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Another Nice Mess

Hi, Everyone....

Since I'm getting some great answers to my questions in the baseball section, I'll test the waters on another topic. I doubt that Laurel & Hardy come up every day, so this may interest someone.

There are loads of forgeries of these two gentlemen around. Some look like the forgers aren't even trying. Some look like they never even bothered to see what Stan and Babe signatures look like!

But I'd like to address genuine signatures here. Stan wrote to anyone who wrote to him. Thousands of his signatures have been in existence, but most have vanished. Babe Hardy is another matter.

For some reason, Babe didn't like signing his name repeatedly. If you walked up to him with a piece of paper and a pen, sure.....you were covered. But if you sent him a letter, the response was a little different.

Laurel & Hardy would often, especially in later years, get together and answer fan mail. In the last years they often used a post card. Stan would write a cheerful little inscription and sign it. They then got turned over to Babe, who had a rubber stamp with his signature on it. Bam! Bam! Bam! Then he was off to the golf course.

Now, Babe had a really beautiful signature, clearly writing "Oliver Hardy" with a nice flourish under it. I suppose it is possible that it took too long to do repeatedly. Or maybe he was afraid of messing it up. Who knows? He just didn't want to do it.

Perhaps the technology has changed in the decades since I last read about it, but it was apparently difficult or impossible to tell if the signature was written or stamped in most cases. The ink pad and the pen produced identical results.

But here's my question....

Since Babe stamped these cards and notes himself (and this has been well-known for....like....ever), doesn't it make it sort of authentic? What's the autograph collector's take on it?

I have no stake in the answer. I'm just curious. I have an authentic Stan signature and I don't expect that I'll ever have a Babe stamp or signature.

-MJ

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Permalink Reply by Don Webster on June 23, 2016 at 2:12pm

No...next thing to worthless...

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Permalink Reply by Steve Zarelli on June 23, 2016 at 6:10pm

I would consider the rubber stamp a period collectible -- like vintage team baseballs with replica signatures -- but NOT authentic from an autograph perspective.

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Permalink Reply by Don Webster on June 23, 2016 at 9:18pm

I think I would be most comfortable calling it a novelty item...or how about a period novelty item ? Maybe even a conversation piece..but of very little value...

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Permalink Reply by Scott Paul on June 23, 2016 at 7:54pm

I remember Minnesota Fats back in the 70s and early 80s used to carry around a rubber stamp and pad. When asked for an autograph he would take it out and stamp his autograph. While it is something he actually did do himself it really would not be considered an autograph to any collector. So I would think the same with Oliver Hardy's stamp.

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Permalink Reply by MJ Emigh on June 23, 2016 at 8:29pm

Wow, that's just too......I can't think of the right word. Not rude exactly, but something. Hardy would never do that in person. By all accounts, he was very friendly with fans. He just wasn't willing to sit there writing his name over and over in a marathon fan letter project.

There were two Minnesota Fats, right? One guy who claimed to be the model for the movie character and another who just decided to call himself that after the movie's success. I think that was the story. Neither of them were particularly great pool players, but both seemed to be very adept at self-promotion.

Thanks for the responses thus far. I kinda figured a stamp didn't count, but you never know. Even the baseballs signed by clubhouse guys are bringing in money, as as are Joe D's sisterly signatures. "Personally Stamped By" seems a little far-fetched, but stranger things have happened.

-MJ

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Permalink Reply by Scott Paul on June 24, 2016 at 10:08am

I am not sure I think here was only one who claimed to be "Minnesota Fats" although he was not from there. I forget his real name but think he was called "Fats" before the movie was made but added "Minnesota" after it. In any case he was quite a character and could play pretty decent , but not to the level of a Willie Mosconi, Wimpy Lassitor or Deacon Crane. In later years he just enjoyed the limelight and was very friendly he just didn't like signing things.

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Permalink Reply by Don Webster on June 24, 2016 at 11:10am

"Fats" had a television show for a while (back in the 1960s) and he'd shoot a game or two against an opponent and he'd never shut up...yak...yak...yak...

I remember it from when I was a kid....and that was many moons ago...