What is the industry standard pen for autographs these days?

1st4040 · Oct 28, 2009

I've never been an autograph seeker so I have no idea what the accepted standard is for pen or ink. I have the opportunity to have cards of my guy autographed in a few weeks and I want to pick up a good pen/marker whatever it may be to provide him to use for my signing. I want something that will look good signed on high gloss cards and not smudge as well as something to sign an OMLB sweet spot if need be. suggestions on this and links would be greatly appreciated.

Big Mac McGwire · Oct 28, 2009

BLUE SHARPIE

and dont forget to rub the high closs cards down with talcom powder or baby powder before you get em signed. the ink will not run

cgilmo · Oct 28, 2009

getting autographs on a card with anything less than these

http://cgi.ebay.com/STAEDTLER-Lumocolor ... 587db50301

should be illegal

vwnut13 · Oct 28, 2009

Big Mac McGwire said:
BLUE SHARPIE

and dont forget to rub the high closs cards down with talcom powder or baby powder before you get em signed. the ink will not run

NOOOOOOOO!

getting autographs on a card with anything less than these

http://cgi.ebay.com/STAEDTLER-Lumocolor ... 587db50301

should be illegal

YEEEEEEEEEES!

Lumocolors are the best. You can get a pack fresh chrome card signed and it won't bubble, as long as you didn't get oils from your fingers where you are going to get it signed. This is a key to all cards. Make sure there aren't any oils or finger prints were the card is going to be signed, or it will bubble.

After all, Topps uses Lumocolor pens (per Pat Neshek) so you should too

Pat Neshek said:
TOPPS CERTIFIED AUTO CARDS
It's a done deal, two weeks ago I finished my first Certified Autograph signing for Topps and I'm here to fill you in on all the details. This was actually a pretty cool process and it all started by signing a contract with Topps. If some of you have been active readers on here you remember back in July when I said I signed a contract with Topps to sign 500 cards for $5 a card. Well I was really excited just to get a certified card that will be in packs of cards. So two weeks ago I attended a MLBPA retail summit in Denver and was ready to start signing my cards. This is when I found out that Topps upped the # of cards I would sign to 1000...not a problem with me! When any player signs for Topps it needs to be watched by a Topps official or someone that can certify that I actually signed the cards and no one else like my wife or brother jumped in and signed a couple (this has happened in the past with players). In my case the person in charge of watching me was Evan Kaplan, director of trading cards for the MLBPA. Evan had to sign an affidavit swearing that he would watch me sign every card. Most of the times the watcher gets paid for taking time out to watch every card get signed...I think it's around $75 but I'm not sure so don't quote me. It's a really boring job, could you imagine sitting around for 3-4 hours watching a guy sign 1000 cards.... not fun. To start Evan opened up a sealed manila envelope that contains instructions on signing, 3 Blue Staedtler pens and 1025 stickers. I think the extra 25 were there for accidents or screwups...I had a couple and just peeled off the sticker and threw it away. I also got bored with one and put one on my 2007 Topps card making it look like the real deal...this was something I always wanted to do. Well from there it was signing, signing and more signing. It took me around 3 hours to sign 1000 cards and for those of you wondering I did use a different autograph so I could get them done quicker...just kidding, I will never change my auto contrary to some of the veteran graphers out there saying I would change once I got to the bigs. Well signing 1000 cards was pretty boring but I had to make it a little fun and hopefully add some spice to finding one of my cards in future Topps products. On every so many pages (25 stickers per page) I would put different inscriptions on them. For the first 5 auto I wrote, 1st certified autograph ever with the date and the next one I wrote 2nd cert auto ever with the date. After I did that I wrote 10 that contained www.patneshek.com. You guys get the point. Here's all the inscriptions I wrote. 10 that said www.neshek.com, 10 that said sidearmer, 10 that had 7/7/06 MLB Debut and #72, 10 that had 2007 MLB ALL STAR FINAL VOTE, 10 that said Go Twins, 10 that said STRK 3 and finished up the day signing my last cert entitled "my last cert auto!" Hopefully you guys will get a kick out of finding these and seeing them pop up next year in different Topps products. Topps does not tell me where they will appear so be prepared to find these next year! Be sure to check out all the pics here.

