Lampson AMI Connection?

[sportscentury]

Dave

Since you're saying that this company isn't really in business (since there is an outdated copyright and old address) does that mean that there haven't been 100% Authentic certs issued since 2003?

Because if there have been certs issued under 100% Authentic then it is a functioning company

I am so confused by this.

Eric

Eric,

This appears to be (and has always appeared to be) a complete sham. I'm happy to consider evidence to the contrary, but this is the only reasonable conclusion one can come to, based on all of the evidence that has been presented thus far.

Best,
Reid

[Eric]

"Gamer"-
You are posting from the same place dolphin13 and better (also known as lambeauleeper) posted from. Unfortunately we are going to ban this third user name coming from the same place. Please stop posting on this forum.
Good luck
Eric

[sportscentury]

"Gamer"-
You are posting from the same place dolphin13 and better (also known as lambeauleeper) posted from. Unfortunately we are going to ban this third user name coming from the same place. Please stop posting on this forum.
Good luck
Eric

Eric,

I had considered responding to him, but figured as much and deleted my response before posting. It was an unusually provocative first post for a supposedly new member. At least it wasn't so obvious as to call GUF members wash women, though.

Nice work.

Reid

[kingjammy24]

last 2 or 3 posts:
http://www.gameuseduniverse.com/vb_f...ead.php?t=6927

i haven't read anything regarding the relationship between 100percentauthentic and AMI that makes any sense to me. the relationship is a complete mystery and i fail to even understand the real purpose behind the existance of 100percentauthentic.

dave o'brien states that it's simply a tracking system for certs. it seems like complete nonsense to think that someone would establish a different "company" solely for the simple task of tracking certs. a simple database or even a spreadsheet would accomplish the task effectively. if i'm an authenticator and i service several auction houses, then i can easily and accurately keep track of all of my certs via unique serial numbers. the first 2 or 3 letters of the serial can denote the specific auction house. if i enter these serials into a database, i can track all of the certs with ease. to think that i would open up a whole new company just do that is one of the stupidest things i've ever heard. every authenticator and auction house has a need to track their certs. none of them, except for AMI, has chosen to accomplish this task by opening a shell company.

secondly, who is supposed to have benefitted from this tracking system; lou or AMI? dave, i believe you once stated that it was an easy way for lou to differentiate the certs he did for AMI from the certs he's done for other entities. the fact is, lou authenticates for several auction houses. if 100percentauthentic was set up for the sole purpose of helping lou keep track of his AMI certs, then why has he not set up any other shell companies for his other certs?

thirdly, if 100percent was started solely to help Lou track his AMI certs, then why would AMI even be involved in that? that is, if it's a system for Lou to help Lou, why would AMI register and own the 100percent website and use their address and phone number for a system that supposedly isn't even for them? if Lou wants to keep track of his certs, then shouldn't that solely be his own endeavor? i fail to see why AMI is even involved if it's simply a system to help Lou track his own certs.

"I'm confused by why you think it is anything more than a tracking system"

because none of it makes any sense. you don't need a separate entity solely to track certs. if Lou felt he did, then where are the other entities to track his other non-AMI certs? if Lou needs to track his own certs, then why is AMI even involved? people don't buy that it's just a tracking system because none of it makes any sense. it's akin to me saying i need to keep track of my household expenses, so rather than simply entering them into a software program like MS Money, i'm going to open a whole new company. nonsense isn't it?

all of that said, i also fail to see the logic behind what other people are saying. people have said that it's a sham and is intended to put forth the illusion of genuine third party authentication. the thing is, unless lou is a direct-hire employee of AMI, there's no need to put forth any illusion because genuine third party authentication already exists. as i understand it, lou is a freelance authenticator. he signs contracts with auction houses. none of them have made him a direct hire. when Vintage or Mastro or Heritage hire Lou, he is their third-party authentication. there is no need for any shell company. as long as he's not a direct hire, then any auction house that hires Lou will have genuine third-party authentication. again, setting up a shell company to acheive what already exists makes absolutely no sense. if this is a sham, then i don't see the purpose or gain in it. reid, what exactly is the sham? AMI set up a shell so they could....???

lastly, i think there's an assumption that people may be riding under here; namely that 100percentauthentic is even a company. it's web domain is registered and owned by AMI. the address is the same. the phone number is the same. every point of contact is routed to AMI. it's my opinion that AMI doesn't own 100percentauthentic because there's nothing to own. it's nothing more than a name and a logo. it isn't even a real shell company. the 100percentauthentic website says "inc" yet i can't find a record for a business license for any company named "100% authentic" or "100 percent authentic" in nevada. however, i can find a record for AMI:

AMERICAN MEMORABILIA INC
SPORTS MEMORABILIA
Not Displayed
89128
430-0667
S20-00350
1/19/1999
Active
MORENO JOSEPH PRES/100%

so if 100percentauthentic was incorporated, i'd like to know where because i can't find a record of it. when searching business licenses in nevada why does AMI show up but not 100percentauthentic? lampson's name does not show up as being the owner of any business in nevada.

to wit then: supposedly, victor moreno opened up a company, which doesn't show up in the business license records, solely to help lampson track his own certs. victor agreed to register the site, pay for it, host it, and have all contact come to his company. all just to help lou track his ami certs.

like i said, none of it makes any sense at all. i can't see any reason behind 100percentauthentic. lampson himself is automatically a third-party authenticator and tracking certs is simply a matter of entering unique serial numbers into a piece of software.

rudy.

