Sandy Koufax signed.....seeking opinions
 

Hey guys...........I purchased a box lot of signed stuff at an estate auction last weekend and this '61 Topps Sandy Koufax card was in the mix. I know his signing style had a couple changes early in his career and I know that his wife also signed some of his stuff over the years. I've seen other early '60's signed items with this style of 'K' and the ballpoint pen signature appears to be vintage. I'm looking for any opinions ya'll might have. Thanks in advance............Matt

Koufax signed
 

Matt,

The Koufax signature on your card is somewhat tricky to guage and perhaps a bit ambiguous.

My first impression is that "Koufax" appears to be correct from some of my 1960's exemplars of him. The "S" in Sandy is not his typical S from this or any other time period. The signature, for sure, does not appear to be one that he took his time signing. Perhaps because it was rushed, this led to the Sandy portion of the sig just ending up a little sloppier than normal. If this is real, perhaps it was signed quickly over the railing or while he was walking.

After looking at the scan of your card and looking to my Koufax exemplar file, I was left not feeling 100% certain either way. I took the additional step of posing this question to my close friend Phil Paul who is a Koufax specialist. His response matched mine, that we're not 100% certain either way FWIW.

I wish that I could be more helpful, but perhaps some of the other people on the board can give you the answers that you are looking for.

Thanks Scott...
 

Scott.........Wow, I really appreciate your detailed response and extra legwork in contacting your good friend. That's why this board is fantastic! Thanks again...........Matt

Afraid I have to agree with Scott and Phil. I have never seen an "S" like that in a Koufax signature from the early-mid 60's, which is when he was signing his "K" in the style on your card. He was no longer using that version of "K" after 1964 or so. Also, the "Sandy is almost always very straight as if he was signing on lined paper, yours seems rather sloppy compared to his normal. Could have been signed while he was walking, but not his normal signature.

Rick

Koufax
 

I agree. I have close to 100 Koufax. The S in Sandy and the overall slant of Sandy look suspicious as does the f in Koufax. As an IP autograph collector I sometimes get variants that would never pass authentication but this one raises too many red flags