MEARS Mumbo-Jumbo?

[legaleagle92481]

Wow. Nice job Robert. Just goes to show 3rd party authentication is a total waste.

[CollectGU]

I emailed the seller for some info and this is what they replied, guilty of something, hysterical!:

User details:From User:betsha1917 (3133)98.7% Positive FeedbackMember since Feb-07-02 in United StatesLocation: OH, United StatesActivity with betsha1917 (last 90 days): I have bid on 0 items from betsha1917
Activity with betsha1917 (last 90 days): betsha1917 has bid on 0 of my items




Dear ,

The jacket I had turned out to be a fake. Not mine.

- betsha1917
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From:
To: betsha1917
Subject: has sent a message
Sent Date: Oct-29-10 10:35:29 PDT










Dear betsha1917,

I was curious who you ended up selling the maravich jacket to. They own a sports auction house where the bid is currently 2,600 dollars on it. I'm curious if they bought it directly from you and what they paid

[aeneas01]

By no means does this Kareem/Lew photo have anything to do with the legitimacy of the Maravich. This Milwaukee jersey may very well be a salesman sample/proto-type (the background is unknown). It is without the exclusive tag.

first, beautiful shot of lew - i just can't get enough of clear, vintage photos. second, sand-knit made that shirt for lew's 04/69 nba draft photo ops, they also made it in white. anyway, these shirts were made long before the bucks' 1969/1970 gamers were ordered... here's another draft shot of lew posing with the shirt:



did lew ever wear these draft shirts in a game, 6 months later when the 1969/70 season began? or did he give them away to friends/family knowing that gamers (most likely with team tagging) would be ordered for him? who knows? btw i really like your site, just first-rate. i especially like your photo archives and tagging history sections (however you're missing at least two styles of sand-knit tags from the 1970-1980 era!).

fwiw, mears has again amended their "maravich" lot description, presumably due to this thread - their latest change includes the adding/highlighting of the following entry:

"For a matter of full disclosure, there is no direct provenance or images of Maravich wearing this jacket."

hey, no kidding mears. but, again, more mears double talk - for example, what's up with "... there is no direct provenance" nonsense? i mean good grief. hey mears, there is no provenance whatsoever on this thing, direct or indirect. further, there are no images of ANY jazz player sporting such a jacket!

so let's see: no provenance, no photos, no style matches and a lack of typical team tagging for that era. yet mears stamps it "authentic". and with an apparent straight face, also claims that it has an estimated vaule of $20,000+. are you kidding me? again, good grief.

it's time for mears to bite the bullet on this mess and admit that they were caught trying to pull a fast one - they can do this by pulling the thing from their auction (which they may do anyway if it doesn't get any more action) and spend their free time scouring every corner of the universe for a photo that will help their cause before trying to run it up the flagpole again.

or better yet, mears should just list the thing honestly, as an odd-ball jacket that is most likely a salesman sample or the like, but something that would nonetheless look nice in a collection.

...

[both-teams-played-hard]

btw i really like your site, just first-rate. i especially like your photo archives and tagging history sections (however you're missing at least two styles of sand-knit tags from the 1970-1980 era!).

Robert
Thanks for the interest in my site. It was originally a showcase of my collection, but finances forced me to be a dealer. I have 100s more jpgs of vintage sports photos that I have yet to add to my photo archives sections. It is difficult to navigate and I am working to convert them to resizable thumbnails.
Please email me directly any Sand-Knit tags that I missed. I have "Sand-Aire" and "Sand-Stretch" that have yet to be added. I do not claim to be an expert, and I learn everyday from research.
Another of Lew from the same photoshoot in the home white:


Warren

[cohibasmoker]

Since this thread has some reference to Sand-Knit tagging, perhaps another forum member can refresh my memory on Sand-Knit jerseys - when were dealer tags replaced with "Designed and Tailored Exclusively tags" - was it 1971 or 1972?

Jim

[soxbats]

I was puzzling over this auction the other day, and I have the following potential solution. Someone should pull the relevant sports pages from the New Orleans Times-Picayune. Obviously this is something that MEARS could (and might) have done, but I have no doubt that there were likely many pictures of Maravitch, a basketball hero, in the Jazz's opening game in their inaugural season. At a minimum there should be a style match in there somewhere. Any New O locals on the board?

I looked at local libraries and could not find it, but the UPENN librarian had the below suggestion. For a piece of this potential value, I wonder why the rush to list. Happy hunting for anyone so inclined.

Unfortunately we do not have The New Orleans Times-Picayune on microfilm in our
collection. To locate a holding library that does carry it, I would recommend
using Worldcat (http://www.worldcat.org/) an online catalog of library catalogs
that will rank your results by zip code, so you can find the library closest to
you. If there is no holding library close to you, you can also try placing an
Interlibrary Loan (ILL) request with your local public library to borrow the
film from a holding library.

[otismalibu]

At a minimum there should be a style match in there somewhere.

I don't think the difficulty is finding a photo of Jazz players in the their opening season warmups. It's finding them wearing this particular style.

Did the Jazz have both home and road warmups during their first season?

[soxbats]

Actually, the MEARS description states: "Additionally, we could find NO image of an early 1974 Jazz jacket worn by ANY player."

That was what my post was trying to address. Get the paper from the first few games and see if there is anyone pictured with the warm up. The suggestion by MEARS is that this could have been used in an early 1974 game. Also, there may be a written description of the uniforms.

[otismalibu]

Actually, the MEARS description states: "Additionally, we could find NO image of an early 1974 Jazz jacket worn by ANY player."

Why does it need to be an early 1974 jacket? Is there evidence that the Jazz wore multiple styles during 74-75?

When are team photos taken? Would a 1975-76 hoops card feature a team photo from the previous year?

[both-teams-played-hard]

Elgin Baylor was hired as an assistant coach for the Jazz's first season. Is that Elgin rockin' a warm-up? DUDE!



Who would have the nerve to write an LOA for that one?