Writing on game used items

[jmeekins33]

Recently I came across a pair of game worn shoes worn by a star NBA player. They were signed and showed nice usage. When discussing the shoes with the seller I discovered that he wrote on the shoes after acquiring them. He wrote the date and score of the game in which they were used and the writing took up a good chunk of space on the shoe. Hard to miss. When I found this out I was shocked. It would never occur to me to do such a thing. After finding this out I wasn't interested in buying the shoes anymore.

Does anyone here have an opinion about this? Is this a normal practice?

[sox83cubs84]

I agree 100%. The seller's handwritten notations on a game used item would be a complete turnoff to me. The seller could just as easily write the identifying information on a 3x5 card and put it inside the shoes.

Of course, if the descriptive text was in the player's own hand....different ballgame entirely.

Dave Miedema

[Anabolicollege17]

I don't even like when players write inscriptions. I think its so stupid and ugly. I like the jersey in its natural playing state. You don't see players signing jerseys and inscribing them before game use lol. A fan writing on them is 10000 times worse.

[dangerzone79]

Ridiculous thing to do. Unless you have ZERO intention of ever moving the item to someone else. I agree that an index card or something tucked in the show, or paper clipped to a jersey, or whatever is the move.

[coxfan]

I agree that a separate note, like a card, is best. Both extremes are bad: too many sellers make no effort to document what they know about provenance, or even how they got the item. When you ask, you get a blank look, followed by "I'm sure I got it from someone reliable; I always do. But I don't remember exactly." I've seen even museums lose important info about items because of lack of good documentation upon receiving items.

In these days of word processors, every seller should just keep an updated file of where he bought something, and what he knows of its significance. It'd then be easy just to provide thus to a buyer on a separate sheet, even printed out easily from the computer file.

Of course, there's the occasional rude seller who doesn't care. When I walked into a new coin shop recently, I asked the owner about clarifying the provenance of a box of Ancient Roman coins. I asked where he bought them? He rudely replied: " I bought them from somebody" without even looking up. I bid the shop adieu and didn't return.