Hank Aaron Auto Picture Question

[williams51]

Look at hanks letter K he is pretty consistant on how he signs the letter K

[rcsrgreat]

Work for PSA/DNA?

no, but im pretty sure its not the real thing. if you cant tell from comparing autos of his to that, and that somethings off with this auto then let me go sign a couple cards and sell them to ya lol.

[chipperhank44]

I'm fairly certain that signature is not authentic. There are a lot of inconsistencies. First of all, the left vertical line in the "h" is almost never just straight, he usually flares out at the top or the bottom. Also, the second vertical line on the "h" goes down, loops at the bottom and then across the two vertical lines to complete the "h". Your photo has the line going down, then back up and down again at a steep angle. This is not consistant with any Aaron auto I've seen. Also, while Aaron does leave the top end of his "a" open fairly often, I've never seen the "a" just continue to flow out to the right like this example at the top. With all that said, it seems like Hank would have had to completely change the way he signs the "h" for this signature to be legit. Please note - I am not a professional, but am an avid Hank collector and have seen my fair share of his autographs.

Edit* As a fellow collector and fan I really hope the sig is authentic because that picture of Hank is gorgeous!!!

[WVcoltsfan]

Thanks for the input everyone! I know nothing about his auto really so Ill keep comparing and would appreciate any additional input/opinion!

[EtherealSOC]

Just to throw my hat in the ring -- I'm pretty familiar with Hank's autograph and my first impression was that this is not genuine. He's never had a very fluid cursive form and this looks too compact compared to the numerous examples I've seen. The interesting thing in Hank's signatures I've seen is that his penmanship improved considerably the later it got in his career, and some of most recent signatures are the 'cleanest'. In my humble opinion, this is a beautiful picture someone wrote 'Hank Aaron' on.

[GUCD231]

I totaly disagree.His Autos in the newer products like 2011 Topps Tribute look horrible.I think it's safe to say his signature has gotten worse with age.I am aware there are some exceptions though.I am sure it doesen't help that Topps sends him postage size stickers to sign either.If this was your Grandad's I would think it was an earlier Aaron signature.Comparing it to his Certified card autographs won't help.You need to compare it to some of his earlier signed memorabilia.As far as real or not I have no opinion leave it up to the PSA/DNA. -Steve




quote=EtherealSOC;9618976]Just to throw my hat in the ring -- I'm pretty familiar with Hank's autograph and my first impression was that this is not genuine. He's never had a very fluid cursive form and this looks too compact compared to the numerous examples I've seen. The interesting thing in Hank's signatures I've seen is that his penmanship improved considerably the later it got in his career, and some of most recent signatures are the 'cleanest'. In my humble opinion, this is a beautiful picture someone wrote 'Hank Aaron' on.[/quote]

[williams51]

I'd send it to PSA/ DNA but for anyone to say I'm sure it's not real i don't by it. Randy Johnson is a great example his IP sig is no where close to pack pulled if I was to post up a IP auto of his you all would call me crazy for even posting it was real.

[EtherealSOC]

I totaly disagree.His Autos in the newer products like 2011 Topps Tribute look horrible.I think it's safe to say his signature has gotten worse with age. -Steve

[/quote]

I said his signature improved towards the later part of his career. Obviously some of his most recent signatures are worsening, he's into his late seventies at this point. But if you compare Hank Aaron signatures from 1954-1960 and then look at 1970-1976 you'll notice the later signatures have a cleaner cursive form. As you mentioned, there are always exceptions.