dave bushing: http://www.network54.com/Forum/47141...lebron+jerseys

"I think everyone would agree that MEARS makes the point of an A5 being properly tagged not for general retail use with no claim or proof that said shirt was ever within 100 miles of said player, simply that it is not a retail shirt."

i don't know what everyone else thinks. i think if you took 100 collectors who purchased A5 jerseys and asked them if they thought that the MEARS letter meant the item was likely a gamer, you'd find the results pretty surprising. i know that when a MEARS A5 comes to auction and the typical auction description thats that no post-1987 shirt can attain higher than an A5 without provenance, many may easily think that, sans provenance, everything else about it points to it being a likely gamer. if you look at robert's price list, would people really pay a couple thousand dollars for a jersey where the only implication was "simply that it is not a retail shirt"?

what would the prices be if every A5 stated "MEARS makes no claim that this shirt was ever within 100 miles of the player"?

maybe collectors are assuming too much but the fact is that a) MEARS can't even be consistent within its own ranks as to whether the size is correct or not and b) the A5 covers everything from gamers to procuts.

"Should MEARS be more specific and if the size cannot be verified, list as such in the worksheet and would this constitute an even lower than A5 grade."

yes, yes, and yes. if you didn't verify the size, why would you say you have? as troy publically stated, an A5 must have a verified and correct size. but apparently it doesn't.

"And once this lower grade is issued and a verified example surfaces that supports the once unsupportable size, then should all of the letters be amended?"

yes. afterall, isn't that the very nature of this hobby (new info regularly being uncovered) and already MEARS policy (buybacks, letter re-issuance)? what's the better alternative? to not verify a size, state you've verified it, and mislead collectors? isn't MEARS all about transparency? if you don't know something, then say you don't know it. it's certainly more damaging than possibly re-issuing some letters a few years later.

everyone in this hobby understands that new things are constantly being learnt and uncovered. in that way, it's similar to some sciences. at some point, people realized the earth isn't flat so they went and re-wrote the books. certainly better than refusing to admit the earth is round simply to avoid re-writing some books. you can evaluate an item and a year later learn new details which would cause you to change your opinion of that item. no big deal.

"I think the end goal for everyone is to make sure that someone buying an A5 knows that ..at worst, they have a shirt that matches all of the proper tagging as found on a verified gamer but might not have a verified size or some of the special customizations that might be found on a verified gamer.."

this completely contradicts troy's explanation of the A5. again:

"5. Correct size for player
...
10.We make sure the jersey was the proper size to be issued to that player

All of these manufacturers characteristics must be present before the A5 grade is considered for post 1987 jerseys.

Therefore, if the examined jersey does not match 100% correctly with all of the above, no A5 grade is awarded."

dave, now you're saying that MEARS admits that A5 owners may indeed not have correctly sized or correctly customized jerseys. troy is saying one thing, you're saying another. yet collectors are supposed to understand the A5? the 2 MEARS principals can't even agree on it!

".. there needs to be clearer language to avoid such issues in the future."

yes. unfortunately, there've been massive amounts of A5s already sold.

rudy.