Lou Lampson Question

[NEFAN]

I know you have to take anything authenticated by him with a grain of salt. Question is, was his reputation always what it is today? When did it first come in to question?

I got an LOA dated 2004 with a game used football that was just a piece of papaer typed with his signature on it.

Any thoughts? I'm not trying to start a bash Lou Lampson thread, I'm genuously curious.

Thanks, Kevin

[trsent]

I know you have to take anything authenticated by him with a grain of salt. Question is, was his reputation always what it is today? When did it first come in to question?

I got an LOA dated 2004 with a game used football that was just a piece of papaer typed with his signature on it.

Any thoughts? I'm not trying to start a bash Lou Lampson thread, I'm genuously curious.

Thanks, Kevin

Kevin, though I personally have never met Lou Lampson (that I remember) he did go to school here in my hometown and he used to work for The Chicago Bears from what I have been told. Maybe he came to my store, but I have no memories of him.

Now, on this forum you will hear that he is a criminal. I do not believe this to be true. I believe he writes letter of opinions on many questionable items, but I do not believe that he is internationally committing fraud as many would lead you to believe.

I do believe he needs to do more research, but I would bet his view is he is giving an opinion on an item and maybe he feels he can do with without offering enough research to make everyone happy. An opinion doesn't need to be photo-matched, style matched, manufacture matched, etc., but I would think with the high dollar items being authenticated - Lou Lampson would use these formats.

Now, every auction house I have talked to about Lou Lampson tells me what a great guy he is. How he is very nice and pleasant. They also trust his opinions.

I will venture that Lou Lampson will look at an item, decide if he likes it or not and then writes a letter. This was the method of authenticating used before there was this modern concept called The World Wide Web, but these days too much information is known for people to authenticate from pure opinions.

[Eric]

He repeatedly makes up "facts" which makes him either a liar or an idiot. Your choice.

[buc]

He repeatedly makes up "facts" which makes him either a liar or an idiot. Your choice.

After a comment like that, maybe you should ban yourself. I've PERSONALLY had items that Mr. Lampson has turned down that I thought were real. As Joel said, he is giving his opinion. If you want more than an opinion, you can do your own homework.

[otismalibu]

As Joel said, he is giving his opinion. If you want more than an opinion, you can do your own homework.

So we could basically substitute the word "guess" for "opinion".

If you want more than a guess, you can do your own homework.

[Ozric]

Geez... How good is a freakin opinion when the authenticator does not even use the tools available to him. The truth is a couple of provocateurs here continually defend the guy while the majority of the board understands his lack of research. But hey, auction houses love him. I wonder why...

[b.heagy]

After a comment like that, maybe you should ban yourself. I've PERSONALLY had items that Mr. Lampson has turned down that I thought were real. As Joel said, he is giving his opinion. If you want more than an opinion, you can do your own homework.

Interesting. I have never met the man either. I am curious though. In your opinion on a scale of 1 to 10 - 1 being worst and 10 being the best, where do you personally place Lou Lampson ? From what I have read on this forum and the evidence to back it up I do not feel comfortable buying an item based on HIS OPINION.

[mr.miracle]

After a comment like that, maybe you should ban yourself. I've PERSONALLY had items that Mr. Lampson has turned down that I thought were real. As Joel said, he is giving his opinion. If you want more than an opinion, you can do your own homework.

As a former Financial Advisor, I was ultimately always giving my opinion on investments unless of course it was related to factual issues such as setting up trusts, language in wills, college planning structure etc. However if the "opinion" can be construed as complete gross negligance which if you have read the countless horrific examples that Lou has been paid very well over the years to authenticate, and have later been proven completely erroneous, then Eric is spot on. If I would have done what Lou has done, I rightly should have been jailed. People work very hard for their money and if he can go to sleep at night not even trying but still collecting a check while people write checks for tens of thousands of dollars based on his so called expert work, it is a sad testament to this industry. That man should have been put out of business years ago and the people that continue to defend him obviously do not have a clue.

[buc]

Interesting. I have never met the man either. I am curious though. In your opinion on a scale of 1 to 10 - 1 being worst and 10 being the best, where do you personally place Lou Lampson ? From what I have read on this forum and the evidence to back it up I do not feel comfortable buying an item based on HIS OPINION.

I would say 5. My point was if any of us were to make the post that Eric made, we would be banned. Lou Lampson gives an opinion. MEARS gives an opinion. JSA/PSA/insert authenticator here give opinions. I should have known if I said anything that goes against the grain here I would be questioned. Some of you who post on here are NEVER wrong, and God forbid if you were, you would never admit it. But, the truly funny thing I see is that some of you who post on here and throw around your weight have sold Lampson authenticated items recently that were purchased from AMI and other auction houses. That one cracks me up.

[mr.miracle]

I would say 5. My point was if any of us were to make the post that Eric made, we would be banned. Lou Lampson gives an opinion. MEARS gives an opinion. JSA/PSA/insert authenticator here give opinions. I should have known if I said anything that goes against the grain here I would be questioned. Some of you who post on here are NEVER wrong, and God forbid if you were, you would never admit it. But, the truly funny thing I see is that some of you who post on here and throw around your weight have sold Lampson authenticated items recently that were purchased from AMI and other auction houses. That one cracks me up.

I don't know about anybody else, but in my twenty plus years of collecting, I have never once in my entire life purchased a Lou Lampson authenticated item. I truly believe this man is either a crook or a fraud or both and in any case, when I see anything with an LOA from him I literally run the other way. I would never ever buy anything authenticated by Lampson and I don't care if the item came with five other LOA's. I will not support in any way shape or form the fraud that this man perpetrates. If anybody else feels comfortable wasting their money and helping this man stay in business, then by all means be my guest.

On an unrelated note, I feel fully comfident that he would have authenticated my Ripken helmet 100% authentic. That would be of course if I felt like passing off something as 100% legit when there are serious questions about it.