|
|
The following edited version of an interview with MVP's Mike Gutierrez is published with permission of The Sports Collector's Digest. As some of the issues in the hobby have changed since its original publication, we have amended the article to ensure that it is timely and useful to you. Please note that MVP does NOT offer authentication services or provide opinions on items not purchased from MVP.
SCD: How did you get started in sports
collecting?
MG: Like many people, I started collecting baseball cards as a boy. I
collected until 1967 when college and my career took precedence. I went to work
in the entertainment field and ended up as a development executive for Universal
and ABC. That's someone who develops ideas for new shows. I got back into
collecting in the late 1970s. I went to a local card show to track down my old
1957 and 58 Topps cards and Hank Aaron was there signing autographs for $5. I
thought, "Why not, what's five bucks?" He inscribed the photo
to me personally and I was swept away. Then I started to think ... what would
it be like to have something signed by Babe Ruth . I went to another show
and found a Babe Ruth signature. From there my collection of Hall of Famers
started to grow. Making the rounds building my collection, I ran into other
collectors doing the same, including my partner in MVP, Doug Averitt.
In 1985 I found an Alexander Cartwright collection in Hawaii. It was for sale only as an entire collection. I ended up buying it with a friend. I kept the piece I wanted and sold everything else off at a profit so that my piece was free. What a concept! At that point I became a full-time dealer, going to all of the shows in the country, meeting people, seeing their collections, compiling autographs for reference -- basically educating myself in the field.
SCD: When dealing in autographs the question
always comes up: How do I know it's real? What can the average collector do to
ensure he is buying an authentic item? Should he become his own expert?
MG: Sure, I did. But you need to study. Get samples, get a feeling of
person's hand to your own. Make copies of whatever you can. I have thousands of
signatures -- stacks of real Babe Ruth signatures and also a stack of
not-so-real Babe Ruth signatures. The key is your data bank. But if you don't
have the time or you're not willing to make the effort, then you need to find
someone you can trust.
SCD: Is an autograph so individual that forgery
is difficult? What do you normally look for and what normally gives a forged
item away?
MG:An autograph can be seen as a blueprint of a person's neuromuscular
patterns -- it's a very unique fingerprint. Therefore the average person would
find it difficult to duplicate an autograph. Now that does not mean there aren't
skilled forgers and good forgeries -- there certainly are. The older and more
valuable an article is, the easier it is to authenticate and more difficult it
is to forge because of the developments of ink and paper over the years. You can
tell if the paper and ink are right for a 1900 or 1920 period piece. Outside of
the media used, I would have a hard time pinpointing mechanically how to tell if
a signature is real. After a certain amount of experience with the genuine
article, you can synthesize and get a feel for that person's writing and give an
opinion on authenticity.
SCD: Most collectors want to own just one of
something -- it does not make sense for them to spend years compiling a data
bank before they something for their collection.
MG: In that case, you need to find dealers willing to guarantee what they
sell and someone whose opinion you can trust.
SCD: Can you always tell if something is a fake?
What do you say to someone who brings in a questionable sample for
authentication and you aren't certain?
MG: The word "fake" is not in my vocabulary. We simply say
"we are unable to authenticate this piece." It might be real or it
might not be. We only have our experience, opinions and samples to go buy unless
we actually saw the item get signed.
SCD: My personal signature varies from
time-to-time and was different at different times in my life. You cannot ever be
certain that an autograph is NOT authentic.
MG: Strictly speaking, that is correct unless the medium is wrong. There are
problem pieces that may in fact be genuine. A piece that varies significantly
from what the hobby has learned to expect from the signer is not a particularly
good investment. It may in fact be genuine, but people (buyers) may be wary of
it.
SCD: Are there levels of certainty? If for some
reason you feel uneasy about an autograph would you comment on how sure your
opinion is?
MG: No. We simply say we can or we can not authenticate
an item.
SCD: You say the key is having a data bank. How
many Ruth signatures have you examined?
MG: It's not something that I keep track of, but I've easily looked a more
than a thousand Babe Ruth signatures and hundreds of many Hall of Famer's. There
are autographs like Addie Joss, Rube Foster, Eddie Plank and William Hulbert
that you just don't see very often. We also keep samples of all of the items we
are not comfortable with. You can learn from them.
SCD: What if your samples are bad to begin with?
MG: It's best to begin with something you really trust. I like player
contracts as the unimpeachable source. Wills and transfer notices are also good
sources. Personal handwritten letters are also helpful.
SCD: And personal checks?
MG: I think too much has been made of checks. I once got a stack of
checks from Mordeci Brown. The signature was way off. It's not that they were
forged, but he had an administrative assistant doing his job. Brown did indeed
sign many of his own checks -- and many of these are on the market, but banks
don't examine checks like they should.
SCD: How about pencil autographs?
MG: They actually have an advantage from a preservation standpoint
because they don't fade easily. Older ones are harder to authenticate because
you can't do a meaningful chemical analysis like you can with ink and it's more
difficult to discern the stroke direction. They can be authenticated, but it is
somewhat more difficult. Beginning collectors should seek an expert opinion
before buying an expensive pencil cut signature. People tend to prefer ink
signatures, but there really isn't a good reason for it besides possibly
aesthetics.
How do you feel about the FBI's statement that
70% of autographs on the market are forgeries?
MG: It's a highly misleading and inaccurate statement. First of all,
in order to make a statement like that they would have to know the size of the
inventories of all dealers and collectors, and I really doubt that they have any
idea. I think anyone who is in the hobby realizes how exaggerated that estimate
is. The problem is the rest of the public does not, and that may keep a lot of
people out of the hobby. It has created an artificially high level of concern.
That said, it's true that there are certain athletes that are commonly forged --
Michael Jordan is at the top of the list. Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle, Joe
DiMaggio and Roger Marris are also common targets. A higher percentage of items
signed by these players are forgeries. But to say that 70% of ALL
autographs in the market are forgeries is simply misleading.
Which sports autographs do you feel will hold their value well? MG: The higher the quality of the article the better it will hold -- or hopefully -- increase in value. That's true in every market, and sports autographs is no exception. Older championship team-signed balls in exceptional condition (near mint or better), high-quality signed correspondence from early Hall of Famer's and 19th Century players, and single-signed balls from Hall of Famer's who died before 1980s are good examples of items that are seemingly always in demand.