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More Thurman Munson signature fun

Since the last Thurman Munson signed photo created such interesting debate, I"m curious as to thoughts on this 1979 signed Thurman Munson Topps card.

Tags: Munson, card, signed

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Permalink Reply by JBS on December 19, 2014 at 10:32pm

How does this one look? I saw this ended on ebay. Has a JSA letter and went for more than I have in my bank account lol!

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Permalink Reply by LymanBostock Fan on December 19, 2014 at 10:58pm

In my opinion, its unquestionably real. Munson autographs continue to rise in value and it probably went for a fair buying price. It sold for a lot less than you can purchase a Munson signed card from Kevin Keating or several other E-bay sellers, for example, the King of Autographs, Alan Hartmann. Still, its a lot more than I personally would pay for a signed Munson card.

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Permalink Reply by Pete Bendu on December 20, 2014 at 5:10am

I am in no way an expert on Munson graphs, but I do know what I like....right or wrong, I look for a combination of a few things....correct shape , letter size and slant, as well as the slightly oversized a that begins down low, coming up from the baseline from the m, and then the hook at the begining of the M.

JSA and PSA have authenticated 100's if not thousands of Munsons without those little key features....and they may be right, but I wouldn't drop money on a piece that doesnt fit.

My thinking is that they are among the wishful thinkers. Munson was not the easiest guy to get a graph from, he wasn't one to look for adoration and even had terms for the "hang arounds" that wanted to rub elbows with celebrities.

I am not an authenticator but of all the cards shown here in the 2 recent threads about Munson, this 1975 card is the first that stands out as something that I would feel right about calling 100% authentic.

These are some samples of what I am talking about...

I know that his earliest signatures the a was more in size with the rest of his fully formed letters but they all did seem to be formed the same way coming up from down low. That hook on the M was there and became even more prominent when he signed his L for his middle initial.

With so many top players being regulated to falling into the "clubhouse signature" category of the authenticators especially on team signed balls .....how have so many Munsons just been accepted as real by these guys with none of the stand out characteristics of his writing?

I understand that these guys never got to see him at a card show to build a reputable reference file, but I am one autograph collector who will avoid anything that doesn't fit the proven known examples.

This is nothing against LymanBostock or anyone else who claims to have seen Thurman sign this or that, it's not personal....it's just that you are a name on a screen on the great interweb....I have no choice but to take such statements with a grain of salt.

Sorry that this was such a long post, but as I have read thru this these last few days, I saw so many samples tossed around as authenticated that I just can't get behind. I had to at least give my opinion ,,,,and that is all it is. Not as a Munson expert, but as someone who has studied autographs for 30+ years.