Reassembling A Jersey

[Nathan]

According to Barry Meisel of MeiGray, particularly with hockey jerseys they attempt to make sure the card companies get either a preseason jersey or something that was worn for one game only. This is only for current players, of course; retired players are tougher to pin down.

One thing to consider, however, is exactly what supply there is when it comes to the number of jerseys. It's generally assumed that older players for prior generations went through one set per year (and sometimes over multiple years); however, Archie Manning said that when he was at Ole Miss, he went through a new home jersey each half of play. If a Manning Ole Miss jersey is chopped up, is it the dismantling of a unique piece of history, or simply removing from circulation something with an overabundant supply?

Another thing to think about is whether or not the jersey itself is authentic. Given the recent fiasco over two out of four autographs on a premier card being atrocious fakes, who's to say that a jersey on a card (MUCH less easily identifiable than an autograph) is in fact what it claims to be? How many card companies actually employ a game jersey expert to verify stuff? One example I can think of was a minor bit of outrage over a Cam Neely Bruins jersey meeting the scissors and going into cards; after seeing a few cards, the Bruins experts said that the only way that the jersey in the card was a Neely Bruins was if it was either a hastily assembled jersey from scrap originally, or if it was a promotion-worn or a promotional game-worn (i.e. charity games, oldtimers games). But they agreed that there was no way it was a Boston Bruins regular-season jersey from regular use.

[suave1477]

Nathan wow thats scary about the bruins jersey.

But i do think that is a great idea to have redemption cards in packs to win the whole actual game used jersey of a player it still will make you buy the packs and it saves the jersey from being a victim.

Upper deck did it last year with the Yankees classics edition, they included a redemption card for a Mitchell and Ness Yankees jersey, which the value of the jerseys range anywhere from $200 - $400.

[otismalibu]

Another thing to think about is whether or not the jersey itself is authentic.

Exactly. I think jersey cards are a handy way to make use of questionable jerseys. No way to have any opinion of the item once it's turned into postage stamp sized swatches. Seeing that the approach to authenticating game worn jerseys often comes down to "prove that it's not" rather than having someone "prove that it is", it's the perfect situation.

I remember seeing a questionable (seemed to be the wrong size) jersey a few years back, up for auction. It had a legit auto on front, but the signature had bled quite a bit. A few months later I saw a jersey card of this player that had part of an auto on the card swatch. This auto had bled the same way as well. Always wondered if that was the same jersey I saw in the auction.

And why do the card companies often refuse to match the swatch color with the jersey color in the card photo?

Greg

[trsent]

Did someone above really state that they were going to try to put a jersey back together? I bet most jerseys make up thousands of swatches. Don't waste your time or even thoughts about posting it. You have a better chance getting a date with Drew.

[BULBUS]

trsent, i was just kidding. there wasnt much going on in the forum, so i wanted to start something. it worked