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Old 07-17-2017, 05:33 AM
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Scott Garner Scott Garner is offline
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Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Midwest
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Default Charlie Robertson "Perfect Game" Ball

Disclaimer:
I actually was an under bidder on this ball when it sold on eBay a few months ago.

To purchase it certainly does require a substantial leap of faith, as other's have already mentioned. The eBay seller is someone that I personally know well as being reputable having dealt with him for perhaps 20-25 years (even prior to the internet).
He apparently purchased the ball directly from the collector that you mentioned that I don't claim to know at all, nor did I know as the named collector when I was bidding on the ball.
The eBay seller and I exchanged several e-mails discussing the ball. Although there were several question marks about the ball, my biggest concern at the time was that the inscription on the ball itself had virtually disappeared over time making it a real challenge to ever authenticate 100%. With artifacts this old, it's not unique in this respect...

If you were the winning bidder, you have to rely on your gut as to it's authenticity. If the ball had stronger provenance you know that it quite certainly would have sold for thousands more than what you paid for it.
The ball itself is certainly correct for the time period in which Charlie Robertson hurled his perfect game in 1922, but this in of itself doesn't make it a game ball from this game.

Trivia fact: Charlie Robertson's masterpiece was the first game that the press ever used the term "perfect game".
In my personal collection I own all of the attached items with the exception of the scored program to Charlie Robertson's perfecto which sold on eBay a number of years ago.

Last edited by Scott Garner; 07-17-2017 at 06:29 AM.
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