Quote Originally Posted by EndzoneSports View Post
Brett:

There are indeed flaws in the authentication process, one of the most obvious being that it is not an exact science, but rather one of educated opinions. With this, errors will no doubt be made. We can debate until the fat lady sings about who makes more errors and/or whose mistakes are the most egregious, but the fact that they have made (and will continue to make) mistakes is a given.

Being part of an entity whose mission centers on research, education and historical preservation, I am a staunch advocate of collectors doing their own homework and coming to an educated guess on their own. However, having both utilized and provided authentication services, I am fully aware of the pros and cons on both sides of this issue. I also realize that there is a significant part of our collecting community that is reliant upon, and thus creates a demand for the 3rd party authentication services. This includes those in the business of selling (directly and via consignment), who want to at least give the appearance of staying at arm's length re: claims of authenticity as well as those purchasers, who, either through inexperience or lack of available resources, are reliant upon the opinions of those in the business of 3rd-party authentication.

As long as the demand for these services continues, those brave enough to offer these services will continue to thrive... And due to the nature of the process, mistakes will continue to be made. Comprised of both niche experts and passionate hobbyists, this forum provides an exceptional quality check for the authentication process. When errors occur, I believe that as a responsible community we have an obligation to bring this information to the attention of both the community at large as well as to the sellers; hopefully this will always be done in a professional and courteous manner. In kind, it is hoped that this information will be assessed and an appropriate response (via words or actions) given. In a great number of instances, feedback from this forum as resulted in items being pulled from auctions/sales, thus benefiting the hobby as a whole.

Regards,


Patrick:

There is little doubt that as long as there are professional authenticators mistakes will be made by all. We can all reference discussed on this very forum from every authenticator out there that has been questionable at best over the years. However, that being said, the fact that time after time, over and over, item after item after item that is authenticated by Lou Lampson has been proven to be not only questionable but downright erroneous in every sense of the word.

If Lampson has over 8000 photos in his personal collection, perhaps he should add a few more by photographing items he has authenticated. That way when he references them against new items he could at least prevent the current situation with the Elway jersey from happening so that he would not look like a complete buffoon on a repeated basis.

At some point, the reputation of these auction houses that continue to use Lou Lampson's services is going to suffer and perhaps in some cases they already have. As the reputation of this very forum continues to grow and its membership ranks swell, the continuous flow of worthless LOA's that Lampson writes will continue to come up in debate on this forum for all to see. Real or not, authentic or not, as this continues nobody will purchase anything authenticated by Lampson at least if they spend any time reading the weekly comedy routine on this forum that is the Lou Lampson authentication process. Actually, it is more like a greek tragedy as hard working individuals are trusting that this man has done his utmost to ensure that the items he is authenticating are what they are portrayed to be. People are dumping tens of thousands of dollars per item in some cases into items that are complete garbage and as it has been pointed out on this forum before, Lampson is laughing all the way to the bank.

It was pointed out on this forum before that even when AMI or Vintage has contacted Lampson about very, very questionable items and presented to him the issues raised, he has more or less said trust me, it is real. That is some level of reassurance and certainly goes a long way toward clarifying issues surrounding the items.

Nobody is perfect and nobody expects anybody to be perfect however we do expect Mr. Lampson to do his job and do it right. As it stands now, it looks like he is more concerned with quantity over quality and rubber stamping as many items with his seal of approval as he can.

Does anybody know how I can go into the memorabilia authentication industry??? Outside of weathermen I am not sure what other career allows one to make so many mistakes and still retain a job.