Altered Kobe Bryant Pro-Cut Jersey Being Advertised on eBay with D. C. Sports LOA as Game Used Rookie Jersey

[Phil316]

Haha!!! You sob's are too much!! I sent that email to ms auctions to F with him!! He is the one that is altering jerseys, he has been doing it for years!! I did it to prove a point!! Thank you for re posting my email to prove it for me!! Haha!! I swear you all have no F'n life!!

Actually it is quite opposite. A lot of the members in this post are very well respected in the game used collecting circle as well as their private lives. We all band together when we can especially if we see doctored/forged items being sold as authentic. That is one of the reasons this site is around. You come on here arguing with people and trying to promote your website without even reading the rules of the forum.

[ryanjerseyb]

I'm not arguing with anyone. It was brought to my attention that a jersey that I had Acquired is not real. I was duped. I bought a jersey that I thought was game worn. When I got it from Mark it looked legit and not altered. He told me he got it from a French collector. I sent it in to get authenticated and it came back legit. Then I get a link sent to me from Mitch saying he is the one who put the name on the back of the jersey. I'm not coming on here to argue with anyone and trust me guys I don't need this forum to promote my website on here. I didn't know it wasn't allowed. I know know. I apologize. My integrity is being questioned, that is the only reason I came on here is to defend my name.
This is the last time you will hear from me.
You all take care.

[trsent]

Haha!!! You sob's are too much!! I sent that email to ms auctions to F with him!! He is the one that is altering jerseys, he has been doing it for years!! I did it to prove a point!! Thank you for re posting my email to prove it for me!! Haha!! I swear you all have no F'n life!!

Days before the Kobe jersey's issues became public you emailed Mitch to mess with him? I find that hard to understand.

I'm not arguing with anyone. It was brought to my attention that a jersey that I had Acquired is not real. I was duped. I bought a jersey that I thought was game worn. When I got it from Mark it looked legit and not altered. He told me he got it from a French collector. I sent it in to get authenticated and it came back legit. Then I get a link sent to me from Mitch saying he is the one who put the name on the back of the jersey. I'm not coming on here to argue with anyone and trust me guys I don't need this forum to promote my website on here. I didn't know it wasn't allowed. I know know. I apologize. My integrity is being questioned, that is the only reason I came on here is to defend my name.
This is the last time you will hear from me.
You all take care.

So you are saying Mark traded you a $3000 - $4000 jersey for a $20,000 jersey and you thought it was game used and Mark misrepresented it? Mark says otherwise so I am confused. Who is telling the truth?

Is Mark telling the truth that you paid somewhere between $750 - $2000 for the authentication and the autograph? If so, did you question why the fees were so much more than usually charged?

This forum is to inform and educate dealers and collectors so the exact history of this jersey in a forty day period is very interesting for us all to learn about so we can avoid issues such as this in the future.

[cohibasmoker]

The Kobe jersey was offered to me by a French collector in late July/early August. We went back and forth exchanging emails and his communication was terrible - big delays in response time. Shortly after, Mitch listed the same jersey on Ebay. I offered him $1,500 and he declined. He said he needed $3,000. I said I could do $2,200, pay immediately, and through paypal gift. He accepted.

About a month ago, I offered Ryan the Kobe jersey in a trade for a jersey that he bought for $3k from Jim Thomas several years ago. I sent him the pics and told him up front that I purchased the Kobe as a procut and it was not sold to me as game worn. Before finalizing the trade, we noticed that the NOB was not consistent with Kobe rookies sold by GF. Ryan wanted to go through with the trade anyway.

Ryan lists the unsigned, unauthenticated jersey on Ebay for $20k.

According to Ryan:
After making the trade, Ryan contacts Dan (they had done business before) about getting the jersey signed and possibly authenticated. Dan asks for photos of the jersey and Ryan sends. After reviewing the photos, Dan says he needs the jersey in-hand and that the signature and authentication will be $750-2000 and need to be paid by money order (I don't remember the exact cost Ryan told me but it was in that range and was at an inflated price compared to his standard $200/sig and $150/authentication). Ryan sends in the jersey and payment and gets it back a few weeks later signed and authenticated.

Ryan updates his listing on Ebay to signed and authenticated by DC.

Mitch must have seen the listing because he contacts me out of the blue and asks if Ryan got the jersey from me and tells me to get him to take it off ebay. I tell him that he did get it from me and that I was upfront about it being procut and unworn. Regardingly the listing, I tell him that once its out of my hands, I'm not responsible for it and cannot make him remove his listing.