Wes · Oct 28, 2009

vwnut13 said:
Big Mac McGwire said:

BLUE SHARPIE

and dont forget to rub the high closs cards down with talcom powder or baby powder before you get em signed. the ink will not run

Click to expand...

NOOOOOOOO!

getting autographs on a card with anything less than these

http://cgi.ebay.com/STAEDTLER-Lumocolor ... 587db50301

should be illegal

Click to expand...

YEEEEEEEEEES!

Lumocolors are the best. You can get a pack fresh chrome card signed and it won't bubble, as long as you didn't get oils from your fingers where you are going to get it signed. This is a key to all cards. Make sure there aren't any oils or finger prints were the card is going to be signed, or it will bubble.

After all, Topps uses Lumocolor pens (per Pat Neshek) so you should too

Pat Neshek said:

TOPPS CERTIFIED AUTO CARDS
It's a done deal, two weeks ago I finished my first Certified Autograph signing for Topps and I'm here to fill you in on all the details. This was actually a pretty cool process and it all started by signing a contract with Topps. If some of you have been active readers on here you remember back in July when I said I signed a contract with Topps to sign 500 cards for $5 a card. Well I was really excited just to get a certified card that will be in packs of cards. So two weeks ago I attended a MLBPA retail summit in Denver and was ready to start signing my cards. This is when I found out that Topps upped the # of cards I would sign to 1000...not a problem with me! When any player signs for Topps it needs to be watched by a Topps official or someone that can certify that I actually signed the cards and no one else like my wife or brother jumped in and signed a couple (this has happened in the past with players). In my case the person in charge of watching me was Evan Kaplan, director of trading cards for the MLBPA. Evan had to sign an affidavit swearing that he would watch me sign every card. Most of the times the watcher gets paid for taking time out to watch every card get signed...I think it's around $75 but I'm not sure so don't quote me. It's a really boring job, could you imagine sitting around for 3-4 hours watching a guy sign 1000 cards.... not fun. To start Evan opened up a sealed manila envelope that contains instructions on signing, 3 Blue Staedtler pens and 1025 stickers. I think the extra 25 were there for accidents or screwups...I had a couple and just peeled off the sticker and threw it away. I also got bored with one and put one on my 2007 Topps card making it look like the real deal...this was something I always wanted to do. Well from there it was signing, signing and more signing. It took me around 3 hours to sign 1000 cards and for those of you wondering I did use a different autograph so I could get them done quicker...just kidding, I will never change my auto contrary to some of the veteran graphers out there saying I would change once I got to the bigs. Well signing 1000 cards was pretty boring but I had to make it a little fun and hopefully add some spice to finding one of my cards in future Topps products. On every so many pages (25 stickers per page) I would put different inscriptions on them. For the first 5 auto I wrote, 1st certified autograph ever with the date and the next one I wrote 2nd cert auto ever with the date. After I did that I wrote 10 that contained http://www.patneshek.com. You guys get the point. Here's all the inscriptions I wrote. 10 that said http://www.neshek.com, 10 that said sidearmer, 10 that had 7/7/06 MLB Debut and #72, 10 that had 2007 MLB ALL STAR FINAL VOTE, 10 that said Go Twins, 10 that said STRK 3 and finished up the day signing my last cert entitled "my last cert auto!" Hopefully you guys will get a kick out of finding these and seeing them pop up next year in different Topps products. Topps does not tell me where they will appear so be prepared to find these next year! Be sure to check out all the pics here.

Click to expand...

Neshek's page with that red background is ridiculous to read it burns my eyes.

GiantsSuperCollector · Oct 28, 2009

For an OMLB you need a BIC blue ballpoint pen, usually an BIC Atlantis.

Bosox3 · Oct 28, 2009

cgilmo said:
getting autographs on a card with anything less than these

http://cgi.ebay.com/STAEDTLER-Lumocolor ... 587db50301

should be illegal

I get a ton of IP autos and those Lumocolor arent all what they are cracked up to be.
They still bubble on certain glossy cards and they arent as bold as sharpie.
Standard Blue sharpie is still the best.

Anthony · Oct 29, 2009

Bosox3 said:
cgilmo said:

getting autographs on a card with anything less than these

http://cgi.ebay.com/STAEDTLER-Lumocolor ... 587db50301

should be illegal

Click to expand...

