49ers SB XXIX GU football on Ebay

[solarlottry]

There is a game used SB XXIX football on ebay for auction that has a 49ers LOA as well as a ScoreBoard LOA. On the Scoreboard LOA it is written that this ball is the forth TD thrown by Young to Watters in the game. If someone can post the link to the auction it would be much appreciated as I cant seem to figure out how to do that!

I have seen a # of game used balls from the 1994 season and remember MOS selling them back in 1995. SB balls were 2K and others ranged in price from 1K for the NFC championship game to a few hundred for a regular season game. All were either signed by Rice or Young or both and all had a team letter. The 49er LOA had 4 RAISED SB trophies in the lower left corner, as did ALL 1994 49ers LOA's that accompanied 1994 game used shirts or balls sold by MOS. In 1995 the team changed the trophies to five non raised black outlines of trophies. ALL the letters were printed on the same paper with a watermark that was very specific. I have over 50 such letters and every one has the watermark.

The ball being auctioned has a 49er LOA but it does NOT have the raised trophies. It does have some sort of watermark but the owner could not tell me specifically what it said. Plus, to me (and this is just my opinion!) the MVP and the #4/6 looks added and written in a different pen. This may be perfectly legit and the way scoreboard handled the balls but in May of 2009 (5/28/09) Huggins and Scott (lot #496) sold a game used SB XXIX ball with team LOA that had the raised trophies and had MVP which was clearly written by Young. My 2 game used balls also have team letters with the raised trophies and proper watermark.

I would love to add this ball to my collection as it is something that I regret not buying from MOS back in 1995 but am not quite sure what to make of it. The owner said that he bought it at a Scoreboard auction in 1999.

If anyone has any insight into this ball please let me know. Also If anyone has ANY 1994 game used 49er footballs from ANY game with team letters or any other 49er game used balls please feel free to contact me as I would be interested in buying them.

Thanks for your help
Paul

Always buying quality 49ers game used and paying a nice finders fee!
garciajones@yahoo.com

[cliffjmp33]

I believe this is the auction you were referring to.

http://cgi.ebay.com/San-Francisco-49ers-Super-Bowl-XXIX-game-used-TD-Ball-/250860219434?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a686f2c2a

[trsent]

Not sure about this ball, but just as a general rule, I would be careful of anything that comes from Scoreboard. They were one of the biggest forgers of memorabilia in the late 90s. If it was a legit NFL item by Scoreboard, it would have a NFL sticker on the cert with a matching sticker on the football. Plus, this cert is signed by Ken Goldin, who ran the company during the heyday of forging.

Here's more info:
http://www.sportsgraphing.com/autograph-talk-questions/59904-scoreboard.html

Where is there a history of The Scoreboard forging memorabilia? They conducted autograph signings with many, many of the biggest star athletes in the industry. I have never heard of them being forgers. Did I miss a discussion somewhere about them?

The issue that people abused, copied, placed Scoreboard certificates with invalid items is another story, but I believe Scoreboard was a pretty legitimate company.

[Skizzick]

Where is there a history of The Scoreboard forging memorabilia? They conducted autograph signings with many, many of the biggest star athletes in the industry. I have never heard of them being forgers. Did I miss a discussion somewhere about them?

The issue that people abused, copied, placed Scoreboard certificates with invalid items is another story, but I believe Scoreboard was a pretty legitimate company.
Go read Operation Bullpen by Kevin Nelson. After the sons took over the business, Scoreboard went into producing fakes. Yes, they were legitimate in the early 1990s, but they eventually lost their exclusive contracts and began putting out fake stuff. The link I posted pretty much covers it.

[trsent]

Go read Operation Bullpen by Kevin Nelson. After the sons took over the business, Scoreboard went into producing fakes. Yes, they were legitimate in the early 1990s, but they eventually lost their exclusive contracts and began putting out fake stuff. The link I posted pretty much covers it.

I read Operation Bullpen.

Here is a quote from your link:

"Scoreboard's problems started when the dad Paul Goldin dies in 1994 and the son takes over. The company would later go bankrupt in 1998 due to poor business decisions outside of sports autographs. They started their own card company, ruined Classic, signed a huge contract with Madonna, and also had signed a contract with George Lucas to release Star Wars memorabilia. It was later discovered thru Operation Bullpen that Smokey's obtained the templates/copies for the COA's along with the COA embosser from Scoreboard while acquiring a large amount of Scoreboard's inventory. A company called Athlon acquired a large portion also. Smokey's then started counterfeiting autographs due to them not being able to fill large orders that were placed before Scoreboard went out of business. Instead of canceling the orders, they fulfilled them by faking the autographs and later selling them on Ebay. However, a good many real autographs with Scoreboard COA pop up."

