1931 Babe Ruth Autograph Ball--Traced Over--JSA

[JimStinson]

Forgive me for chiming in on what may be a controversial subject but in my opinion a "trace over" has no value. Mainly because of the question "What is being traced over ?" most of the time its an actual autograph that has faded badly, but once the traceover is applied who knows? I have examined many baseballs especially Babe Ruth on which someone way back when just had drawn Ruth's signature on a baseball and presented it as a gift. Back in the 1930's and 1940's , the ball itself would have had more value than the autograph, so was not a malacious act. The family then kept the baseball for years thinking it was real and it never was. Also many Mrs Babe Ruth signed baseballs , when she was signing for him would appear real if traced over. So what makes a traceover worthless is you never would know what was being traced over if anything. There may be a market for them I don;t know so if someone somewhere is willing to buy one, a traceover would have value but in my office a traceover is always filed in the wastebasket
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