I get a ton of IP autos and those Lumocolor arent all what they are cracked up to be.
They still bubble on certain glossy cards and they arent as bold as sharpie.
Standard Blue sharpie is still the best.

I agree. Often the Lumocolors are the way to go. For example, if a guy seems to be taking a few extra milliseconds with his autograph and I have a nice A&G, I prefer the Lumocolor. I also prefer them for most chrome cards.

But if a guy is doing his rushed autograph, a lumocolor just won't be bold enough, so I hand the player a sharpie.

And sometimes the player has a pen in his hand already and you just don't fuss about it--just be glad you're getting the autograph:

1st4040 · Oct 31, 2009

I want to do possibly a large flat to have framed and in silver ink.. should I use the Sharpie paint marker pen oil based fine tip or should I just use the silver standard fine point sharpie? I have no clue on this stuff as Im not an autograph seeker in any way shape or form.

sheetskout · Oct 31, 2009

Probably one made of gold or platinum. (dry humor)

andyduke86 · Oct 31, 2009

Bosox3 said:
cgilmo said:

getting autographs on a card with anything less than these

http://cgi.ebay.com/STAEDTLER-Lumocolor ... 587db50301

should be illegal

Click to expand...

I get a ton of IP autos and those Lumocolor arent all what they are cracked up to be.
They still bubble on certain glossy cards and they arent as bold as sharpie.
Standard Blue sharpie is still the best.

I agree

Benefits of Staedler- you don't have to rub the card down as much, the ink dries quickly so smears are much less likely
Staedler problems- the signatures are very fine (could be good for some guys), sigs are not nearly as bold as sharpies. Also Staedlers can get pretty streaky. You can break sharpies in to prevent this, not steadlers.

I use blue sharpies still, blacks on rare occasions.

matchpenalty · Oct 31, 2009

I agree with BLUE SHARPIE

I don't get glossy cards signed. Blue sharpie works best on A&G, Heritage, UD First Edition or any other non glossy surface cards. If you must get glossy, rub them down and blue sharpie will work. Also on 8x10, don't buy an 8x10 unless I know good spot where blue sharpie will work. I just hate any silver and black autos for most part. Only silver I like are on pucks and NFL or NBA official balls.

matchpenalty · Oct 31, 2009

Also look at most big autograph dealers. Like Steiners site and Frozen Pond for NHL stuff. Stuff is always signed in blue for the most part.

19braves77 · Oct 31, 2009

tristar and Steiner use to do their ball signings with the Bic Accountant Pen which you can not find anymore. If you email BIc, they will say that the Bic Pro Pen is what they receommend for accountants because they do not smear.

I pen using them for the past two years and here are a couple of signed baseballs by them:

With cards, I use a sharpie because Stads will chip over time. Lumocolor will fade over time also.

Todd44 · Oct 31, 2009

Staedtlers also are very sensitive to temperature. Back in my autpgraphing days, when there was a Maryland Fall Baseball League (does anyone besides me remember its glorious one-year run), Staedtlers had just made their way into autographing circles. We thought they were the best thing in the world since you didn't have to rub glossy cards.

At the end of the fall league, I remember getting autographs with the Staedtler in the bitter November cold, and the autograph would just sit on top of the gloss, and if you took your fingernail, you could scratch it right off. Or, if two cards rubbed together, the autograph would start to come off as well. The effect is not as noticeable in normal weather, but that sold me on using Sharpies forever.

dinosaurusrex · Oct 31, 2009

Sharpie Sharpie Sharpie. Preferably blue over black. An dmake sure the sharpie has a tip and isnt used and rounded

matchpenalty · Oct 31, 2009

dinosaurusrex said:
Sharpie Sharpie Sharpie. Preferably blue over black. An dmake sure the sharpie has a tip and isnt used and rounded

Yep, always use fresh ones when graphing.

andyduke86 · Oct 31, 2009

matchpenalty said:
dinosaurusrex said:

Sharpie Sharpie Sharpie. Preferably blue over black. An dmake sure the sharpie has a tip and isnt used and rounded

Click to expand...

Yep, always use fresh ones when graphing.

I disagree with that, you've got to break the tip in just a little bit for cards. Fresh sharpies need to be broken in usually. Otherwise they are too prone to streaking. If you are getting 8x10s or photos signed you should break them in even more so you get a nice broad line.

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