When I was a kid I wrote the great one a letter and sent him a card asking for a signature. I wrote it to him when he was on the kings and didn’t get a response until he was on the blues. They sent back the card I mailed and it had another one in there, both signed. Is it legit?
by joecrook
12 Comments
Looks pretty legit to me. I’ve got a Gretzky autographed card that he signed in front of me and it looks similar
Looks like it could be real. I always remember that Gretzky G
It looks pretty similar to how he normally signed his name. If it’s a fake it’s a really good fake. If I had to guess I think it’s legit.
Unfortunately probably an autopen, been collecting for 20+ years here
Lmao I did this when I was a kid too. Never thought to actually send one to the Great One though, good call. Have lots of old Flames players like Mike Vernon, Al MacInnis and Theo Fleury. They always sent them back within a couple months
Definitely not.
Gretzky autographs are notorious for being different with each signature. For that reason, they’re hard to get graded and authenticated, which of course impacts value.
Both are autopen…The dots at the start and endstrokes are where the marker stopped and was lifted up.
Autopen signatures can be the bane of many collectors’ lives. An Autopen is a machine that copies a person’s signature and then reproduces it at a rate many times faster than could normally be done – some top celebrities even have several Autopens with slightly altered autographs, making it even more difficult to tell which is the real thing.
Warning sign #1 – same thickness and pressure
First off, Autopen signatures are usually the same thickness and pressure throughout and resemble a signature in a black marker pen. Uniformity is obviously something very hard to achieve when signing your own name, as you adjust the position of your hand.
Warning sign #2 – shaky signature
Many of the Autopen examples you see are shaky, which results from the movement of the machine. Unless the person whose autograph you desire is known for being particularly nervous, I would think twice before buying one of these.
Warning sign #3 – It looks identical to other signatures
Every time you write your name, it will have unique characteristics – if only small ones. However, with an Autopen signature, it’s the same every time. Look at other signatures from the same year to see if there’s a match.
**Warning sign #4 – Look for the dots**
**With an Autopen autopen, the pen is static when it hits the page rather than flowing like in a genuine signature.**
**They often start with a dot and end with another one. You don’t get that with a freehand signature.**
These autographs were performed by an autopen machine. The lines are the same thickness throughout. Each line begins and ends with a distinct dot. Both signatures are identical (autopens are far more consistent than humans). You can see the slight wobble on longer lines that give an autopen a way whereby a human hand would be quick and smooth. 100% certain these are autopen performed signatures. Sorry, but they are still cool to have imho!
gretzky is notorious for using an autopen to sign autograph requests.
I did not know autopens were a thing until this thread.
When I was a kid, I wrote to Joe Sakic and included a card, later got it back signed. I wonder if that was legit or not…