On the season 4 episode, "Evel Genius," a guy comes in selling an autographed photo of The Sultan of Swat. Rick may not be an autograph expert himself, but immediately, there are some red flags as he realizes Babe Ruth's signature and the marking at the bottom of the card are written with different inks. Luckily, he has a deep stable of experts to call upon, and one came in to take a look. While he says the writing at the bottom of the paper was added later, the most important aspect — Babe Ruth's John Hancock — was authentic.
The expert claims the item could bring in as much as $2,500 at auction, and Rick ends up paying $1,100 to get his hands on the photo. Given the legacy of The Great Bambino, that may seem a little low to casual baseball fans, but when it comes to autographed memorabilia, it all comes down to what precisely the writing is on. $2,000 to $3,000 for a standard signed photo is actually pretty standard (via Bunch Auctions). Now, if Ruth had signed an actual baseball, then it could fetch as much as $10,000 going up for auction. The real holy grail would be a baseball bat Babe Ruth played with and then signed, as one of those sold for over $1.2 million in the past (via New Atlas).
Still, a potential $1,400 profit isn't too bad for a day at the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop. After Rick spent $13,000 on a fake Shoeless Joe Jackson autograph, it's safe to say he's learned his lesson and will always do his homework when it comes to getting a second opinion on all signatures that come in.
