Sports Impressions Mantle Plate
 

Are these "autographed" series of the plates actually signed in gold pen after the making OR is it a facsimile autographed placed on the image during production. As they also made a non-autographed series as well.

I do not have the piece in hand to examine it.

Pretty sure it's facsimile.

I can't say definitively if it's an authentic signature or a facsimile but what I do know is that Mantle did sign plates and it was always using a gold or silver "pen ". We did private signings with Mantle in the late 1980s up until the early 90s and he did sign plates, mini plates and figurines for us and at shows as well . However, Mantle and his agent Greer Johnson did begin to charge more for those items; more as a premium item autograph fee / pricing his last few years and it was because dealers were charging buyers more for them also as a premium Mantle signed item. But this plate could have been part of a contract signing for the plates , which Mantle would occasionally do because it was very easy money for him to make by signing plates over a month or so at his leisure. This however was rare for him to do.
To further cloud the issue facsimile autographed regular sized plates were sold after Mantle's death; however , many of these were sold as "numbered " limited editions as a sales pitch with the plate number on the back as this plate has . But a 1986 date on the plate makes it possible to be authentic. To be sure you actually should look at the plate not a picture.
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It's a dark photo and tough to see the signature as well. This makes it impossible to tell whether it's a facsimile or not. Is it possible to ask for another picture with the flash at an angle?

I think it's likely a facsimile based on the placement alone. Mantle would have avoided signing in that dark area in my onion.

I think it is a real autograph. The autograph edition plates look like the have his signature in same pen but different locations.

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthoped...lden-251492402

Here is #116, same as yours above sold at an auction

https://www.pristineauction.com/a525...s-COA#images-1

I saw the prior sale listing as well...

I thought the plate was signed after the fact, as the signature has a small blemish. I can't seem to find any other numbered plates from this series to see if the autograph is in the same exact place or varied placement.

Thanks! That's what I needed, another from the same series which clearly shows the autograph in a different place.