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Authenticity is Everything
Questions about autograph aging and deterioration
Hi. I have a couple questions and am hoping someone can help me out. I recently started collecting autographed baseballs. I've picked up 7 so far and luckily each one has been pristine. Perfect white balls with no brown spotting and signatures that all look like they were signed yesterday. Since I plan on displaying them, I've really been focusing on finding ones in perfect condition. I've been watching a Bob Feller autographed ball on Ebay and it's starting to show it's age. I've also seen other balls where the signatures have all but faded away or the signature has bled and is getting blurry. It got me to thinking about how autographed baseballs age. I was wondering, what is the typical lifespan of an autographed ball? Will they all deteriorate and fade eventually because they are signed on leather? And if a ball is showing signs of fading, is that a sign that it's already damaged and will probably fade out quicker because of it? I know these sound like dumb questions, but I haven't really been able to find much information on the subject. I am interested in some players from the 50's-70's. A lot of the balls from those players show at least some aging though. If a ball is showing signs of aging, would I be better off passing on it and holding out for one in better condition? Or am I just over thinking it? Thanks
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by JAKE JONES on
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Don`t touch the balls with your fingers, use gloves, as oil off your fingers will spot the balls , don`t display in direct sunlight, will fade signatures, place them in ball crystal cases to avoid dust and don`t store them with a lot of humidity. Hope this helps!
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Permalink Reply by Jerry Badour on
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Thanks for the tips, it does help. I hadn't thought about wearing gloves, but that makes a lot of sense. Thanks again, I appreciate it
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Permalink Reply by Null on
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I've ran into some issues lately with autographs I had framed. I went to switch the frames on a few, and the picture/graph had been stuck to the glass...
Any tips on this? Obviously I want to display my autographs...
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Permalink Reply by Fuddjcal on
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yeah, don't use frames with glass. For good photos use Archival UV plastic glass....or Scan the pic and print it out on photo paper and store the photo in a top loader. I have 32 photo in my office. 9 are professionally framed and nice. I generally try to keep them out of the sun and have been lucky none of those have faded. The ones with glass are certainly subject to fading and I have had a few that had.
The thing I love about printing out the photo is that they generally look better than the original and they won't fade. As you know sharpie, will fade easier than regular ink.
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Permalink Reply by Scott Paul on
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Ultra violet light is the main culprit and that comes from both sunlight and most artificial light sources. The old fluorescent lights were among those worst for that.
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Permalink Reply by Eddie Anderson on
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Franks autographs have great preservation and protection material for memorabilia.
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I love showing mine off in a 30 ball case (in UV cubes) and 6 of my favorites on my filing cabinet in steiner display cases. The 30 ball case gets light all day and I don't care. I have some of my good balls in there too. Others, like my 7 Mantles, 4 Dimaggio's, & 4 Williams...you get the idea of the sickness, are in a plastic storage box, in uv cubes. It holds 36 balls and that's my limit.
Some balls in general are worse than others, just based on luck. I have had more trouble with the new Selig balls toning and autographs disappearing right off of them more so on the older AL/NL balls. The William White, Giamatti & Coleman balls are tough to find in pristine condition, but it's my experience that they usually stay that way and the signatures don't fade even when displayed. If I think they are starting to fade at all, I put them in the "box" and display another one. If they fade to the point it bugs me, I sell it and buy another.
Rarely does the autograph fade or AL/NL ball tone even when they are displayed when they are purchased in good shape from my experience. As far as touching them with gloves, I never do that. I love to rub my grubby paws all over them and haven't noticed a correlation between handling and toning....
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Do you think putting a plastic sleeve on the photo before framing would help the sticking issue? Or will it stick to the sleeve?
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Eddie Anderson mentioned Franks Autographs, so i googled it and that website has some really good info about why photos stick and what to do to prevent it. Check out this video --- http://www.franksautographs.com/ --- and this page as well --- http://www.franksautographs.com/Polyester-pockets.html
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