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View Full Version : Authenticator needed for Lebron James Game-used shoes



ticalnza
02-15-2007, 12:03 PM
Hello...I did a search but couldn't find what I was looking for.

Basically I have two pairs of Lebron James's game-used shoes from the '06 Play-offs. versus Detroit, games 1 and 6.

I'm looking to find an authenticator service to have these authenticated if anyone can help.

Thanks!

-Neil

JRocker49
02-15-2007, 12:04 PM
go to mears also nice items how did you get those i live in cleveland and lebron is very tight with his gear

ticalnza
02-15-2007, 12:55 PM
go to mears also nice items how did you get those i live in cleveland and lebron is very tight with his gear

Hi...thanks for the fast reply. I did go to Mears and emailed them and am just waiting to hear back for more information from them.

I received them from someone who works for the Cavaliers in which Lebron gave him both pairs of shoes as a "thank you for his work and support."

pietraynor
02-15-2007, 02:13 PM
Don't take this the wrong way, but why do you need MEARS or anyone else for that matter to authenicate the shoes? As stated, you received them from team employee who was given the shoes directly by James, correct me if I'm wrong..Is it really worth several hundred dollars for authentication process? Why not just have the original owner write up how/when he received them from James? Other than trying to match the shoes w/photos & styles that James wears now or wore during the playoffs, what other resources would MEARS use to authenticate? I have Reggie Miller's Game Used shoes I received from Rik Smits following a Pacers/Cavs game in Cleveland years back, no 3rd party authentication needed, just a great memory. Jay

pietraynor
02-15-2007, 02:21 PM
I just did a quick search on www.gettyimages.com (http://www.gettyimages.com) , there's quite a few pics of Lebron showing the shoes he wore in Games 1 & 6 vs Pistons..Even a close up of the Game 1 shoes, take a look. Appears he wore diff. styles for home & road games..Not quite what you are looking for, but hope this helps, Jay

kingjammy24
02-15-2007, 03:20 PM
i agree with pie traynor. why the need for an authenticator?

as for mears, the sad fact is they likely will authenticate your '06 james shoes. whether they're actually qualified is another matter. here's my advice: anyone with half an ounce of sense would always ask for the qualifications of a person they're hiring. having a 1953 porsche restored? you'd ask the restorer what his experience is in restoring old porsches. having a spanish colonial custom-made? you'd ask the architect about their experience with spanish colonials. you certainly wouldn't want a restorer who's never touched a porsche or an architect who isn't entirely sure what constitutes a spanish colonial working for you.
why should it be any different in the case of authenticators? ask who'll specifically be looking at your shoes and what their experience and expertise is with modern nba shoes. seems fair right? (fact is, although mears says they have a full crew, i've never seen any signatures on a mears cert other than bushing and troy. if these other crew membes are authenticating certain items, then they should be the ones to put their names on the cert. ask bushing and troy what their specific experience and expertise is with modern nba game shoes. how long they've been collecting them, how many they've authenticated, etc.)

troy once explained that mears is able to authenticate everything under the sun because of their extensive photo library. i have no doubt that mears has a zillion photos. unfortunately, authenticating involves more than looking at photos. if authenticating simply involved looking at photos, then we could all authenticate anything. the reality is that i could collect 50,000 images of 49'ers jerseys and i'd still not come close to knowing what lon lewis knows about them. you can't replace knowledge, experience, and expertise with a photo library. (lou lampson claims to have a huge photo library and look how completely useless he is). jim yackel once said "niche experts will always know more than professional authenticators" and i completely agree. what you really need is a niche expert in lebron gamers and/or modern nba shoes. mears, as a company, has no niche. they'll authenticate anything related to sports. they'll have a bat expert look at your shoes, check out a few photos, and make a load of assumptions. due to the fact that they authenticate items outside their areas of expertise, mears has made some huge errors. (even within their areas of expertise, they've made some huge errors. bushing, a bat expert, has almost single-handedly rewritten the previously obvious definition of "matches factory records").

nba shoes have manufacturer tags inside with codes. you certainly can't decipher the tagging or the codes from in-action shots. imagine trying to authenticate a bat or jersey solely from looking at photos. it'd be absolutely ludicrous. do lebron's shoes have special treads that differ from retail or other pro-issue versions? i don't know. does he wear special insoles? i don't know. what is the proper coding on the manufacturers tag for a pair of lebron gamers? you better hope mears knows. a million in-action photos aren't going to answer those questions.

long story short, if you're going to solicit an "expert opinion" make sure the person really is an expert in the topic they're discussing. many people have emailed me asking for my opinion on various items. if the items fall outside of my narrow expertise, then the first thing i'll tell them is that it wouldn't be fair or accurate for me to comment. of course, i don't make a living doling out my opinion. maybe if i did i'd be tempted to discuss things i have no clue about.

good luck.

rudy.

ticalnza
02-15-2007, 05:49 PM
I just would like to tell everyone "thanks" for all of their helpful responses. The reason I'm looking to get both pairs of shoes authenticated is that I figure having the Authentication, along with the letter from the original owner (as to how he got possession of the shoes) would look nice framed next to the shoes.

I haven't gotten to look at Getty Images yet, but will do that later on today to also get some photos of Lebron wearing them to display with the shoes. Last year he did wear different shoes throughout his play-off games, which is good since both pairs I have are different from each other.