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Lot Number: 242
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Lot 242
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| Description: Exceedingly scarce "Rube Waddell" signed baseball c.1905. Incredible and intriguing relic was discovered within the Ferguson collection along with the other autographed baseballs offered in this section. The ball itself exhibits heavy game use including surface soiling, varying degrees of abrasion, and fading to the multi-color stitching. Based on comparisons to several other documented baseballs we have handled from that era, the ball does appear to be of a professional quality, although impossible to confirm given its current condition. "Rube Waddell '05'" is penned across the ball in period ink. The ink remains very bold rating 8 out of 10 as the signing obviously occurred after the ball had been used.
This ball, along with the others in the Ferguson collection, was first examined by Hunt Auctions for appraisal purposes around 1993. We have only been able to identify two "documented" exemplars of Rube Waddell autographed items with printed lettering rather than cursive writing/signatures. There are both similarities and differences between the offered baseball and the two known exemplars, and we have not been able to locate the last name "Waddell" in any type of printed form.
In October 1994, Christie's East offered, as Lot 299, a Rube Waddell single signed baseball which had been personalized to a Nellie Pearl, who was the girlfriend of Detroit Tigers player/manager Hughie Jennings. While the signature is signed in a cursive format, the salutation, "Compliments of" was printed by Waddell. Although the printed portion of the salutation does have some dis-similarities, the letter "l" in "compliments" has a very pronounced "backstroke" much like the "ll" in "Waddell" on the Ferguson baseball.
Due to the admitted lack of exemplars for comparison, we are not able to have the ball authenticated by JSA. We did submit the baseball to a nationally respected forensic laboratory, however, whose services we have utilized in the past for similar instances. The ball was examined by McCrone Associates Inc. of Illinois with the intent of specifically dating the ink used to write "Rube Waddell" on the baseball. The testing concluded that the ink is in fact consistent with ink of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Iron gall ink, which has a heavy chromium content, was extremely prevalent during the early 1900s and was positively identified to have been used on the Ferguson baseball. A detailed forensic analysis report from McCrone Associates will accompany the lot.
To the best of our knowledge, there are only two documented Rube Waddell single signed baseballs of merit, inclusive of the Christie's exemplar. The Waddell "signed" ball within this collection represents an opportunity to acquire a definitively period item which, based on provenance and dating analysis, may in fact have been "signed" by Waddell in a printed format. The ball will include a letter of provenance along with the McCrone report. While the lack of printed Waddell exemplars makes formal signature authentication impossible, we do fully guarantee that both the baseball and ink are of the period: Ball: GD, Signature: EX/MT-NM |
| Estimated Price: ($10,000.00-$15,000.00) |
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