MEARS to work with REA only in 2008

[Eric]

Check the auction rules. Many say in bold letters ALL SALES FINAL.

[bigtruck260]

Not having a return policy for game used items is understandable, but after an authority has reviewed the item (as an unbiased third party) I would think that it would be poor PR to not allow the item to be returned.

That goes for any auction house. Especially since most bidders only get to see what is posted online in the auction description. What if the item arrives and something in incorrect that was not mentioned...?

I still would like to know if GUU has a connection to MEARS. If not, has GUU thought about providing their own "authentication service"? After the success of the auction, that thought crossed my mind.

Dave

BTW - Thanks Eric for clarifying this stuff. It is appreciated.

[both-teams-played-hard]

ERic...

why don't you just ban this clown?

I hope you're not refering to Dave. AMI is an important auction house in the hobby, and they need a voice for this forum. If everyone bashes AMI, then that gets boring. I would like to hear other positive experiences with American Memorabilia and Lou Lampson and the 100% authentic crew.


If there is a connection between MEARS and GUU, then that is some crafty reverse psychology. I recently read posts from Dave Bushing on MEARS' message board that were NOT an endorsement of this Forum or GUU.

I think if you want to be a authentication service, that is honorable and badly needed in the hobby. It also is an extremley difficult task. 3 major sports for roughly the last 75 years. That's a tall order. MEARS is easy to contact and gives details of all of their findings and research. I think MEARS is critized for their mistakes and applauded for owning the mistakes. MEARS has taken on a lot of responsibility and should expect criticism.
Overall, I think this forum makes postive comments about MEARS. But the only competition is Lou Lampson.

I think Dave Grob's policy was written to set some standards in the game used hobby. I think it was to urge Auction houses to be transparent with their business dealings and hold accountability. I didn't get the impression that Grob was trying to drum up business for MEARS. Again, that is my opinion and welcome someone to correct me.

[CollectGU]

Dave-
If you want to talk about irresponsible, look at how you can't follow the rules of the forum. Take a moment and refresh yourself since you can't seem to remember.



I haven't had a falling out with American Memorabilia. They decided they didn't want to hear about problems with the items they were selling, so they stopped returning my emails pointing out inconsistencies and went ahead banned Chris Cavalier, Rob Steinmetz and me from bidding in their auctions.

Wow, big penalty. And nice PR move!

Honestly Dave, your tone is getting tiresome. By the way, since you're so close with them, can you get me contact information for 40% Authentic?

American Memorabilia had nothing to do with my post. I was commending MEARS for asking for certain traits from the people who employ them.

Dave Grob has always worked for integrity in this hobby, and I wanted to give the guy credit.

In my opinion- which I am entitled to have, this is a good thing.
Eric

Eric,

Thanks for the response (which really didn't offer much in the way of answer) Try not to trip over your feet as you backtrack from your original comments. Sorry about the tone, I'll work on it....

Reards,
Dave

[Eric]

Dave

You're a class act all the way! Not sure why you're trying to twist my words.

I'm standing behind my comments. I'm shocked that only one auction house would agree to MEARS' terms.

And yes, it will be mean more business for Lampson, which in my opinion given his track record, will introduce a lot garbage (expensive garbage) into the hobby.

Now anytime you'd like to share his contact information with the forum, we'd love to see it.

Eric

[Eric]

Eric,

Why would the following auction houses all of a sudden sign up for MEARS when they've never used them for authentication before or cut ties with them long ago:

Grey Flannel
Lelands
American Memorabilia

Another point to note is MEARS did do authenticating for Sotheby's, Hunt, Grey Flannel and others, in some cases just for big ticket items, but were not under contract with MEARS. Now, as I understand it, MEARS will no longer do this piece work unless the auction house signs the MEARS contract.

Eric

[jboosted92]

Another point to note is MEARS did do authenticating for Sotheby's, Hunt, Grey Flannel and others, in some cases just for big ticket items, but were not under contract with MEARS. Now, as I understand it, MEARS will no longer do this piece work unless the auction house signs the MEARS contract.

Eric

correct, but not in 2008. if they change there mind, (from what i get ) it wont be until 2009h

[Eric]

Michael O'Keeffe wrote about this topic on his Daily News blog....

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/iteam/

iTeam Blog
November 12, 2007
Top firm looks to keep memorabilia world honest

Memorabilia Evaluation and Research Services, perhaps sports memorabilia's top authentication service, will work for just one auction house in 2009.

Only Robert Edward Auctions of Watchung, N.J., has signed a contract agreeing to several conditions MEARS' policy director Dave Grob says will make the scandal-tainted hobby more transparent and accountable.

Grob had sent contracts to the industry's leading auction houses, including American Memorabilia, Mastro Auctions and Sotheby's/SCP Auctions, that would have required them to ban shill bidding, notify bidders when they have a financial stake in an item and identify repairs and modifications made to improve an item's value and appearance. To keep everyone honest, MEARS reserved the right to audit the companies' books.

Rob Lifson of REA - like Grob, one of the few hobby leaders who seems to understand that the fraud and corruption threatens his industry's long-term health - was the only executive to agree to MEARS' terms.

Meanwhile, hobby insiders tell the Daily News that the Chicago office of the FBI is continuing to interview collectors and dealers about business practices at Mastro Auctions, the hobby's largest auction house.

