Anyone else buy one of these autographed footballs on ebay? Are they a fraud?

[sooner n houston]

http://i21.ebayimg.com/02/i/000/7d/1a/a56c_1.JPG
Notice Steve Owens sig in this pic.


http://i11.ebayimg.com/06/i/000/7d/1a/a67b_1.JPG
Notice the 1/5000 in this pic.


="http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110070183927&ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:US:1"
Both photo's from this seller "prtch11"s item.

http://i3.ebayimg.com/04/i/000/77/e9/d244_1.JPG
Notice Steve Owens sig in this pic, look at the # sign.

http://i19.ebayimg.com/04/i/08/c3/23/bb_1.JPG
Notice the 1/5000 in this pic.

="http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330064712461&ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:US:1"
Both photo's from this seller "varsitymemorabilia"s item.

So how can there be at least 2 balls that are #1 of 5000 in a series? And I have one that I bought bact in September that also says 1 of 5000!

Anyone else buy one of these? Is this fraud?

[jk the sooner fan]

because 1 OF 5000 means its not the first, but just "one"

they're all numbered one OF

Steve Owens signed my ball in person and it doesnt have the # sign...but he did put it on the helmet

no idea if thats authentic or not, but my best guess would be "yes it is"......the three of them have signed OODLES of memorabilia together that it would be silly for anybody to create a market of fakes......there's just too much of the real stuff out there for CHEAP

[OUDoc]

I've got Billy Sims' and Steve Owens' autographs on a football at home. I'll try to remember to compare them with that pic when I get home. Of course, mine could be a fake....

That does look like Jason White's sig though.

[jk the sooner fan]

they all look just like mine.....either they're real or very good fakes

[soonerbrat]

the three of them are going to be at some store this weekend together signing stuff - for a fee, of course. maybe "Store Divided"

i dunno, I heard an ad on the radio last night.

[Rhino]

the three of them are going to be at some store this weekend together signing stuff - for a fee, of course. maybe "Store Divided"

i dunno, I heard an ad on the radio last night. Penn Square. There was a steady line everytime I went by.

Those footballs + autographs cost $100.

[StoopTroup]

Buy the ball on ebay cheap then go to the mall and get a pic with them and the ball you bought.

[Tiptonsooner]

I bought that same ball at Simms store in Norman and they all signed it there. Those sigs on the one you posted look the same as mine, I have the pic of them signing mine too.

[tulsaoilerfan]

The autos all look good to me, and JK is right on the numbering issue

[boomersooner28]

There's NO way I would ever buy an authographed anything unless I witness the actual autograph myself....that's just how I roll. :)

[OK2LA]

I have the same ball, but mine also has Billy Vessels autograph on it. I think it's worth alot more.

[mustangsooner]

I have a Billy Simms autograph on a Heisman ball. The signatures look kind of close but not exactly the same. I know mine is real cause I was talking to him when he signed it. He was a store divided and I sat and talked to him for about 20 minutes because no one else was in the store at the time. I think it could be real but does not look exactly like mine.

[soonerbrat]

Poor Billy had a booth in one of the buildings at the fair one year, posing for pics with his heisman for like $20...there was no one there and I felt kind of sorry for him..he shut down a few days before the fair ended because of lack of interest, i guess.

I'll try out his new BBQ joint in edmond though..I heard it was pretty good.

[sooneron]

It makes me sad to see so many Sooners misspelling the last name of a great Oklahoma running back.

[#1-Erin-Higgins-Fan]

It makes me sad to see so many Sooners misspelling the last name of a great Oklahoma running back.
I feel the same exact way! :(

[jk the sooner fan]

if you've got all 4 OU heisman winners autograph's on a ball, hell yes its worth MUCH more....Vessels is dead and didnt sign much when he was alive

[Scott D]

did you not notice that one ball was all white, and the other one was half white, and half darker color?

1 of 5000 is just the annotation on those balls. I can only think of a handful of places who market in that kind of stuff, and I've done some work in one of them. A lot of times those items are all signed over the course of a day or two depending on how many of the items there are to sign. The only sure thing about something being numbered 1 of a series of autographed items is that it's usually going to be the very last item in that series being sold or auctioned off.

As for the differences in autograph appearance. I had my hands on a few thousand prints signed by Muhammad Ali, and some boxing gloves signed by him as well. His autograph varied in size in nearly every single print. For the most part the style was the same, but some he signed in a normal size, and others his signature was easily 3x the size of a signature on another one.