Old Balls and fading signatures?

[RelicSports]

Hello all!

I was wondering if any of you would have any feedback/infoto the following question...i was curious based on the amount of vintage autographed baseballs I have seen, very few have bold signatures and tend to come lighter and lighter with age. Does this mean that eventually, all vintage balls signed in period fountain pen ink will eventually fade and become invisible to the naked eye?? Is todays ink able to hold and survive the tests of time? Any info/feedback is greatly appreciated.

[RichardSimon]

The care that the baseball is given is certainly the key to its survivability.
Keep it in a cool dry place. Do not expose it to sunlight or fluorescent light and you give the ball a much better chance to survive in decent shape.

[drc]

Old letters can last well. I assume in part because they're not exposed to sunglight and air.

[David Atkatz]

Sounds like me and my collection.

[JimStinson]

Light is usually the culprit. On more contemporary autographs from the days I used to do private signings the ink that seemed to hold up the best on baseballs was from those cheap medium point Bic blue ball point pens.
_______________________
Always Buying and Selling Vintage autographs
jim@stinsonsports.com

[mr2686]

I'll second that...the Bic Medium Point pen was always my pen of choice and the balls I've had signed with them have held up well (of course, keeping them out of the light for the most part has helped too). Baseballs are tough to collect because you have to worry about the type of ink used, how much the ball was handled (oils from people's hands on the ball makes thouse brown splotches we see at times), how well the leather of the ball accepted the ink, UV light, etc etc.
The bottom line is, baseballs will fade over time, but if you find a vintage signed ball that looks good today, proper handling and display should keep it good for years to come.

[Scott Garner]

Originally Posted by David Atkatz

Sounds like me and my collection.

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[Fuddjcal]

Originally Posted by mr2686

I'll second that...the Bic Medium Point pen was always my pen of choice and the balls I've had signed with them have held up well (of course, keeping them out of the light for the most part has helped too). Baseballs are tough to collect because you have to worry about the type of ink used, how much the ball was handled (oils from people's hands on the ball makes thouse brown splotches we see at times), how well the leather of the ball accepted the ink, UV light, etc etc.
The bottom line is, baseballs will fade over time, but if you find a vintage signed ball that looks good today, proper handling and display should keep it good for years to come.

+1 from an old feverish ball collector.

The older AL & NL balls hold ink much better than many seligs as well. The challenge is finding the signature as bold as you can and the ball as white as you can.

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by Bearfan4

Hello all!

I was wondering if any of you would have any feedback/infoto the following question...i was curious based on the amount of vintage autographed baseballs I have seen, very few have bold signatures and tend to come lighter and lighter with age. Does this mean that eventually, all vintage balls signed in period fountain pen ink will eventually fade and become invisible to the naked eye?? Is todays ink able to hold and survive the tests of time? Any info/feedback is greatly appreciated.

It's also a function of the leather and the ink used. I have a ball from 1973 where all signatures on one panel have disappeared, but all on the other are as fresh as the day they were signed. The ones that disappeared, had done so for the most part, within ten years. I always figured it was some chemical in the leather that was different on one of the panels - it was not a high quality ball.

I have another ball from 1972 that I got signed by the Giants with one pen, then a month later got the Phillies to sign it with a different pen. All of the Giants sigs are dark but feathery now, while the Phillies are fresh as the day I got them.

[Mr. Zipper]

I have seen the same thing. I have seen one half of a signature literally evaporate and the remainder of the signature is bold and strong.

My sense is it is the combination of the ink with whatever processing chemicals remain in the leather and how they interact. It does seems as if something is going to happen, it usually happens in the first 5 to 10 years. After that it should be stable.

I do not believe the dark brown spots we see are from handling as is often alleged. Unless someone hands were covered in barbeque sauce, my feeling is those brown spots are the result of chemicals in the leather. It seems unlikley to me severe dark brown spots would result from a little natural oil from someone's fingers.

[thecatspajamas]

I've seen at least one instance of a ball that had one piece of leather bright white, and the other a tan to brown color from toning. As the toning was complete and even throughout the second piece of leather, it made for an interesting two-tone effect. It doesn't seem to have affected the signatures in this instance, but that is definitely a manufacturing issue/defect, not from uneven handling or exposure.