Opinion on ruth

[steve B]

Well, that all sort of makes me happy.

I didn't like it, but more based on the item. A FDC for that stamp is a good candidate for a sig, but not necessarily that one. (It's also a good candidate for fakery since they're cheap and common) The cancel is a machine done cancel, so it would have been in a big stack of covers being run through the machine and those almost always went into the mail rather than being handed back. I'd have to check, but at some point they were very against cancelling and handing the cover back because it was mail and had to go through the system.
The typed address is also more like a mail ordered cover than one that was gotten in person. A quick search finds five with the identical cachet but no autograph all with different typed addresses and all canceled with the 9 AM time. So the commercial cachet maker sent a bunch to Cooperstown beforehand, the PO processed them and put them into the outgoing mail from the ceremony.

Of course a cover could be signed later, but that's less likely.

Steve B

[Steve D]

Originally Posted by steve B

Of course a cover could be signed later, but that's less likely.

Steve B

Keep in mind that this particular cover was addressed to Rutherford, NJ, which is a suburb of New York City. Perhaps the recipient couldn't get up to Cooperstown personally on induction day, and was far more likely to encounter The Babe locally over the following nine years.

Since this signature does have issues, however, all the above would be moot in this specific instance. I'm just saying that one thing to consider is the recipient's proximity to the player's home/ballpark.

Steve

[steve B]

That's a fair point.

A lot of first day covers were obtained through the cachet makers, or by direct mail to the issuing post office. Nowhere near as many are gotten in person. Since they're usually cheap I sort of collect first day covers that have "problems" or are odd in some way. Like one that was return to sender because the stamps covered the address, or one damaged in transit, or cancelled wrong.....

Steve B