Nash: Heritage returns alleged Lou Gehrig forgery to auction
From SABR member Peter J. Nash at Hauls of Shame on April 26, 2013:
After withdrawing an alleged single-signed Lou Gehrig baseball from its Platinum Live NYC Auction in February after Haulsofshame.com published a report alleging that the ball was believed to be a forgery, Chris Ivy and Heritage Auction Galleries have returned the questioned sphere to the auction scene. Ivy and Heritage are hanging their hat solely on the fact that they believe, based upon their own research, that Gehrig could have signed an American League Official William Harridge baseball featuring “two stars” incorporated into the sweet-spot graphics.
Heritage is now calling the ball, “One of his (Gehrig’s) very last autographs” and the auction house claims the ball has a current bid of $26,000 on the controversial ball.
Ivy claims that he’s found several 1939 All Star Game balls that prove Gehrig could have signed such a ball and that those balls were released publicly before Gehrig lost the use of his hands due to ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease). Ivy also stresses that both of his authenticators, PSA/DNA and JSA, stand behind their original determination that the Gehrig autograph is genuine. In February, a New York Post article reported how the authenticity of the Gehrig ball and another, alleged to be the actual last out ball from the 1917 World Series, were being challenged.
Read the full article here: http://haulsofshame.com/blog/?p=19791
Originally published: April 26, 2013. Last Updated: April 26, 2013.