Authentication help for a buddy

[mr2686]

Hey guys, I need a little help please. My buddy is going through a tough divorce and he's having to sell some of his collection. He has several things that were purchased from very reputable dealers or that have been 3rd party authenticated by the major players, but he also has some items that are not, and quite frankly, I do not believe they are any good. I hate to tell him they are bad without some agreement as well as I would not want him to spend the money and send them to be authenticated if they are a slam dunk "bad".
Can you guys just give me your opinions on if you think he should send them in or not waste his time? Here are three...and I'll state that I think they are all bad...one is a Cy Young pencil sig, one is a Tris Speaker fountain pen sig, and the last is a Homerun Baker. The Baker, I think, looks down right terrible but my friend swears he has seen early checks that have this type of sig...I haven't and kinda doubt it. Anyway, please let me know what you think.

[timzcardz]

I am NOT an autograph expert by any means, but that Speaker, looks like it was done so slowly and eliberately that I would be astonished if it was real.

I am lloking forward to see what the experts here have to say.

[J.McMurry]

I certainly dont claim to be any expert,so I wont say they are real or fake, but I will say that I wouldnt spend my money on those items.

[perezfan]

All 3 look bad to me. Cy Young never signed so neatly and carefully. Speaker is horrible as well. Somebody really took their time in "re-creating" these three...

[magic1313]

Also not an expert but do watch a lot of these antique shows and the appearance of consistent pressure is usually a big warning sign. Go sign your name on a piece of paper as you would normally do on a credit card slip. See if the ink shows a consistent pressure throughout. I know mine doesn't

[Rob D.]

"What about the breathing, the panting, the moaning, the screaming?"

"Fake, fake, fake, fake."

[murphusa]

Give them to the wife along with Coach's Corners address

[HRBAKER]

[thetruthisoutthere]

Originally Posted by murphusa

Give them to the wife along with Coach's Corners address

I know this is a serious subject but the above quote is very funny. "OMG" on that Cy Young.

[FUBAR]

Always hate hearing divorce when it comes to collectibles.... Tell the bitch they are all fake, everything is worthless.... after having an ex of mine steal my collection, i have vowed never to tell another female what my collection is worth period!

[mr2686]

Jim...too funny! Thanks everyone for your opinions. It confirms what I already knew, but again I wanted some backup considering the bad time my buddy is going through. The good news is that he does have a lot of good stuff that he's purchased over the years from people like Simon, Stinson, Jack Heir and Bill Corcoran, but he does have a few pieces like these that were influenced by an old boss of his (by the way, his boss probably has at least $100,000 worth of fakes purchased from....you guessed it, CC). Yep, some people have more dollars than sense.
Thanks again guys,
Mike

[brandoningram]

Well I AM an expert, and was just hired by Coach's 'sign-it yourself' Corner. And I signed those items myself, so I know they are real...Seriously, Iam no expert either, and in my limited auto knowledge know that CY Young couldnt sign his name all that elequantly, the Speaker does look like it was done quite meticulasely and you can even see the stops in the sharpie where the writer paused to reshape...and I couldnt help much on the HR Baker sig...Good luck to your friend. And you never know...we all say that we are not experts, so hopefully they are real and your friend can get some decent cash.

[mr2686]

as a follow-up, I thought I'd share this story about one of my friends "good" pieces. He purchased a beautiful 16x20 B&W photo of Mantle in the batting cage signed Mickey Charles Mantle, from Jack Heir. I went with him to pick it up from Jack, and Jack told the story of asking Mickey to sign a couple of these photos with his middle name. Apparently this didn't settle very well with Greer Johnson (she wanted to have a monopoly on that type of signature) and Mickey turned to her and told her the Jack was one of his "boys". After another minute of complaining, Mickey turned to her again and said "I said he's one of my boys". Case closed! Just goes to show what happens when women know how much memorabila is or could be worth

[HRBAKER]

http://cgi.ebay.com/1961-Fleer-Frank...item230c652903

Link to "late in life" HR Baker auto that I think the above example was trying to emulate, poorly I'd say.