Heritage Lot 710 - 2008 USA Olympic Basketball Team Practice Worn Jerseys Lot of 12, Signed

[trsent]

Can anyone help me find any photos from the USA Basketball Teams 2008 Open Practices (they were all open from what I remember) that show the players wears the jerseys to match the ones in the current Heritage Auctions Lot 710 - http://sports.ha.com/common/view_item.php?Sale_No=710&Lot_No=20034#Photo - As I cannot find any.

I have emailed my concerns to Heritage, but I thought maybe someone on here has more photos than I was able to find on Getty Images.

The Heritage Auctions jerseys have two issues that I immediately find. First, the letter "A" in "USA" on the blue side of jersey has a white star as the center of the letter "A" on all Getty Images photos I can find, while the jerseys in the Heritage Auctions listing all have blue stars.

Second, on the white side of the jerseys in the listings from Heritage Auctions, all of the jerseys show a clear, large background panel over the Nike Swoosh. All the images I find on Getty Images either do not show any panel behind the Nike Swoosh or if one is visible, it is considerable smaller.

I was thinking since the public was also allowed at the USA Team Basketball practices, maybe someone on here could provide photos to help match my concerns or match the jerseys found in the current Heritage Auctions Lot 710.

Here are images that concern me from Getty Images:











Finally, here is a copy of the letter I am awaiting a reply from Heritage Auctions about these jerseys. Maybe they can go to the trainer who supplied these jerseys to provide photos of the players wearing identical jerseys before the auction ends in a few days.

I have a question about lot 710 in the current sports auction. First, jersey #10 - Kobe Bryant - Is the Star in the letter "A" for "USA" in white or blue? All the other ones you show the blue side of the jersey have blue stars but you do not show the blue side of the Kobe jersey. The only photos I can find of these jerseys from practices show the stars always in white.

Also, the Nike Swoosh on the front of each jersey has a clearly visible patch on the front, but when you look at photos of these jerseys from practices on Getty Images, the patch is not visible. Is this common for an obvious patch to show through on your images clearly but not on images of the player wearing the same jersey?

Can you please advise how you can be sure these were worn jerseys when the Stars in the letter "A" in USA on the blue jerseys appear to be wrong (all blue on your jerseys while the ones the players wore were all white) as I do not know how you can verify these as practice worn with no proof from open practices which were well photographed to support these jerseys as practice used.

I will post any reply I receive from Heritage Auctions here but at the same time I figure if anyone can offer any other images other than Getty Images to support these Jerseys as practice used I would appreciate their response as the auction ends in just eight days.

[allstarsplus]

The other difference is a V neck vs a round neck in the Heritage photos.

Hopefully they can produce some photos!

[wjonesIII]

Can anyone help me find any photos from the USA Basketball Teams 2008 Open Practices (they were all open from what I remember) that show the players wears the jerseys to match the ones in the current Heritage Auctions Lot 710 -

I am not sure the practices were open to all. I think they were just open to the media and guests of the team. If you look at the pictures, the gym doesn't appear to be full. In a big city like Vegas, I would assume open practices would have led to a full gym.

[trsent]

I am not sure the practices were open to all. I think they were just open to the media and guests of the team. If you look at the pictures, the gym doesn't appear to be full. In a big city like Vegas, I would assume open practices would have led to a full gym.

Ok, so the media was present at all practices. I gues it doesn't matter if the public was there - The media took photographs galore!

It still doesn't explain how Heritage Auctions can sell these as practice used jerseys when we have already found three flaws with them (star color, neck style and Swoosh patch) and Heritage Auctions has not replied to my email about my genuine concerns.

[wjonesIII]

Ok, so the media was present at all practices. I gues it doesn't matter if the public was there - The media took photographs galore!

It still doesn't explain how Heritage Auctions can sell these as practice used jerseys when we have already found three flaws with them (star color, neck style and Swoosh patch) and Heritage Auctions has not replied to my email about my genuine concerns.

The media was present at all of the Team USA practices? Is that a fact? I am wondering because I watched the road to redemption series after I saw these jerseys and there is at least one scene which shows the players wearing these same jersey numbers, but the jerseys are a different style that the ones you posted.

[trsent]

The media was present at all of the Team USA practices? Is that a fact? I am wondering because I watched the road to redemption series after I saw these jerseys and there is at least one scene which shows the players wearing these same jersey numbers, but the jerseys are a different style that the ones you posted.

If there were cameras, there must have been media, right?

I just found four emails in my junk email folder from a guy claiming to the consignor, but he says he is barred from this forum but Heritage Auctions has ignored my email about these jerseys.

I do not deal with consignors, I deal with the person selling the items, right? The consignor has some excuse that these were worn before the Las Vegas practices, maybe in 2007. They were advertised as 2008 jerseys from Las Vegas so I do not know how they came before then.

I would expect a major auction house such as Heritage Auctions to address my concerns, but they have a chip on their shoulder so I guess they can ignore emails from potential bidders about concerns.