(Read Grob's latest comments on the state of the hobby)

While there may certainly be many good reasons why auction houses chose not to work with MEARS next year, there are no good reasons to accept the status quo. The hobby's problems, Lifson wrote last year on his Web site, are immense:

"Practically every day we are seeing fake items. Fake printed items. Posters that are actually reproductions of vintage posters. Stand-up cardboard counter displays that are not real. Babe Ruth Candy wrappers that are not real. Fans that picture baseball player portraits that are reproductions. Photographs that appear to be old but are not vintage.

"There is no limit to what can be made with computers, especially with printing equipment available today that is very economical and which years ago did not even exist. These items are being intentionally made to fool people into parting with their money for worthless items. These items are being made to cheat buyers."

[Eric]

November 13, 2007

Not Many On Board with MEARS' New Terms

As reported earlier, Dave Grob of Memorabilia Evaluation and Research Services is taking steps he believes will make the scandal-tainted sports collectibles industry more accountable and transparent. In order to work with MEARS in 2008, auction houses had to agree to several conditions, including a ban on shill bidding and full disclosure when repairs and modifications have been made to improve the value and appearance of an item. Grob gave auction houses until Nov. 10 to sign a contract agreeing to those terms; only Robert Edward Auctions signed and returned the contract.
As I pointed out in the previous post, while there are no good reasons for collectors and industry executives to accept the status quo of their dog-eat-dog hobby, there may be good reasons why auction houses would not want to accept MEARS' terms for 2008.
American Memorabilia president Victor Moreno, for example, says his auction house doesn't use MEARS because of an embarrassing previous experience with MEARS authenticator Dave Bushing.
In December 2004, the Daily News reported that American Memorabilia offered a bat used by Ty Cobb sometime between 1911 and 1916. The bat was accompanied by a letter of authenticity from Bushing that concluded the bat was a "Ty Cobb game-used Louisville Slugger decal bat."
But when pressed by the News, Bushing acknowledged that although the bat matched specifications of bats used by Cobb, there was no conclusive proof the bat was ever actually used in a major league game by the Georgia Peach.
As a result, Moreno no longer offers Bushing-authenticated items in his auction.
"I don't have any personal problems with those guys," Moreno said of MEARS. "I just don't want to use them."
Bushing had also been criticized for writing letters of authenticity for items he owns, which appears to be an inexcusable conflict of interest. But Grob told the News that is old news: Bushing has agreed to take every step asked of him to make MEARS' authentication process as accountable and open as possible. Transparency and accountability have been good for business, Grob said – because MEARS puts a premium on integrity, MEARS-authenticated items go for more money.
Nobody ever said cleaning up the sports collectibles industry would be easy. But as I said yesterday, if the industry doesn't clean up its own act, someone will eventually do it for them. Just last week, agents from the Chicago office of the FBI were in New York to question collectors about Mastro Auctions, the hobby's largest auction house.



http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/iteam/

[hblakewolf]

November 13, 2007

Not Many On Board with MEARS' New Terms

As reported earlier, Dave Grob of Memorabilia Evaluation and Research Services is taking steps he believes will make the scandal-tainted sports collectibles industry more accountable and transparent. In order to work with MEARS in 2008, auction houses had to agree to several conditions, including a ban on shill bidding and full disclosure when repairs and modifications have been made to improve the value and appearance of an item. Grob gave auction houses until Nov. 10 to sign a contract agreeing to those terms; only Robert Edward Auctions signed and returned the contract.
As I pointed out in the previous post, while there are no good reasons for collectors and industry executives to accept the status quo of their dog-eat-dog hobby, there may be good reasons why auction houses would not want to accept MEARS' terms for 2008.
American Memorabilia president Victor Moreno, for example, says his auction house doesn't use MEARS because of an embarrassing previous experience with MEARS authenticator Dave Bushing.
In December 2004, the Daily News reported that American Memorabilia offered a bat used by Ty Cobb sometime between 1911 and 1916. The bat was accompanied by a letter of authenticity from Bushing that concluded the bat was a "Ty Cobb game-used Louisville Slugger decal bat."
But when pressed by the News, Bushing acknowledged that although the bat matched specifications of bats used by Cobb, there was no conclusive proof the bat was ever actually used in a major league game by the Georgia Peach.
As a result, Moreno no longer offers Bushing-authenticated items in his auction.
"I don't have any personal problems with those guys," Moreno said of MEARS. "I just don't want to use them."
Bushing had also been criticized for writing letters of authenticity for items he owns, which appears to be an inexcusable conflict of interest. But Grob told the News that is old news: Bushing has agreed to take every step asked of him to make MEARS' authentication process as accountable and open as possible. Transparency and accountability have been good for business, Grob said – because MEARS puts a premium on integrity, MEARS-authenticated items go for more money.
Nobody ever said cleaning up the sports collectibles industry would be easy. But as I said yesterday, if the industry doesn't clean up its own act, someone will eventually do it for them. Just last week, agents from the Chicago office of the FBI were in New York to question collectors about Mastro Auctions, the hobby's largest auction house.



http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/iteam/

"Embarrassing previous experience" ????????

If Vic's comments are to be taken seriously, the maybe he can also comment on his continued use of Lou Lampson after countless items he has authenticated for AMI have been questioned by collectors with no proof that they are as described. Vic- can you comment on the green St. Pat's Ripken jersey that the Orioles never used, however, Lampson wrote a LOA indicating it's game worn and was also hanging in the O's spring training clubhouse? Embarrassing? How about criminal?

Howard Wolf
hblakewolf@patmedia.net