Immortals Jersey......Fake???

Just wondering on peoples opinion on this Ebay item. For my mind I think the signatures are suspect. There was an official licensed product put out that was very similiar in that the players signed in those same positions, it is definatley noyt one of those because they were in black pen on a retro jersey and not on a 2008 one.

To me Changa hasn't signed that fluently and neatly for years and Johnny Raper...well the R looks all wrong too me,

SIGNED & FRAMED St. George Dragons Immortals Jersey - eBay, Memorabilia, NRL, Rugby League, Sport. (end time 12-Oct-10 20:00:54 AEDST)

Cheers
Ross

i didnt see any mention of a COA, which makes me suspect of it.

i swear i saw someone trying to sell this at the last card show i went too at campbelltown. i don't know no COA is always dodgy

My money's on fake, just looking at one of the signatures:

1. No strong claim to authenticity - you'll see the phrasing of "featuring the signatures of Graeme Langlands, Johnny Raper and Reg Gasnier" does not necessarily mean that those players supplied the signatures. There is no when, where, why to the autographs. Given that evidence = money in the case of high end sports memorabilia, the most likely reason for the lack of evidence being supplied in the description is that no such evidence or explanations exist.

2. The "G" on Graeme Langlands looks very wrong to me. I had a look at 2 other of his autos here and here. In the other signatures I can tell that the start of the loop is perfunctory - by which I mean, he completes the letter in one slanted motion, so that he can smoothly complete the letter G. In the above auction, the G is not slanted. The interior angle of the "G" is much larger. In fact, if you look really closely the author of that signature has started with a straight line and then significantly changed directions (i.e. the person spent a long time going through the motions of the signature).

3. The Langlands signature appears to be far "neater" generally. It does not look as though someone has signed it in the quick and decisive manner in which one normally signs their name. The guy is 69 years old, and most people that age would struggle to achieve that level of neatness (their signatures tend to be somewhat jittery), especially with a felt tip pen. Actually here is a better example of what I would expect from someone of Langlands' years.

Unless a COA is provided by a club or a reputable memorabilia company they arent worth the paper they are printed on. If in doubt at all i would steer clear. To me Langlands sig looks way too neat. Framing a fake jersey shows commitment though.

4. After completing the "G" in "Langlands", he normally comes back through the letter to start the "L" (see any of the links above). The result of this is that the G and L are pretty much on top of each other. In fact this is the case in every example I can find. However, in the above auction, there is a massive gap between the G and L.

---------- Post added 06-10-2010 at 01:11 AM ----------

Moving onto the second signature

5. The J in Johnny Raper is extremely suspicious. There is a distinct difference in style between modern writing and old-school running writing. The style of "J" that Johnny normally uses is a fairly typical example of a cursive J. It is smooth and quite aesthetically pleasing. Now look at the J on this jumper. Does it look like a smooth, cursive "J" from someone who has written it thousands and thousands of times? No. It was awkwardly written, just look at the awkward hook at the top of the J. This is probably the most authentic example I could find. You will see that there is no gap between the start of the loop on the J and the down stroke (basically, he comes back around and through the point at which he started), which is very standard for old-school cursive writing. But there is a chasm between the start and the down stroke on the jersey. Additionally all of the letter formations use more spacing and straight lines, which are indicative of modern writing as it is taught in school. I am quite confident that the person who signed this jersey is under 40 years of age.

---------- Post added 06-10-2010 at 01:14 AM ----------

6. Not sure when this jersey is from, but the trio have specifically stated that they stopped privately signing jerseys as of April 2008. Jerseys are specifically mentioned.

---------- Post added 06-10-2010 at 01:18 AM ----------

7. The "R" in Raper again has the hallmarks of modern school penmanship and is inconsistent with the other examples out there.

FAKE!!! Thats the first thing I thought when I saw it

Hey Scot, I also did lots of comparisons and came to the same conclusion but a big round of applause for your forensic insight. I certainly wasn't looking to purchase this just wanted to confirm my paranoia.

School teacher or Policeman??

Cheers
Ross

I have heaps of Langlands, Gasnier, Raper signatures will check out tonight, Gasnier one looks good at 1st glance...
Regarding COA's unless it's official merchandise you won't get a COA, i get ALL my signatures personally, no COA, unless its official stuff...

hobo said:

Hey Scot, I also did lots of comparisons and came to the same conclusion but a big round of applause for your forensic insight. I certainly wasn't looking to purchase this just wanted to confirm my paranoia.

School teacher or Policeman??

Cheers
Ross

Click to expand...

Thanks, and lawyer.

Compared it to some of my stuff, the one thing i notice is the signatures look like they have been done slowly, not that fast running writing if you can understand what i mean, like someone has been practising then finally decided to put it on the jersey, also the red texta used doesn't come up clear, but i would not purchase it, too many questions, i don't mind that it doesn't have a COA. also some of my official merchandise there is slight variations BUT these come from the club or i have personally obtained them....