[sportscentury]

Rudy,

AMI owns 100% Authentic, the company that is associated with and represented by Lou. Lou does AMI's authentications. Still, AMI talks about 100% Authentic as if it is a separate entity (per the quote that Eric posted).

Does Lelands represent Keith Vari as someone from a separate company who comes in to do authentications? Does Grey Flannel suggest that Richie Russek is coming in to authenticate from some other company? As Warren would say... Puhhleaaase.

I'm not sure that I'll be able to help you much with your confusion, as this couldn't be more crystal clear to me. If you're looking for a semantic debate about the word sham, I'm afraid someone else will have to help you out.

Best,
Reid

[CollectGU]

Rudy,

You've got it wrong. It's used by Victor to track what AMI sells using Lou as the authenticator, because they don't like and won't run with many things that Lou passes, and now he knows which item(s) came from him as opposed to another auction house if there is a problem. He doen't care and is not intersted in helping Lou track anything

Regards,
Dave

[hblakewolf]

Dave-
This is simply classic! Rudy, care to open this can of worms even more?

Howard Wolf
hblakewolf@patmedia.net

[RobSteinmetz]

All of AMI's catalogues (page 23 in the last one) have an entire page devoted to "The 100% Authentic Team" and ends with the statement:

"Any item listed in American Memorabilia's catalogs
has met the utmost standard of validity and has
received the endorsement of "100% Authentic".

How is that possible if it is only a tracking system?

If this is only a tracking system for Lou, why are other experts listed as members of the "100% Authentic Team?"

This doesn't add up.

[kingjammy24]

"AMI owns 100% Authentic, the company that is associated with and represented by Lou."

part of me would like to see a shred of evidence that 100% Authentic is actually a genuine company as opposed to nothing more than an outdated, AMI-created website that goes nowhere.

anyway, reid i disagree that lampson works for AMI in the same way that vari and russek work for lelands and gfc respectively. AMI is just one of many of lou's auction house contracts. if you believe that lampson isn't a third-party authenticator for AMI and that he's, for all intents and purposes, a direct AMI employee (simply because lampson is in some way associated with some mystery goo called "100%authentic") then do you believe that lampson is a thirdparty authenticator for vintage or mastro? if so, what's the real difference?

i don't even know the real extent of lampsons relationship with 100%. beyond simply guessing, do you know what it really is? 100% seems to be nothing more than an online repository of lampson AMI certs on an AMI-owned website with AMI contact info. it's more of AMI website than a lampson website and i hesitate to even call it a company. how then is lampson really tied to 100% beyond them simply displaying his certs? if anything, the evidence suggests that 100% is represented by AMI. dave has stated that AMI created it for their own purposes and the evidence indicates this to be likely true. people seem to think lou has some strong connection to 100% but to me, it appears like a complete AMI concoction. none of the contact info goes to lou. instead, it all goes to AMI. you've tied AMI to 100%, however i fail to see any real ties between 100% and lou.

i'm not looking for a semantic debate. you called it a sham and i was genuinely curious to know what you feel is the angle because i can't see it. you say that AMI puts forth 100% as its some third party company. i agree it isn't. 100% is AMI through and through. however, lampson himself is a genuine thirdparty authenticator so, if anything, AMI is just diminishing the appearance of thirdparty objectivity by associating lampson with 100%. they should just ditch 100% and stick solely with the lampson name. you seem to imply that lampson has the same relationship with ami that russek has with gfc and i have no clue how you're arriving at that conclusion. one proclaims his association and is clearly found on the business documents, whereas the other can't be found to have any real business ties whatsoever. for petes sake, its not even a real authentication service! it's nothing more than an online AMI LOA repository. you're treating it as if it's some real company that employs lampson. AMI employs lampson in the same way that Historic or Mastro do. this 100% nonsense is nothing but meaningless vapor.

anyway, i find it a little odd that people are so concerned about whether lampson is really a true third-party authenticator. what does it matter? if he was, would that somehow make his garbage authentications any more valid? he's completely inept. whether he's thirdparty or in someone's pocket is ultimately meaningless. if people are concerned about thirdparty authentications, then why not start with lelands whose authentications are all done in-house?

rudy.

[kingjammy24]

"It's used by Victor to track what AMI sells using Lou as the authenticator, because they don't like and won't run with many things that Lou passes, and now he knows which item(s) came from him as opposed to another auction house if there is a problem."

dave, thanks for your reply. whether it's used by lou or victor doesn't negate the fact that opening a new entity is the most bizarre way of tracking specific certs that anyone can imagine. you have to agree. AMI could easily differentiate their lampson items by prefixing their unique ids with "LL" and stamping "Lampson" on each LOA. they could also easily track every single aspect of a cert (item, date, consigner, authenticator, grade, etc) in the same way that the rest of the civilized world has been tracking data for the past 50 yrs - unique ids and a database.

once people found out that 100% was just AMI under another name, AMI diminished the appearance of objective authentications. it's hard therefore to believe that their "sham" was to do otherwise. in the same way, it's hard to believe that AMI chose to operate a whole new entity instead of just using a simple database like every other normal business.

you stated that 100% may have originally been intended to be a thirdparty authentication service. any idea if the original intent was then to have this "third party", AMI-owned service do work for AMI? or would AMI just create the service but not use it themselves?
if, on the other hand, it was just a tracking system, then you must admit it's pretty odd to see a testimonial from victor commending his "tracking system" on doing such a great job authenticating.

either victor is off his rocker or there's something more to all of this than is apparent.

rudy.