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Permalink Reply by dave calderson on November 13, 2017 at 9:11am

any opinions please thanks so much

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Permalink Reply by Fuddjcal on November 13, 2017 at 10:06am

Mantle would NEVER sign a photo like that in the dark spots. His signature's were strategically placed to fit the best spot to sign a particular photo. Then , he would fit it perfectly into that spot. This is the first of the red flags for FUDD on this signature and I use that term loosely. It's the  only one I need to know for this to be a no go, but it certainly isn't the only mess I see! Good Luck!

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Permalink Reply by Woody2Shoes on November 13, 2017 at 5:17pm

Fudd, noting your comment about placement and his consistent excellent use and planning of space/light areas to produce the best autograph, on this particular photo, I'm trying to imagine a more advantageous place to sign it other than where and how he would have in order to center it in a light area without anything running off into dark areas at either end, and I can't imagine a better location than where the signature appears! Aside from the arm, the signature is all in and carefully bordered by the white. If he went across the chest, across the pants, or up a pants leg to the arm but not through it, the signature would have to have been half the size it is. And up the bat, the signature would have to be very small. The only other option for signing at that size that I can see that fit those rules of thumb are signing up in the stands, across the white band of the tier façade.  Of course, I'm speaking as if Mantle did sign it and I know from the comments here that he didn't. But I wanted to ask. If Mantle were presented with this 8X10, where do you think he would have signed it? Full size across the stands, or smaller and up the leg to the arm, or across the chest or pants? Curious.  

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Permalink Reply by Steve Zarelli on November 13, 2017 at 5:37pm

It's possible he would have signed across the lighter area in the upper deck, but I think the salient point is, Mantle likely NEVER signed this pose in his life.

The vast majority of authentically signed Mantles were done on a handful of poses; that is, the commercially available poses one would commonly find at public signings. One with the bat over the shoulder in the home uniform and one in the road gray. Upper Deck sometimes had more unique poses, but those typically were oversized and would bear the UD hologram.

The nice trait about these Florida fakes is they frequently use unusual poses that were unlikely to be signed by Mantle. Makes it easy to identify them even in a small thumbnail image. :-) 

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Permalink Reply by Fuddjcal on November 14, 2017 at 9:15am

I agree that he probably would have signed on the facade above in sharpie. I don't recall ever seeing that photo signed before with a forgery or otherwise so who knows. Some photo's he signed in 2 different places, but mostly each photo had it's own spot and the pen he used mattered as well in regards to placement, sometimes LOL

The question is, "where would a moron sign that photo who was trying to deceive" and the answer is..."right where you see it on that photo"..

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Permalink Reply by Steve Zarelli on November 13, 2017 at 4:22pm

A common, mass-produced fake. Sorry!

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