In a recent article I read from PSA, I read where 60% of the Babe Ruth autographs that are sent in to be authenticated are deemed forgeries. As they point out, that's an astronomical number especially considering that only the really "high-end" forgeries will be sent in to be authenticated at $200 a pop for authentication fees. Nobody is going to waste a couple hundred dollars on a a cursive written Babe Ruth piece of paper that even a 12 year old with an internet connection could tell you is fake.
The lesson here is that there are more forgeries out there than real ones. I was lucky enough to purchase one last summer and it's sitting in my safety deposit box at the bank. I bought it already authenticated so it was deemed to be in the 40% that are considered genuine by their experts. It was a business card cut that was graded a 7 and slabbed by PSA.
The gentleman I purchased it from was the original owner and he had a story of when he met Babe Ruth and got his autograph. He detailed it down to the month and the year of the meeting as well as the place. The fact he was the one who received the autograph was the single biggest reason why I knew I had to have this signature. However, there was still one thing that needed to be done.
While the seller and I negotiated, we landed on a price that he was willing to accept and one I was willing to pay. However, bargaining was not complete on my end. I told him, I am willing to pay that price tag on one circumstance: I wanted him to write a letter that detailed his encounter with the "Babe" and I wanted it as detailed as possible.
He did exactly that for me and in his letter mentioned that there was an article in the local paper about the time Babe Ruth came to town and he met him. After all of the Operation Bambino, I got a little nervous about my Ruth although I shouldn't be. I had something that more Ruth autographs do not-- outstanding provenance from the original owner.
However, it still left me wondering. So I called up the newspaper and gave the month and the year of when Babe Ruth was in this guy's hometown and they told me it might take them a while to find it on microfilm because they weren't positive it would be in the "Sports" section.
Within 45 minutes of hanging up the phone, I had outstanding news in the form of an email with a PDF attachment. It was the article that appeared in the newspaper about Babe Ruth's stop into town. What made this even more special was that the article was a terrific summary of what the man wrote in the provenance letter, just not as detailed.
It left me feeling even better about my rare Ruth signature and probably added some value to it. With that said, it's very important to find out the history of your autographs with as much detail as possible. Get it in writing especially when the autograph costs more than a couple hundred dollars. Always do your homework!
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