[Klrdds]

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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