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THE AUTOGRAPH AUTHENTICATOR REPORT

I would like to share with everyone a major problem I have been seeing around Florida for the past few years. For a while you would only see these signature on photos or on multi signed 500 Home Run or 3000 hits baseballs. A year or so ago P.A.A.S. starting receiving these Autographed White Panel Baseballs, "Official League Baseball" , signed in blue ink on the sweet spot. They would be submitted one or two at time, and mostly from collectors that obtained them at local Florida shows or Flea markets. In the last 4-5 months we were receiving these almost exact signed baseballs for autograph authentication from around the country. Last month a local Florida dealer brought in 70 of these pure white single signed baseball for autograph authentication. I held the submission for a few days, so we could document and photograph the signatures for our files. When the dealer returned for his baseballs, I asked him where he had obtained these signed baseballs? He explained with a straight face that he has had them for over 7 years. He said that he waited on lines at autograph shows and sent some of the baseballs to autograph shows around the country to get signed. I then explained to him that they are not authentic and that I have been aware of these forged signatures for years. I also showed him enough proof that he had nothing further to say and admitted that he purchased the baseballs at a Miami Flea market for $10 per baseball. The scary part is he told me that a sports memorabilia dealer friend of his from North Carolina purchased over 300 baseballs and a dozen Muhammad Ali signed gloves. This is becoming a wide spread problem and I have been seeing these same baseballs on many websites and auctions. Please take note of these examples and study the signature patterns. You may notice a few different variations of the same signature, this is done by increasing or decreasing the size and width of the autograph. Besides not being authentic I am sure some of the readers will see some interesting similarities with these signatures. I would like hear some opinions and receive some input. There are additional names and signatures and we will continue to post them.

Thank you for your time,

Michael Frost of P.A.A.S. can be reached at specialagent711@aol.com

Tags: Authentication, Autograph, Frost, Michael, P.A.A.S., PSA/DNA

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Permalink Reply by Michael Frost on September 10, 2012 at 4:48pm

Christopher,

That is very interesting and rare, a vintage COA. I know these Mantle's have been around for over 10 years now. That 5 x 7 was one of the early images on the market. The odd thing is I received 2 signed 8x10's today to examine and authenticate. They were purchased last month at a local sports card shop but it looks as if the Mickey Mantle's may have been signed the same day at the same show or private signing.

These Mickey ,Willie and the Duke signed photos are on the same crap laser copy paper and not authentic. The problem is I have started seeing them for sale over the last 3-4 months on eBay and on the internet. The bigger problem is the 2 signed photos that were submitted to be today have already been authenticated by a major autograph authentication company. I received the submission thanks to a customer reading this post and many of your video's. He has been trying to compare the Mickey Mantle signatures and saw a issue.

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Permalink Reply by DB on September 10, 2012 at 4:53pm

Mike, don't beat around the bush with , "is the 2 signed photos that were submitted to be today have already been authenticated by a major autograph authentication company." just post them with the authentication clearly depicted.

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Permalink Reply by Michael Frost on September 10, 2012 at 5:32pm

DB,

Please understand this is a delicate subject and I do not want this to become an anti 3rd party autograph authenticator discussion. I have promised not to expose or show any of the authenticators names or COA's unless I believe that the autograph authenticator is involved and knowingly authenticating bad material. I am certain in this case and many others that it has been in error. I will discuss the issue privately with the authenticator and authentication company. That is why it is important for the main autograph authenticators to have some type of open dialogue. These items are not authentic, I am not beating around any bush. I am not saying in my professional opinion or they are likely not authentic. I am coming straight out to the point and I have no fear because I can prove that these items were never signed by Mickey Mantle.

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Permalink Reply by Brandon Mysinger on September 10, 2012 at 8:41pm

Mike,

While I appreciate your hesitation. It's not an attack on anyone by you if you expose issues like the above photos being authenticated by one of the top 2 companies. It's important information that can help a lot of people. There have been plenty of examples of mistakes made by the "top 2" posted on this site.

Still, I totally understand what you are saying.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on September 10, 2012 at 10:28pm

Mike,

I'll take the heat on these. These are the same obvious forgeries certified by the untold thousands by Global, Morales, STAT, TTA and AAU/Drew Max...and that also were found with Nicholas Burscyk COAs that were supposedly from the early 1990s. The ones Tony Podsada tried to get eBay to allow that were sold in huge quantities to soldiers, vets and military families by Always at Auction.

Any authenticator that certified these in quantity needs to be exposed.

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Permalink Reply by Michael Frost on September 11, 2012 at 12:31am

Thank you, I have no problems or issues exposing any of the autograph authenticators you have listed above. The Global Authentication, I would like to make clear is the old Global Authentication company.

Here is one of the recently posted Mickey Willie & The Duke signed photo that I have received for autograph authentication. Below is another but very similar Mickey, Willie and The Duke signed photo that was just sent to me for review that is on eBay right now. The next photo is a black and white Mickey Mantle,Willie Mays signed photo also now listed on eBay. The last one is Mickey, Willie, Duke,& Joe DiMaggio that just sold on eBay. Please compare all the signatures and you will realize what the problem is here. I know these photos have the old GA COA, but for some strange reason they are just being released now??

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Permalink Reply by Brandon Mysinger on September 11, 2012 at 2:58am

Very good! That's what I thought too based on past images that Christopher, DB, and Zipper had shown. I wouldn't consider the Mike Baker coas a "major" coa though. Hell, most of them probably went towards this bulk authentication.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on September 11, 2012 at 7:18am

Brandon,

Mike Frost was talking about authentication companies, not the version of the COA.

But Mike Baker didn't authenticate these--his name is on the COA because he took over as director of authentication at Global after Justin Priddy. You've said before that Priddy authenticated these, but that's not the case. He was gone by then. Can you tell us who authenticated the hoard of blatant forgeries these were part of...or ask Steve Sipe at Global if you don't know?

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Permalink Reply by Brandon Mysinger on September 11, 2012 at 9:09am

Steve, I'm well aware of what he meant. However, these were authenticated under the order or Baker / Rocchi as they were still In control of GAI at that time. So, you would have to ask them.

As far as I know, one of them could have issued the GAI . Neither you or I were there to know. What we do know is that Priddy's departure occurred in the middle of all of the mass certifications.

Since the GAI coas state Baker's name and the old records are not around, there may be no way to know who issued the actual GAI coas.

Permalink Reply by Brandon Mysinger on September 11, 2012 at 9:43am

I asked Sipe about this... it was a management order from the top down. Baker did not do them. Rocchi ran point and Ault/Haas were behind doing the deal with these guys ultimately and then they never got paid a dime from the customer.

Permalink Reply by CJCollector on September 10, 2012 at 4:58pm

You're right, Michael. The MFP forgery I posted above has been around over a decade. They are being sold at local auctions at a cheap price and then the buyers of that crap attempt to flip it on Ebay.

We do what we can to expose this crap, but the people who should be reading websites like this are not true hobbyists and autograph collectors. They are only interested in the greenbacks.

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Permalink Reply by Bill Panagopulos on September 11, 2012 at 6:30am

Mike

If you see a pattern of gross negligence on the part of any authenticator, especially one that specializes in baseball, I would think that you would have a duty to the public to make that authenticator known to the public.

It's the same as exposing an inept doctor practicing at a major hospital.