Authentication as Forensic Memory

I have a room full of autographed baseballs. One of the most asked questions when I talk to people about autographed baseballs is: "How do you know the autograph is real?" It is a critical question question for anyone navigating the curation and procurement of a collection, but I have come to learn that "truth" in collecting is a difficult thing to grasp, let alone explain. Thankfully, I am not…