As for the alleged consignor's concern, he should ask Heritage Auctions why they have ignored my email about my concern. Also he should contact Game Used Universe and attempt to have his account restored so he can post here as GUU doesn't suspend accounts without just reasons I have found.

[wjonesIII]

If there were cameras, there must have been media, right?

I just found four emails in my junk email folder from a guy claiming to the consignor, but he says he is barred from this forum but Heritage Auctions has ignored my email about these jerseys.

I do not deal with consignors, I deal with the person selling the items, right? The consignor has some excuse that these were worn before the Las Vegas practices, maybe in 2007. They were advertised as 2008 jerseys from Las Vegas so I do not know how they came before then.

I would expect a major auction house such as Heritage Auctions to address my concerns, but they have a chip on their shoulder so I guess they can ignore emails from potential bidders about concerns.

As for the alleged consignor's concern, he should ask Heritage Auctions why they have ignored my email about my concern. Also he should contact Game Used Universe and attempt to have his account restored so he can post here as GUU doesn't suspend accounts without just reasons I have found.

Here is the item description:

"2008 USA Olympic Basketball Team Practice Worn Jerseys Lot of 12, Signed. A trainer at the Las Vegas practice facilities for the US Olympic basketball team is the source for this incredible collection of worn and autographed shirts from the Team Redeem, which properly reclaimed the Gold Medal for the Americans in Beijing. Each reversible mesh shirt exhibits nice wear, and is signed by the superstar who used it. Included are James, Bryant, Anthony, Wade, Kidd, Bosh, Redd, Williams, Paul, Boozer, Prince and Howard. Tremendous break down value here, though it would be a shame to break up the complete set. An exciting opportunity to connect with the greatest talents in the game today. LOA from James Spence Authentication (autographs). Guide Value or Estimate: $1,500 - up."

I also received an email from the consignor and he made a few valid points.

1. Joel says that the jerseys were advertised by Heritage as 2008 jerseys from Las Vegas. Nowhere in the description does it say that. It says 2008 USA Basketball team practice worn jerseys, sourced from a trainer at the Las Vegas practice facilities. Joel, maybe Heritage wants you to read more carefully. why would they respond to an accusation that they described something wrong, when they didn't actually describe it that way. You read it wrong. These jerseys are from the 2008 USA basketball team players. That is obvious as all 12 players on the team signed the jerseys.

2. I was told that these jerseys were the jerseys worn by the layers before they were given the new style of practice jerseys that you posted images of. I was also told that not every team USA workout and practice was over the last year was open to media. I was told that the jerseys you posted images of were brand new, and were issued to the players for the start of the open media practices in Vegas. All the players had made a three year commitment to the team. This leaves 3 years worth of practices and workouts these could have been worn at. Joel, do you have images from every practice the USA team has had over the last three years, including the 2008 practices prior to open media practices in Vegas?

3. The jerseys are from the personal trainer to players including, but not limited to Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade, etc. The consignor has confirmed that the personal trainer was at the USA practice facilities all week with the players. The trainer says he personally witnessed the players wearing these jerseys.

I do now the consignor, and I have been told that he is working on getting a letter signed by the trainer. I think there are a lot of people on this site who pretend t know everything, and do not take into account the details. I posted in a similar thread about 0062 tags vs. 6200 tags. If somebody can prove to me that every Team USA practice over the last few years has been photographed, and that the images have been posted online, that would be one thing. But to accuse an auction house, a consignor, and a player trainer of peddling fake jerseys based on the lack of a photo available online does not seem fair to me.

[buc]

Joel,
I'm completely with you on all this except for one thing. JSA is a pre-approved ebay authenticator.

[buc]

Not to get to far off topic, but if you list an item under autographs and you have the option to list who it was authenticated by, ebay gives you the options of JSA, PSA, GAI, or other. I think this makes them pre-certified. ebay would not have that option if they were not pre-certified. I've had the exact opposite as far as sales go. I always get more for JSA, so now, even if I buy something that has PSA paperwork, I send it to JSA for duplicate authentication and put JSA in my title!

[trsent]

Not to get to far off topic, but if you list an item under autographs and you have the option to list who it was authenticated by, ebay gives you the options of JSA, PSA, GAI, or other. I think this makes them pre-certified. ebay would not have that option if they were not pre-certified. I've had the exact opposite as far as sales go. I always get more for JSA, so now, even if I buy something that has PSA paperwork, I send it to JSA for duplicate authentication and put JSA in my title!

Sorry, eBay doesn't offer JSA as Pre-Certified. You can type in any name you want in the Guaranteed Authentic box. The facts are clear - eBay may offer links to the JSA web site, but as for Authenticator Pre-Certified, JSA doesn't make the list and I have no idea why.

See this link:

http://pages.ebay.com/apc/form.html

If you click the list of authenticators, JSA is not there.

I am not here to debate if JSA is right or wrong - I just wish Chris Ivy answered my question is PSA/DNA was unable to authenticate the autographs.