most telling is the “illia”, with the “l”s just ever so slightly taller than the “i”s, and the “a” as tall as the “l”s. Try as they may, most forgers simply can’t undo years of training and habit causing their “l”s to be significantly taller than their “i”s, and their “a” significantly shorter than their “l”s. Williams also connected the “W” in “Williams” to the “ed” in “Ted” with a swirl that gave forgers difficulty in replicating in the same, easy, flowing movement as appears in authentic examples. Also of interest, in addition to the many Williams intentional forgeries in existence, Williams revealed late in his life that during his playing days his signature on team signed balls was often a “clubhouse” example, not penned by him.

Regarding Joe DiMaggio’s autograph, problems for forgers begin with the first letter in Joe. Like the “M”s in Mantle’s autograph, the “J” in “Joe”, which appears as two loops, a larger loop on top and a smaller one below, were created by curved lines which are the hardest to duplicate without leaving telltale signs of slowness or inappropriate stops and starts. In addition, DiMaggio would pen his “J”s so that the lower loop would be written on top of (literally written over) the upper loop in two places. For some inexplicable reason, a significant percentage of DiMaggio forgeries flow in the opposite direction, with the upper loop covering the lower one. An inexpensive magnifier or jeweler’s loop will aid in viewing this detail. Finally, the general feel of an authentic DiMaggio autograph is often somewhat sloppy, in the sense that the spacing between letters is uneven, obviously much more so in his second name. Again due to the fact that forgers are working rather than simply signing, the spacing they place between each letter is far more uniform.

Finally, the age-old adage “experience is the best teacher” is indeed appropriate here. The building of as extensive a library of exemplars as possible, of both authentic and fake examples, would be of help to visualize these and additional warning keys, and tremendously assist in the detection of forgeries.

Tags: authenticate, baseball, dimaggio, fame, forgeries, forgers, genuine, hall, hof, joe, More…mantle, mickey, of, ted, williams

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by GraphingMlb on April 8, 2013 at 10:05pm

hell man look at the 2 dollar frame its...its worth more then the photo

Permalink Reply by Null on April 9, 2013 at 6:48am

All hideous forgeries. The item has been removed. 

Permalink Reply by John T. on April 11, 2013 at 12:28pm
Permalink Reply by Null on April 11, 2013 at 12:30pm

Authentic John.

Permalink Reply by Steve on April 20, 2013 at 8:00pm
Look at this piece of Crap.
[img]http://s173.photobucket.com/user/marfmaster/media/551556_5316204169... .html[\img]

He is actually claiming that the Steiner COA he is showing belongs to that item.
Permalink Reply by Geoffrey Ciereck on April 21, 2013 at 9:19am

There's a guy in my neighborhood selling these Mantle, Williams and DiMaggio autographed photos.  He says they're all authenticated by GFA.  Just wanted to get thoughts from the experts here.  Thanks!

Permalink Reply by Rick Meyer on April 21, 2013 at 9:33am
Crap. GFA just gives certs on forgeries. I have yet to see a GFA cert on an authentic item. Betting the guy selling them knows they are forgeries.

The thief a that sell that usually do it by trying to scare folks on PSA and JSA stories about black balling the little guys. They sucker the gullible.
Permalink Reply by Geoffrey Ciereck on April 21, 2013 at 9:53am

Thanks.  I don't want to be the guy who blows hundreds on fakes.  What in particular are the obvious giveaways that the signatures themselves are bad? I'm trying to educate myself on signatures, but sometimes it seems impossible to tell a good one from a forgery.  I feel like even the third party authenticators are just guessing half the time.  And GFA's website reads like they invented authentication!

Permalink Reply by Fuddjcal on April 21, 2013 at 2:14pm

obvious giveaways..One quick look and anyone who is a actual collector can tell these are horrid. Spend an 8 hour day looking at authentic one. Please stop collecting these until you know what your doing. Your" feeling" are dead ass wrong. Legitimate 3rd party get these 3 right 99.9 percent of the timer. The other % is when jack wads try to forger their certificate. Stop being an idiot

Permalink Reply by Null on April 21, 2013 at 10:04am
Horrific forgeries. Geoff these aren't hard at all to deem fake. Read my Mantle thread at the top of the "Authenticity Opinions" forum.
Permalink Reply by Rick Meyer on April 21, 2013 at 10:26am
Geoff, this isn't even a good forgery. Can tell this is a forgery at a single glance. Not to be rude but if a collector can't spot that this Mantle signature is a forgery they are not ready to be shopping for Mantle. That's how beginners get ripped off.
Permalink Reply by Geoffrey Ciereck on April 21, 2013 at 10:49am

Thanks, guys.  That's why I haven't made an offer on them.  I actually didn't like the Williams more than the Mantle.  And no offense taken, Rick.  I'm trying to educate myself on autographs generally and usually don't buy unless it's in person or authenticated by PSA or JSA.  That's why I joined this site, to learn more about collecting and how to spot fakes.  Your article was great, Ryan.  Just out of curiosity, does anyone know of a course or seminar on authenticating baseball signatures/telling real ones from fakes?  It would be great IMO to have someone do a lecture, showing a real and forgery side by side and go through the signatures letter by letter.

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