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 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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I have one for a Marino...wasted 30 bucks just for Beckett to laugh at me

Chris as you know I am new to this, but that is one goofy looking forgery!!! Mail Order Collectibles what a laugh. Maybe they had the address of the wrong Mickey Mantle.

Here's another horrific Mickey Mantle forgery.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280916115486

Look at this horrific Mickey Mantle forgery.  The seller claims "he got it in person." 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Autographed-1966-Topps-50-MICKEY-MANTLE-Sig...

Good catch, Harry.  This Maris is an awful forgery.  Yeah, a card show in 1967 or 1968.  Funny guy.

Harry, the seller ended both the Mantle and the Maris autograph listings.

That's funny, Harry.

We don't see this on Ebay too often these days, but every so often one of these Nicholas Burczyk certed Mickey Mantle forgeries shows up on Ebay.  As we all know, the Nicholas Burczyk COA is on Ebay's "Banned COA" list.  I'm sure the seller who purchased this ugly Mickey Mantle forgery probably purchased it for $30.00 or $40.00 and was hoping flip for a huge profit on Ebay.  Of course, eventually, Ebay will remove it.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mickey-Mantle-5x7-Autographed-Photo-/120946...

The poses with these fakes are a huge red flag as well. Without even looking a the signature, you should know Mantle rarely if ever signed this pose. The same can be said for many of these fakes. 90% of the time, Mantle signed the standard spring training poses that were available at that time.

This listing was ended by the seller because the item is no longer available.  I suppose the last three words are relative until it shows up somewhere else or without the non-existent Nicholas J. Burzcyk.  Craigslist is a thought.  It would be nice though if EBAY still came along and removed it completely, though.

Here's another set of these Mantle/Williams forgeries.  Seller claims they got them in person and shook the hands of Mantle and Williams.  This set of forgeries was produced in the thousands and continues to infect the hobby.  Most of this crap comes with a COA from either GAI (The Mike Baker Collection), CSC Collectibles, Burczyk, Chris Morales, Ted Taylor (TTA/Stat Authentic) or Drew Max.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130727488938

One would be tempted to buy it and take : clarajoy1230 up on the offer...

I have had these for almost 20 years. I got these at All Star Fan Fest in 1993. They have a COA that they were doing on the spot. If you have any questions please ask. I will ship for free with insurance within 24 hours of payment. They come from a smoke and pet free house. They will pass any authenticator or 200 percent money back. I will need need proof from JSA PSA BECKETT OR GAI I know they are the best.

but it would appear the seller's store; highlandhideawaystreasures might want to hide this item for another 20 years.  When did Beckett start providing certs btw...   Talk about confused seller and where is the "on the spot COA" we are speaking of...

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