Kenesaw Landis letter....too good to be true?
 

By the end of this, I'm sure I'll look like an idiot, but here it goes.

Was on eBay last night and saw a new listing for a Kenesaw Landis signed letter. I have done enough research on his autograph and the mediums they are found on that I at least had some prior background knowledge. That said, I never buy anything like this without first coming here to get opinions. I trust you guys more than me.

There was one problem. The price was so absurdly good that I didn't feel I had time to come here and get opinions without possibly losing out on it. The Catch-22, of course, is that what is too good to be true almost always is.

Yet, this autographed letter looks just like his authentic ones and my instinct was telling me it was real despite the price. Some of his letters have been secretarial signed, but according to Ron Keurajian's book, they are really easy to spot.

I also did a quick study on the place it was coming from -- Caliban Books, a book store near Pittsburgh -- and it seems to have a really solid reputation. But its reputation is mostly in books.

There is so much impressive knowledge on here that I want to get your opinion. If you don't like it or have concerns, I won't be offended. And trust me, I would be really suspicious as well based on the $57 price tag. Yeah, $57. The content of this letter isn't impressive and has nothing to do with baseball, but $57 is still way too cheap.

If you guys don't like it, I could still return it. But I've decided I won't and instead would use it as a reminder to never buy anything like this without asking your opinions first.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Landis-Kenes...72.m2749.l2649

Rod Stewart did a song "Some guys have all the luck".........

Looks good to me

Hahahaha. Nice one.

Thanks for making me feel a little bit less crazy about this.

While I have no opinion on this item, experienced antique booksellers will have a good general feel and knowledge for old manuscripts, paper, etc-- and, of course, many antique books were signed.

I know nothing about the autograph. Two things to consider though. One never post anything cool on here till you at least have a tracking # and the item is in the mail. There are people on here that will email the seller and buy it out from under you. It has happened several times. The second thing is if you do get it and it is bad you can just return it. There is another member that buys cheap garbage all the time and when he posts it on here and finds out it is bad he uses eBay to get his $ back.

You'll be proud of me. For whatever reason I had the same thought and also waited for the tracking number and for it to be updated as having left the first facility.

ETA: I also already decided if it's bad that I wouldn't return it and keep it as a reminder for the future.

The nerve

Have purchased many quality books from Caliban over the years. No issues whatsoever. (No baseball items, but would not hesitate to do so.)

Why did you decide it was bad?

Sorry for the miscommunication. I actually think it's good, but I totally understand if people are skeptical based on the price. I was just saying that if it was deemed to be bad, I would just simply take the punishment of my mistake rather than returning it.

Ah, got it.

It's probably fine.

Thanks for the feedback on it. Much appreciated.

It's happened to me - not here, but in a comic book collecting forum. Didn't help matters that I generally use my real name, as I do here, as a matter of course. The only reason I did it was because I first learned of the existence of the item in question, an exceedingly rare comic book, in that forum, then searched Ebay for it just for the heck of it, and found a seller offering a copy for an obscenely low price. I thought the irony was too good not to share, and I also naively thought once the Pay Pal transaction was completed the seller was obligated to ship it to me... until the seller refunded my payment and claimed he didn't actually have the book, it was listed by mistake. Yeah, right.

I learned my lesson that day.

Happens often. I don't crow about "steals" until it is IN-HAND.

I heard a story about a seller "recalling" a Priority Mail package mid-shipment once he discovered he sold something for way below market value.

(Yes, a sender can intercept a shipment through the USPS and have it sent back.)

I used to give out free opinions on McGwire autographs back in the day. I would even let guys know an item was good if I was bidding on it. Several really cool items disappeared before bidding was supposed to end which was curious. Then about a year or two later a guy who had been asking me for opinions on a lot of items emailed me to see if I wanted to buy a bunch of McGwire signed items. You guessed it, the ones that disappeared. And of course he wanted top dollar. Very infuriating.