I received a response from Doug Allen regarding this matter. Here is the entire text of the email printed here with Doug's permission.


Eric,

In response to your inquiry I do not recall having a phone conversation with Troy regarding this shirt any time prior to the auction. I do recall Eric on my staff communicating the fact that MEARS was not comfortable authenticating the shirt but I don't remember a direct conversation with Troy.

Troy's post stated "This may have led to the decision to have Lou Lampson offer his opinion on the jersey." This is absolutely not the case. Most vintage basketball and football we auction also include an LOA from Lou Lampson as evidenced by the current auction. Lampson authenticated the shirt approximately one week prior to MEARS coming in to authenticate as they perform this work independently. That being said it is interesting to note that the high bidder on the item would actually have still purchased it with MEARS "unable to authenticate" letter as he indicated it would not be unusual for a college jersey to have a name change. This didn't bother the bidder. The primary issue for this shirt was the fact that the #2 on the jersey appears to have been altered. Unfortunately this alteration was not identified by Lampson or MEARS…I detected it after I returned from the National when I personally examined the numbers on a light table. I then informed MEARS of the fact that it was much more than a presumed name change, which could have been vintage. I then turned the jersey over to MEARS for further examination.

I have copied Troy on this as I have the utmost respect for the work they do and that is why I returned the shirt to them for further examination.

I trust this is responsive to your question.

Regards,
Doug