Quote:
Originally Posted by Topnotchsy
The Ruth auto's I've owned have all had interesting storylines (1934 US Tour of Japan team-signed ball for example) and I can't imagine they were forged but I would definitely appreciate an education...
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I wish I could give you the formula for determining if a Ruth item is legitimate, but there is no good path of study that works for everyone. Creating a single-signed Ruth forgery is SIMPLE. Try the team balls. The Yankees team-signed baseballs from the 1920's require 20+ forgeries per ball, making them easy to analyze. If you are really interested in autographs and want to have some fun, throw away your soduku book and just subscribe to the major AH's auction catalogs. Take the first pristine 1920's Yankee team-signed baseball in the catalog and analyze it one signature at a time, googling each name and comparing. You will start to notice patterns. No forger can nail 20+ autographs on a single baseball - there will be multiple mistakes.
Here is my suggestion: Study an autograph the way you learn to play pool. With pool you practice a shot over and over until it becomes part of your unconscious. Then it is part of your pool game and you don't have to think about it when it comes up. You walk to the table, see the shot, realize that you know it, and you STOP THINKING and just hit it, letting your unconscious guide you. If you don't know the shot, you have to do something else - you can't practice and learn it at a critical moment in a game.
Same thing for autographs - you study an autograph, learning what the player did or didn't do, learning what the forgers did, learning the various types of forgeries, learning how the player signed a baseball, a contract, when he was in a hurry, etc. You build up skills regarding that autograph. Then when it's time to 'shoot the ball', if your unconscious tells you that it's bogus, then it probably is. You really don't even have to think about it. If you do, then there is something about this example that you simply haven't seen before;i.e-you aren't ready to 'take the shot' and you need to wait for something that you have the skill to handle.