500 Homerun Club Signed Litho Mickey Mantle

[thetruthisoutthere]

It's been almost sixteen (16) years since the great Mickey Mantle passed away and yet a brand new "500 Homerun Club" autographed lithograph has surfaced on one of "those" auction sites.

The auction site has a dutch auction of eight (8) of the below "500 Homerun Club" signed lithographs. And they are all "authenticated" by Chris Morales. Where were these "hidden (cough, cough)" for the past 16 years?

Morales-500-1.jpg

Morales-500-2.jpg

[RichardSimon]

I am sure they were hiding in a warehouse in the Everglades .
Lucky the gators did not get them.

[Mr. Zipper]

Actually, I'd like to thank them for providing a comprehensive summary of the 11 forgery styles all in one image.

[RichardSimon]

And all that heat and humidity did not damage them at all.
Sitting in a warehouse all those years and just look at how fresh the lithos look. Like they came off the printing presses just days ago.
I guess they had to have a lot of those desiccant bags to keep these beauties fresh and dry. Pretty amazing I say.

[thetruthisoutthere]

I've often wondered the rates that Mr. Morales charges for his services as a "Forensic Investigator" and as a "Forensic Document Examiner."

The above item contains eleven (11) autographs. Does Mr. Morales charge by the item or per autograph?

I contacted a "Forensic Document Examiner" while doing some research. Her rates are "$1,500.00 as a retainer fee for five hours of her time and her hourly fee is $300.00."

The below autographed baseball of 12 former US Presidents plus Mr. Obama. Thirteen (13) autographs total. This baseball is presently listed for auction on the Coach's Corner Auction site (Lot Number 8). The bidding as of today (05/10/2011) is at $206.00.

http://www.myccsa.com/Lot.aspx?LotID=263433

How much time does Mr. Morales spend on each autograph forensically examining it? How many exemplars does Mr. Morales have in his database library for each signature? I don't know about you, but I'm very curious how Christopher Morales, Forensic Investigator, goes about "authenticating" a piece like the one below. Pieces like the below are SUPER RARE as we all know. They are pieces of history.......Mr. Morales?

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[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Personally, I wouldn't pay very much for a Gerald Ford item signed in mustard.

[J.McMurry]

Ha Ha Ha, Jodi you're the best, LOL

The cap probably fell off the bottle when Ford was using it on his hotdog.

[Mr. Zipper]

Originally Posted by thetruthisoutthere

The below autographed baseball of 12 former US Presidents plus Mr. Obama. Thirteen (13) autographs total. This baseball is presently listed for auction on the Coach's Corner Auction site (Lot Number 8). The bidding as of today (05/10/2011) is at $206.00.

Apparently, Presidents Hoover, Truman and Eisenhower all saved the sweet spot and left it open for JFK. How considerate.

In all seriousness, if you were the steward of an authentically signed ball of this magnitude, would you really let Ford sign it in a blobby gold pen or Reagan with a thick, black Sharpie? We all know the forger used different pens to give it an air of realism, but did he have to resort to a gold pen and Sharpie to make it "look real'? How stupid.

[thecatspajamas]

Imagine the buyer's dismay when all of their authentic vintage marker signatures start to bleed simultaneously after all these years...

[RichardSimon]

Originally Posted by JBirkholm

Personally, I wouldn't pay very much for a Gerald Ford item signed in mustard.

I have heard that mustard signed autographs of former Presidents will soon have their own category on ebay .

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Well, at least Jerry had a little class and reached for the spicy dijon; French's would be far too tacky for such a purpose.

[RichardSimon]

Considering he played football in the days of small leather helmets he knew how to use mustard as more than a condiment.

[thetruthisoutthere]

What's really interesting about the baseball is that it is at least 47 years old and shows no signs of being handled at all. It was supposedly signed by thirteen Presidents and handled by thirteen Presidents. I'm going to assume that the person chasing the autographs handled the baseball a lot during their 47 year chase of the various Presidents and yet it is bright white.

Maybe Scott Malack or Lee Trythall of Coach's Corner Sports Auctions in Souderton, PA can explain this to us. Also, Mr. Malack and Mr. Trythall must be puzzled as to why the bidding is only up to $206.00 for this super rare signed baseball.

[thecatspajamas]

Also interesting that for such a priceless artifact (the signed ball), they can't even be bothered to take enough pictures to show all 13 of the signatures on the ball.

And what's that bit about Morales being ex-Secret Service? Is that true?

[RichardSimon]

Mr Williams it is obvious that the Presidents wore white gloves when signing this precious artifact, as did the forger, oops owner of the ball, which should be in the Smithsonian. The Smithsonian dumpsters I mean.

[thetruthisoutthere]

Originally Posted by RichardSimon

Mr Williams it is obvious that the Presidents wore white gloves when signing this precious artifact, as did the forger, oops owner of the ball, which should be in the Smithsonian. The Smithsonian dumpsters I mean.

I should have realized that they all wore white cotton gloves before being handed the baseball.

The owner must be a "high-ranking" somebody to be able to get that close to 13 Presidents. Impressive.