The lady I bought this from was in her 80's. She had pics of her father with Rizzuto in a KC uniform. Rizzuto was back in the late 40's. Mantle and the rest of them were gotten over the next 2-7 yrs. She has a few pics of her with Mantle and Skowren, and Bauer as a young teen I guess. She never would tell me her exact age just that she was 80 yrs and counting backwards for a few now
I have been able to trace every player in the book to the KC Blues. Also included is a few signatures from the Blues Batboys. One of which she supposedly knew. Her connection to the dugout was Rizzuto though. I guess Rizzuto could pull strings if he needed to get her father down to meet players. She says her father used to take her to games and thats how she was able to get the autos.
I have already had the book looked at through an online view and they wanted to get the book and cut and slab all the autos. Then auction them off. Said the Mantle could bring in $9000+ because of the pre Yankee auto. Rizzuto was another and there are a few others also that could bring some $ because they are all minor league autos. Her son got the Negro Leaguers later. Some of which I here are near impossible to find.
I myself could never pay anything over the autos value regardless of the card for non HOF'ers. If someone wants to over charge and does not have the info to validate the price then maybe its not about selling the auto as much as it is about LOOK WHAT I GOT
Now HOF'ers are different and dates all make the difference also. hard thing is to prove the dates for the auto other than how it changes over time.
I think that every auto is different in value. There is not rate of increase and as time goes supply and demand is what drives everything.
Sorry I busted up your thread but I was hoping for some feedback here as well. I have had this posted before and got no response about anything. Maybe a collector could email me if they have info so I don't take anymore room here.