Many of my readers have asked me to post pictures of forged autographs and questionable autographs. So here goes.
The following images are in my opinion outright forged autographs. If you own these items you should have them checked out now. In my opinion they are totally bogus. Thanks to many of my readers for sending me some of these scans. I had saved many myself, from examinations I have conducted, but my readers have added more. I will be posting more of these items in the near future. My computer is loaded with them, as a result of my authentication work. If there are any particular players you would like to see a forgery of, please let me know. If I have one on file I will post it here.
Here is a Walter Johnson signed check, compare the signature to the baseball.
Here is a Babe Ruth signed photo that I have shown to three other autograph experts. All of them state in their opinion it is authentic. Compare it to the other Ruth signatures. The cut signature was authenticated by a well known forensic examiner. What do you think?
The first day this page was up I had three requests. One for Jackie Robinson, one for Roger Maris and one for Christy Mathewson. Here they are.
More additions from my files.
I hope that viewing some of these will give you an idea of what to look out for in the future. Notice the stiffness in the writing on most of these items, the slow carefully drawn signatures. A very telling sign. The $2 bill with the Ruth signature, dated 1932, has quotes around Babe. Babe stopped using quotes around 1928. The person who signed this $2 bill did not even know that. Notice the characteristics on the Johnson ball, look at the part of the ball that is underneath the signature, the rubbing on the ball, a telling sign. Notice the carefully drawn writing, people don't sign their names in such a fashion. Johnson had a very smooth flowing signature. This has tremor and stiffness. Remember in the investigation by the NYC Department of Consumer Affairs regarding autographs on ebay, I selected two autographs that were questionable to me, by viewing the scans on ebay auctions. An undercover buy was undertaken for those two autographs. The autographs were then submitted to the NYC Police Department Crime Lab. The lab determined that both autographs were forgeries. Exactly what I had said two weeks before they were sent to the lab.
Remember the vultures who prey on the unsuspecting are still out there, looking for the fast, easy buck. Beware. If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is.
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RICHARD SIMON SPORTS INC.
215 East 80th Street
New York, NY 10075
646-319-7531 (9-5 EST only) - phone
212-288-1445 - fax
richsprt@aol.com
The above address is not a store, please do not drop by unannounced. Thanks very much.
