NBA collectors question

[nickacs]

Yea, NBA jerseys are probably the hardest of the 4 major sports to photomatch since there's never any dirt/grass/stains/etc.

It's a lot easier of course if the jersey is from a special event (ie. All-Star/Finals because of patches/rarity and in recent years, Christmas Day, Noche Latina, old style uniforms, etc).

But for regular season, the best bet is if you can blow up some nice Getty/AP/etc pics and try and match the mesh holes. Also loose threads too.

I've seen some awesome NBA jersey photomatches on here from some, most notable Mickeybenz, who has an awesome NBA collection. A lot of times, he uses the mesh hole technique. If you search the thread of 'Post your photo-matched items here', you'll find some.

[cohibasmoker]

Yea, NBA jerseys are probably the hardest of the 4 major sports to photomatch since there's never any dirt/grass/stains/etc.

It's a lot easier of course if the jersey is from a special event (ie. All-Star/Finals because of patches/rarity and in recent years, Christmas Day, Noche Latina, old style uniforms, etc).

But for regular season, the best bet is if you can blow up some nice Getty/AP/etc pics and try and match the mesh holes. Also loose threads too.

I've seen some awesome NBA jersey photomatches on here from some, most notable Mickeybenz, who has an awesome NBA collection. A lot of times, he uses the mesh hole technique. If you search the thread of 'Post your photo-matched items here', you'll find some.

Research - and the internet is the main tool to get it done. I'm researching this jersey now. From what I've found, in the late 1960's, every Laker's jersey was made out of durene material and each jersey was custom made for each player by Tiernan. They did not apply the Tiernan tag until the 1970's. Now the idea is to photo-match it which may be the most difficult part of the research.

Jim

[genius]

That Lakers jersey sure passes the eyeball test, AMAZING how you come up with this stuff!

[otismalibu]

Certainly not a high end collector, but it's much tougher (IMO) to match older jerseys simply because it's hard to find photos that show enough detail.

Sometimes you can find odd spacing (below) or look at alignment of letters/numbers, but it's hard to find quality images from the 70s and 80s for comparing mesh holes. Even when using original slides.

[both-teams-played-hard]

Research - and the internet is the main tool to get it done. I'm researching this jersey now. From what I've found, in the late 1960's, every Laker's jersey was made out of durene material and each jersey was custom made for each player by Tiernan. They did not apply the Tiernan tag until the 1970's. Now the idea is to photo-match it which may be the most difficult part of the research.

Jim

Damn dude. I don't even like the Lakers, but that's my holy grail! Sweet like bear meat! I'm sure the names Erwin Mueller and John block have been mentioned to you.
This one is Tiernan made. No mfg tag, only a tiny size tag. Most likely the exact same durene weave used for 60s Lakers shirts.

[sportscentury]

Yea, NBA jerseys are probably the hardest of the 4 major sports to photomatch since there's never any dirt/grass/stains/etc.

It's a lot easier of course if the jersey is from a special event (ie. All-Star/Finals because of patches/rarity and in recent years, Christmas Day, Noche Latina, old style uniforms, etc).

But for regular season, the best bet is if you can blow up some nice Getty/AP/etc pics and try and match the mesh holes. Also loose threads too.

I've seen some awesome NBA jersey photomatches on here from some, most notable Mickeybenz, who has an awesome NBA collection. A lot of times, he uses the mesh hole technique. If you search the thread of 'Post your photo-matched items here', you'll find some.

I agree that there have been some outstanding NBA jersey photomatches presented here. But there have been many questionable ones on GUU, as well, I'm afraid. So for newer basketball collectors, please be careful. "One loose thread does not a photomatch make."

[happyyoungster]

Thanks for the input, fellas.

So, it sounds like the 1990's are the hardest time period of jerseys to authenticate? (lack of quality photos, # of photos, etc.) I'm guessing this is also the time period that players started wearing more jerseys in a season, which, in turn, spread the game usage amongst a larger supply of shirts? Also, this is about the time when people started buying and wearing jerseys as a part of their personal wardrobe?

Did Sand-Knit, Champion or Starter ever market player-specific (customized) jerseys for retail sale in the 80's or 90's? If so, can you tell them apart from actual locker room samples? I've seen a lot of NBA jerseys that appeared to have all the proper tagging (at least to my untrained eye) but were sold as team issued. Where did they originate from?

I ask these questions because I'd like to someday add a John Stockton jersey to my personal collection. Quite frankly, I don't know what the hell I'm talking about when it comes to NBA.