Signed T206: Was Rube Marquard's Wife Signing For Him?

[ATP]

Hoping to elicit some discussion on this one. For about a year and a half, I have been operating under the assumption that there is a possibility that Rube Marquard's wife was ghost signing for him towards the end of his life. I personally collect T206 player autographs, and I like Marquard, so always took interest in him. When first looking over all of the signed T206 cards that existed of him, a couple jumped out as just not looking at all like the others, I initially dismissed it as being signed at different eras, but to me the handwriting just didn't seem the same.

Last year, I had initially made the decision to purchase a signed T205 Marquard. I loved the idea of the card because I hadn't seen him on a T205, and I was buying it directly from the collector who mailed it to him to be signed in the late 1970's. Upon further review, it looked like a couple of the other signed T206's that had bothered me. We investigated further, the collector had also sent Marquard index cards to be signed at the same time. The index that was sent back along with the cards is vastly different (I have included it in the photos below, next to the T205). I suppose it could have been presigned long in advance to send for mail requests (I have heard this theory before, and someone once said they received one quite awhile after he had passed).

The ones I am bothered by are those that have the straight up and down "stick" to form the "R" in Rube. Every other autograph you find of Marquard, whether it's on an index, photo, ball, and most T206 are made with a circular one stroke motion. Even some of the signed T206's that look very labored have this circular start, but the two notated ones and the T205 do not. The bottom right on the b is also very tight and much different than usual, and the slant looks very dissimilar. The finish to his name with the flourish under the d is nothing the same and looks forced, in the T205 it isn't present at all. Notice also start of the R underneath that was left and a second attempt was made above (something that may have happened when you are not used to signing a card, Marquard it seems usually finished his signature if there wasn't enough space by wrapping around if necessary). Lastly, I am including an example of both Rube and his wife's handwriting for comparisons sake.

Hoping to hear some thoughts on this or if others have examples they may be willing to share. Perhaps I am barking up the wrong tree on this but it has been on my mind enough over the past year that I figure it's time to ask others.

[perezfan]

Great research, and I bet you're correct. The differences are very distinct.

His wife also seems to draw the "q" with a longer tail than Rube. Two distinctly different styles.... Has this been discussed before, or did you discover this this yourself?

Great post!

[ATP]

Originally Posted by perezfan

Great research, and I bet you're correct. The differences are very distinct.

His wife also seems to draw the "q" with a longer tail than Rube. Two distinctly different styles.... Has this been discussed before, or did you discover this this yourself?

Great post!

Mark, thank you for the compliment. To my knowledge, this has not been discussed before (except by myself with a couple folks offline, whose opinion I respect). And yes, you are right about the "q" as well. To be blunt, they really are such different writing styles that many things can be picked out of it. I started by just pointing out the "R" because it's the easiest to notice, but yes it definitely looks to be written by different hands, at least to me.

[bender07]

Originally Posted by perezfan

Great research, and I bet you're correct. The differences are very distinct.

His wife also seems to draw the "q" with a longer tail than Rube. Two distinctly different styles.... Has this been discussed before, or did you discover this this yourself?

Great post!

Great research is right. Thanks for bringing this to light!

[T206Collector]

I think there is a decent chance that you are on to something. I certainly don't like first small letter "r" in Marquard in the T205. It is arched, like in his wife's signature. In all of the other ones, that "r" isn't arched at all. But, without a capital letter "R" in Jeannette's hand, it is somewhat premature to conclude wife signed on that basis alone.

One constant in autograph collecting - you can't always explain why a player's signature may change or be different from one item to the next, but it is always a source of great concern to collectors and one of those points of frustration that keeps plenty of people away from collecting signatures as a hobby.

Check out the differences in these three Chief Meyers autos:

[ATP]

What I am really hoping is to find some others who may have written to Marquard and received a reply towards the end of his long life. As mentioned before, I had heard stories of TTM collectors getting a reply after Marquard had passed away with a signed index card included, but no one had examples to share just stories. Wouldn't it be great if someone also had a letter from his wife with more handwriting to analyze? What initially made me think it "could" have been signed by his wife was the way she made the last "d" in Marquard. Almost exactly the same in the T205 and her signature. The signed T206's are a little harder to tell on the "d" because it got so cramped...but have the same "stick" R to start Rube. If anyone has examples of Marquard that they can definitely state are from the late 1970's, or anything at all written by his wife other than the one example of her signature already posted, I would love to see them for research.

[7nohitter]

Very interesting and a great read! I have a Marquard index card signed, I definitely feel the wife did some signing for him.