Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by James on September 9, 2014 at 10:56pm

Oh, and just for the record, I have not yet attempted to have it authenticated. Just so you know.

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Permalink Reply by GraphingMlb on September 9, 2014 at 11:41pm

Nice ball

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Permalink Reply by James on September 10, 2014 at 12:27am

Thanks, Tony. I appreciate it.

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Permalink Reply by CJCollector on September 10, 2014 at 4:03am

Absolutely authentic.

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Permalink Reply by James on September 10, 2014 at 4:20am

Thank you, Christopher.

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Permalink Reply by terrier8HOF on September 10, 2014 at 5:22am

definitely authentic

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Permalink Reply by James on September 10, 2014 at 6:57am

Thanks to you too, terrier8HOF.

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Permalink Reply by Fuddjcal on September 10, 2014 at 7:02am

Nice "Cadillac" Signature from the Mick.

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Permalink Reply by Null on September 10, 2014 at 7:14am

As you already know, 100% authentic. Nice big sig.

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Permalink Reply by James on September 10, 2014 at 9:22am

Thanks to Fuddjcal and Ryan. Everyone's been very helpful. Honestly, I thought it likely was real, but since it wasn't authenticated, I definitely wanted other people's opinion, to put my mind at ease. Thanks, again.

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Permalink Reply by Fuddjcal on September 10, 2014 at 10:09am

Believe it or not, you're better off with-out the Authentication. Most of the mantle's that have Authentications are Clear FAKES. JSA & PSA usually get it right with Mantle, but as we have seen lately, they are spotty.

http://live.autographmagazine.com/profiles/blogs/mickey-mantle-auth...

Here's a look at some authentic Mantle's of mine that I posted a while back. When I started this, there was very little on the net regarding fakes. Chris Williams was a pioneer calling out forgers and dopey buyers and it helped immensely. When you ask "why I'm here", this is why? To help just 1 educated collector beat the fakers.

It will help you and others distinguish fact from fiction, which takes a millisecond after you study it for a while. Good Luck

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Permalink Reply by James on September 10, 2014 at 10:51am

I did look at that post some actually before I started this discussion. I did not realize that was you. That was a tremendous post from what I've read so far. So in that case, I do understand better why you are here, and I'm glad you are here. There are, in fact, a headache-inducing number of fakes out there. Hauls of Shame shows that there are some pretty talented forgers that can get things past the top authenticators. A few days back, I posted a pic of a personalized Ruth ball authenticated by Mike Gutierrez that sold BIN for just $2000. If real, that was a crazy steal. However, several people thought it was a fake. I still lean toward real. If you've got a Ruth ball that is fairly close to that one's quality for a price close to that, I'll take it! It's always been my dream to own a Ruth close to that level of beauty. I could have sold the Ruth/Gehrig ball I have to a local dealer to get the funds, but there wasn't enough time. Thanks for all your posts.

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