Old Judge Proofs?

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Posted By: runscott

The market will surely determine the current value of these "things", but we all know that you cannot rely on memorabilia collectors' wishful thinking and an auction catalog description to determine authenticity...the Mastro grandfather clock full of baseballs should have taught us that.

There is a good chance, regardless of what any of us want to believe, that someone who is very intelligent, creative and very interested in vintage photography and possibly baseball history, yet also unscrupulous and deviant, thought it was worth the time and effort to create elaborate fakes, for profit and/or fun. Yes, it would have been very difficult - that might have been part of the appeal of the project.

The best way to prove whether or not these are real is by finding a single example that originated from the same Vermont source, that exhibits traits impossible to find in its 19th century counterpart - if such an example cannot be found (and I believe David says it can, in fact be found), then you still are left with items which may or may not be authentic. In any case, it will take a vintage photography expert to determine this, not a baseball card collector. Every time I buy a vintage baseball photograph from any auction house, I feel like I'm taking a crap-shoot ( I mixed a metaphor with a bodily function!)