Need help: "hand painted" balls & jerseys

[TNTtoys]

All,

I have seen these online for some time now but really have no idea as to what I am looking at. They appear to be retail jerseys (some signed) with a beautiful life-like hand painting of the star (Pedro Martinez, Sammy Sosa, etc.). If these collectibles were were done by hand, I would venture a guess that they would go for pretty big money, but more often, I see otherwise...
For jerseys, these "hand painted" versions sell for just a little more than the price of the retail jersey itself. For balls, they are usually signed, and they too sell for around the price of a normal signed ball for that star.
So... my question is... does anyone out there know what these actually are? Are they mass produced in any way or actually painted by hand by an artist? Any help would be great. Seems like a very nice item to buy in order to have displayed.

Thanks,
Nick

[Rob L]

Here's a couple of artists:

http://www.kongart.com/sportsart_baseballs.html

http://www.baseballsbymikefloyd.com/Welcome.html

[David]

If something is called "hand painted" that would mean it's painted by the artist and not a silk screen or anything like that. "Original painting" or even just "painting" means painted by hand, as a painting is only be painted by a human. I'm not aware of any, or very few, robots or trained horses that can paint paintings.

[worldchamps]

www.jolenejessie.com (http://www.jolenejessie.com)

i have bought from her and am very happy with her work.

Bill

[jordan23collectibles]

I agree with Bill and I consider Jolene Jessie as one of the best hand painting artists. I have 7 one of a kind jerseys painted by her. Another artist is David Fatla or Douglas Brewer. They were either commisioned by Upper Deck to create limited edition paintings.

[fredgarvin]

I have seen pieces by David Fatla go for over $2,500.00+ He is probably one of the best. He has a website for more information:

www.legendssportsart.com (http://www.legendssportsart.com)

[skyking26]

I have hand painted oil portrait baseballs of Dave Kingman as a Giant/Met/Cub/A's. They are very nice, and great signed...

RK