We are an eBay affiliate and may be compensated for clicks on links that result in purchases.

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

Views: 75524

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by CEE GEE on January 13, 2012 at 11:23am

I am not really familiar with that type of cert in particular...but I have seen bulk certs before...were many items are certified on one sheet of paper...but I think PSA does that...not so sure if JSA does...regardless of the cert. I like it

Permalink Reply by Bryan on January 13, 2012 at 11:25am

Yeah thats what it is 15 balls on 1 certificate. Thanks!

Permalink Reply by Steve Zarelli on January 13, 2012 at 11:30am

An Auction LOA is general letter of authenticity for an auction lot. It typically means he item has been "pre-screened."  You can usually submit the auction LOA along with the item and then get a full LOA at a discounted price.

Permalink Reply by Bryan on January 13, 2012 at 11:32am

Awesome, Thanks Zip!

Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on January 13, 2012 at 11:50am

Mr. Zipper, what do you think of the Mantle ball? I think it's likely good, but balls can be tough for me sometimes.

Permalink Reply by Steve Zarelli on January 13, 2012 at 11:59am

My sense is that it is likely okay, but I always like to see a bigger and sharper image to see the fine detail.

Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on January 13, 2012 at 12:42pm

Thanks, Zippy.

Permalink Reply by DB on January 13, 2012 at 11:56am

hell it is!  An auction LOA (we will use PSA) was accompanied by a letter saying it was authentic.  But there were many issues with how they were being used and For that matter they don't even provide them any more.  It was questionable to begin with exactly what they actually viewed and if it was authentic why would one need to go get a FULL LOA then?  I don't recall Orlando ever offering a discount on a full LOA either.

Today we now find that it is "pre-certified"  but if you happen to just win the item there is no piece of authorized paper whatsoever that indicates anything was viewed.   Again, if it is "pre-certified" thus authentic then why does one need to go get another authenication.

Again, I am using PSA and could question more but from my experience the auction loa has alot of issues with it and was one of the reasons PSA did away with it.  However, I also don't think "pre-certified" is that much better.

Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on January 13, 2012 at 11:45am

Bryan,

An auction LOA is worthless to anyone except the buyer of the lot at auction. It just means the lot you're bidding on has been inspected by the service. PSA/DNA doesn't issue them anymore, because they're often reused by scammers to sell forgeries.

If you can go to the auction archives and identify the actual ball you're considering, then I think there's a degree of confidence there. Otherwise, I would complete ignore it.

Permalink Reply by Bryan on January 13, 2012 at 11:50am

Thanks Steve, I did think of that as well. People can pull the ole switch-a-roo on balls. Is it true with that auction loa, i can go to JSA which is where its coming from and get an original one for that one peice?

Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on January 13, 2012 at 11:55am

Most services offer to upgrade to full certification at a discount, but only to the original purchaser at auction within 30 days of the sale. I'd email JSA customer service and ask. Include the letter and make sure they know you're not the original bidder.

Permalink Reply by DB on January 13, 2012 at 12:13pm

PSA/DNA doesn't issue them any more as they were being misused by the auction houses according to Orland in a discussion many moons ago.

The "auction loa" was intended to be an LOA and there was never an intent nor directive to upgrade.  There was and still are issues regarding a multi-signed item.

The only reason to go for a FULL LOA is if the item you have just happens to be a high ticket item.  Even there it flies in the face of what an auction loa really does to begin with.

The auction loas I had were pretty refelective but I could easily see how things can get out of hand downstream if the item isn't encoded somehow.

I do however disagree with the uselss to only the original buyer.

 

RSS

© 2024   Created by Steve Cyrkin, Admin.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Privacy Policy  |  Terms of Service