Here
is an example of Mickey Mantle's signature. He was at a sports card show in Kansas
City in the middle 1980's when he signed this poster of him and other Yankee great
players. The poster was sold by auctioneer
Rick Kaufman on Sept. 7, 2002.
Mickey
Mantle's signature is probably one of the most forged of all time. Experts who
research his signature and others look at a multiple number of points in the signature
to determine if it is real forged. Things such as the the baseline of the signature
the spacing between various letters the height of letters such as k and t. They
also know a lot of details on recent history. For example it wouldn't be a good
idea to buy a letter claimed to be written by Mantle during his rookie season
that has the zip code 10002 on the return address.
( Zip codes first appeared
in 1963)
Because of this
it is hard to bid on signatures on eBay. It is nearly impossible for someone who
isn't an expert to tell if these signatures are real or not. The single best buying
advice offered by people in the field is to demand a full refund if the memorabilia
turns out to be fake. Prices of signatures on eBay are about 1/2 or even less
items offered at the Sept. 7 auction above.
December
8, 2003 Guernsey's, an
auctioneer located in New York will auction off a really nice collection of Mantle
items. All of which come from his family.
Bidding
on Mickey Mantle's Signature