I do not see anything that says Scoreboard started producing fakes. People used their certificates to sell fakes, which is a true statement, but never has anyone from Scoreboard been accused of selling/producing fakes.

I see Smokey's name is lights for using their certificates, but Scoreboard items generally are not in question. Your statement is misleading and your link backs it up.

Personally, I believe there is a good chance the football is legitimate if the letters are real. That is a big question. I have never seen a Scoreboard certificate that looks like that, but anything is possible.

Can the 49ers be contacted to verify their COA?

[solarlottry]

Great Idea on contacting the 49ers and asking about the ball and LOA!

I looked thru all of my LOAs last night and not one of them resembles this one. The ebay LOA has a different size font, does not have the trophies and has a different watermark than the ones I have. It may still be legit but I am wondering if it is some sort of laser printed copy as the watermark has "laser" in it?

I had been told a # of years ago that these balls exist #1-6 and that they MIGHT be the actual TD passes that Young threw in the SB. A friend of mine and someone who had a close relationship with Scoreboard back in 1994 is looking into this for me. He has always come thru in the past so lets see what he finds out.

Has anyone else heard of the 1999 "Ken Goldin Auction"? That is where the owner of the ball acquired it. He said that many high end items were sold from Goldin's personal collection. Also is that a typical Scoreboard LOA? The signature seems to match other Goldin sigs i have seen online.

Thanks for the help! I have a feeling that this may end with no bids.

Always buying 49ers items!
Paul
garciajones@yahoo.com

[BrianK]

Just my casual observation as someone unfamilar with these particular items ... it seems everything hinges on the 49ers COA. If it's missing the embossed trophies and watermark, that's a problem.

[Skizzick]

I do not see anything that says Scoreboard started producing fakes. People used their certificates to sell fakes, which is a true statement, but never has anyone from Scoreboard been accused of selling/producing fakes.

I see Smokey's name is lights for using their certificates, but Scoreboard items generally are not in question. Your statement is misleading and your link backs it up.

Personally, I believe there is a good chance the football is legitimate if the letters are real. That is a big question. I have never seen a Scoreboard certificate that looks like that, but anything is possible.

Can the 49ers be contacted to verify their COA?
Let's not get caught up on semantics, whether Ken Goldin produced fakes or somebody else did, it still calls EVERY item from that era of Scoreboard into question. Taking the stance that, "I have never seen a Scoreboard certificate that looks like that, but anything is possible..." is just setting yourself up for getting scammed, especially when the market today is flooded with fakes. As you read from the link:

"Most of the "NFL" Score Board items will have a NFL Logo on the Cert. and came with an "NFL" sticker to correspond with the color logo on they yellow cert. BUT... some are black and white as well."

You are dealing with uncertainly on two levels here, first from the seller on eBay, as to whether he is trustworthy, and secondly from the item itself. Hey man, it's your money, but this would have too many red flags for me.

[Skizzick]

...and if I may add, the MVP inscription looks like it was added by somebody well after this ball was signed (though the signature looks fairly legit). Stay away from this item.

[solarlottry]

...and if I may add, the MVP inscription looks like it was added by somebody well after this ball was signed (though the signature looks fairly legit). Stay away from this item.

That is exactly what I thought when I first looked at it. An authentic ball was sold by Huggins and Scott on 5/29/2009 lot #496 and when SY signed it he added "MVP". It looks 100% different than the ebay ball.

I still cannot figure out the team LOA. I have almost 100 49ers LOAs dating from the late 80s thru 2002 and the ebay one is printed on paper that is different from all of them. It is also in a different font. It almost appears as if an authentic letter was copied somehow or configured out of a # of authentic letters. The lack of the SB trophies is truly concerning as all of the team LOA's from the 90s had the trophies in the lower left corner in one fashion or another.

I am waiting for my friend who had a very close relationship with Scoreboard back in 1994 and had a good amount of 49ers game used items to help clear this up. He told me about the #ed balls years ago but this is the first one I have seen. He is looking for the ones he might have but has not found them yet. He has a warehouse of memorabilia so to find stuff sometimes aint easy!!!

Lets see how it ends........