Is laziness the new direction for our hobby?

[gingi79]

I admit it. I take the wealth of knowledge on this site for granted some times. There are some really wise collectors here with huge libraries of material to help photomatch or at least help style match via tagging and known exemplars. Guys like Dave Miedema for baseball jerseys, Larry P for football, Robert for helmets and seemingly an expert for every team. Add Kyle Hess for his photos, Les for her feminine sense and Barry Meisel for his hockey input and this place has certainly become chock full of knowledge.

So why does it feel our hobby's growth is heading down the path of complete laziness? New collectors take companies at face value (JO was indisputable before the indictment for example) and the rise of NEEDING an LOA to validate an item seems worse than in the early 90's. Am I alone in thinking new collectors aren't doing their homework because they'd rather just have a paper say it's real than understand WHY. MLB jerseys come with holograms and MeiGray has certainly catered to this new hobby need by eliminating all doubt with their transparent and easily accessible tagging system (which frankly should be mandatory on all new material in my completely unhumble opinion) So if this has become the new expectation for our hobby and newbies as a rule seem to want the homework done for them, doesn't this spell disaster for the true gems of our hobby? (Anything older than 1995 when photomatching seems to become more difficult)

I just feel like the art of learning about the reasons why a jersey is real or not are being ignored. I fear that knowledge dying combined with the overt laziness of needing to see a photomatch on a jersey or bat along with a worthless piece of paper, will cripple this hobby and eliminate value on the items that should be most treasured.

Am I wrong?

[coxfan]

I hope that it's a sign that new folks are coming into the hobby. It takes a learning period for all of us. For example, I didn't know when I first bought a g-u base in 2006 that three sets were used per game (despite decades of watching baseball). I learned that here, and much more.

New people help the hobby even though it means more competition among buyers, because it encourages more teams to authenticate and offer more for sale.

[vballGuy]

I completely agree. While I can't speak for everyone else on this forum, I know that for me, part of the fun of this hobby is doing the homework/detective work required to find out if an item is "real" or not. While having COAs from reputable sources (e.g. a team) is certainly a good thing to have accompany one's item, ultimately, the item should speak for itself.

[swainer]

Am I wrong?

No, you're not wrong Walter...You're just an a$$hole...sorry...I thought of the Big Lebowski when I read the last line.

I agree with you 100%. I am one of the newbies you are referring to and I want to learn as much as possible. As you mentioned, this forum is a great knowledge base from which to learn.

I think I can speak for most newbies in thanking you long time/expert forum users on any and all information/assistance you provide. Once my knowledge increases, I will do the same for new forum members.

John

[eric16841]

The research and time spent studying photos and other collectors pieces of the people you collect is the backbone of collecting. Throughout the years ive passed on quite a bats and other items that showed used but through studying and doing my homework i know that my player never taped his bats like that throughout his career, so may have been issued bat used by someone else and you dont want to pay the premium for that. Also there is another example out there that becuase of studying and learning about the player i collect, i saved myself quite a bit of money. A hat stated to be his went up for sale has a LOA has his number written under the brim shows obvious use perfect been looking for one for years, but the hat size is smaller then any hat he has ever worn in his career. The LOA never says it all, i have several game issued items that show obvious use including ones covered in pine tar and dirt. I want to thank everyone on here that has helped me build knowledge about items and helped direct my collecting.

[project 4]

Newbie here. This is an excellent place to acquire knowledge. There's so many scammers out there that can easily fool naive buyers and although you're right about doing your homework for me, it was a matter of trying to find reliable sources to trust. I didn't stumble upon this website until after I bought my first gamer. Now I ask a lot of questions and frequent this place to get experts opinions and learn how to do homework. (as funny as that sounds)

[gameon]

Please dont confuse laziness with asking for expert advise. There are alot of experts on this forum that have been more than helpful in my quest for game used material. With these experts help, I now have learned a ton of things to look for prior to spending a bunch of money on potential bad items. I value their opinions greatly. I also try to do my homework on the items Im interested in, but sometimes I cant come to a sound conclusion on whether something is good or not (because Im not an expert) and look for other valuable advise. Thank you forum members and keep up the good work on helping others.

[gingi79]

Please dont confuse laziness with asking for expert advise. There are alot of experts on this forum that have been more than helpful in my quest for game used material. With these experts help, I now have learned a ton of things to look for prior to spending a bunch of money on potential bad items. I value their opinions greatly. I also try to do my homework on the items Im interested in, but sometimes I cant come to a sound conclusion on whether something is good or not (because Im not an expert) and look for other valuable advise. Thank you forum members and keep up the good work on helping others.

I am not referring to the fine new collectors who posted here in this thread. I am speaking for the plethora of collectors who DON'T ask questions, DON'T want to learn why an item is real or not and DON'T rely on people with more experience. I too was a new collector only a few short years ago and was amazed to learn how many of my fellow new collectors just took (Lou Lampson's word for example) opinion that a jersey was real and never questioned or did any research to prove it.

It seems to me at least that more and more collectors are gullible and have no interest in understanding the history and tell tale signs of an actual game worn item versus one that has been manufactured. In a day and age where long time dealers get arrested on the National floor, indicted and confessed manufacturers of fake jerseys have huge contracts to distribute NFL items, and companies convincing teams to pump out 20 jerseys a season, we need to encourage new collectors b offering every ounce of knowledge we can. I must say, it makes me very happy to see so many new collectors post in this thread that they appreciate and investigate items using our collective knowledge base. Keep it up and welcome to our hobby.

[jppopma]

I agree that there are too many fake jerseys out there and that most fakes will come with fancy COA's to try to gain trust. Sometimes there are unethical people just like in anything else.

Some of these sellers and accompanying COA's sound almost like a sleazy 80's used car salesman. Yet, people will fall of for them over and over.

I think the mere number of COA's leads alot of people to be lazy. They get overly comfortable (or just don't know what to look for) and believe what a COA says rather than what a jersey is showing.

It only gets better down the road when the lies that dishonest sellers put into their fake COA's are used to discredit other real jerseys. New Buyer "well this jersey doesn't have A, B, and C, that I read on a COA that it should have". With all of the options to buy out there, I think any of us would have much of a chance to try to explain the real story before that buyer had moved on.

[tella27]

I agree with you 100% - I can not stand how some people will feel just because they found a signed jersey from (insert player's name here) for $75-$100 for a "Signed Authentic" with "John's Autos" now that is the going rate and value of all. Everyone is out for the fast dollar and it's hurting our hobby.


I agree that there are too many fake jerseys out there and that most fakes will come with fancy COA's to try to gain trust. Sometimes there are unethical people just like in anything else.

Some of these sellers and accompanying COA's sound almost like a sleazy 80's used car salesman. Yet, people will fall of for them over and over.

I think the mere number of COA's leads alot of people to be lazy. They get overly comfortable (or just don't know what to look for) and believe what a COA says rather than what a jersey is showing.

It only gets better down the road when the lies that dishonest sellers put into their fake COA's are used to discredit other real jerseys. New Buyer "well this jersey doesn't have A, B, and C, that I read on a COA that it should have". With all of the options to buy out there, I think any of us would have much of a chance to try to explain the real story before that buyer had moved on.