My opinion is that Ryan was excited about the jersey and wanted to list it immediately on Ebay to showcase (he listed it before it was even in-hand). The sig and DC papers only added to his display. He never mentioned shopping it or sending it in to auction. He actually mentioned keeping it and displaying it next to another Kobe he has so that they could be displayed side by side- one signed on the front, and one signed on the back. With the $20k price tag, I do not believe his intention was to sell, but rather draw attention to his other listings.

Ryan has done the right thing here and removed the Ebay listing.

A mistake was made, let's move on.

My correspondence with the French collector was thru email and Facebook messages. My correspondence with Mitch was thru email. My correspondence with Ryan was through text message. In short, there is record of everything.

Hope this helps shed some light on the situation.

I'm not defending anyone but on the surface, this sounds right. Haven't we all purchased items from different sources that we feel may be different than advertised? What to do? In this case, Ryan sent the jersey to be authenticated, paid a hefty sum and in the end, it appears the opinion was worthless.

Just an opinion (LOL).

Jim

[CPuente57]

I think the biggest thing to come out of this is finding out the wording of the LOA's which from what I've seen have the same wording on every item with a DC Sports LOA might not mean what everyone thought it meant. It's like what was said earlier, how does anyone know now, what DC Sports Items were sourced directly from the Lakers or from a 3rd party's word that it was sourced from the Lakers. I think from now on, it needs to be more clear, and if it was from a 3rd party, the "comes from an impeccable source who has access to players" needs to be left out. I'm not trying to bash Dan but it just sucks, because it does put a little doubt in all jerseys with a DC Sports LOA, in light in this find.

[Phil316]

I think the biggest thing to come out of this is finding out the wording of the LOA's which from what I've seen have the same wording on every item with a DC Sports LOA might not mean what everyone thought it meant. It's like what was said earlier, how does anyone know now, what DC Sports Items were sourced directly from the Lakers or from a 3rd party's word that it was sourced from the Lakers. I think from now on, it needs to be more clear, and if it was from a 3rd party, the "comes from an impeccable source who has access to players" needs to be left out. I'm not trying to bash Dan but it just sucks, because it does put a little doubt in all jerseys with a DC Sports LOA, in light in this find.

I agree think of the money people have spent on Kobe Bryant game used jerseys. One would think it would taint the value when this story gets out. As a collector I now feel all of his jerseys should be questioned as we don't know how many more of these are floating around.

[DConLA]

I just want to make clear that this is an isolated incident as we just barley started to authenticate Lakers items that were acquired outside our network. We mention in all of our letters on items that come directly from us that the items are obtained from an impeccable source because we know where they come from. We have a standard letter that we put on all of our items and when we issued the letter to Ryan we just used our standard letter. Ryan and Mark are not impeccable sources that we use to acquire anything. We are correcting our mistake and are taking measures so that this will never happen again. That is why we are updating our data base to include a different option style letter and as always only items that come directly from my contacts on the team will receive our standard letter.




Dan dceniceros248@yahoo.com 323.257.4898

[DConLA]

That is why we are updating our data base to include a different option style letter and as always only items that come directly from my contacts on the team will receive our standard letter.

I meant to say different opinion style letter.

[trsent]

I just want to make clear that this is an isolated incident as we just barley started to authenticate Lakers items that were acquired outside our network. We mention in all of our letters on items that come directly from us that the items are obtained from an impeccable source because we know where they come from. We have a standard letter that we put on all of our items and when we issued the letter to Ryan we just used our standard letter. Ryan and Mark are not impeccable sources that we use to acquire anything. We are correcting our mistake and are taking measures so that this will never happen again. That is why we are updating our data base to include a different option style letter and as always only items that come directly from my contacts on the team will receive our standard letter.


Dan dceniceros248@yahoo.com 323.257.4898

That is why we are updating our data base to include a different option style letter and as always only items that come directly from my contacts on the team will receive our standard letter.

I meant to say different opinion style letter.

I asked you four questions - Would you please take the time to answer them? If you avoid these questions it will appear you are hiding something.

Here are the four questions I previously asked:

1. How much did you charge Ryan for the autograph and letter?

2. Did you personally witness Kobe autograph this jersey?

3. I didn't try to match it up, but I have been told the font on the back of the jersey doesn't match Kobe gamers. You are regarded as the expert - Can you confirm that the lettering font is an exact match to Kobe rookie gamers?

4. If you state it came from an impeccable source, is that source Ryan or Mark? I don't understand how you use that term but don't have a source from within The Los Angeles Lakers organization as another dealer/collector is the source that has access to players before, during and after games? This is very confusing. How many other Kobe jerseys have you written letters for using this expression believing someone telling you it came from an impeccable source?

[trsent]

That is why we are updating our data base to include a different option style letter and as always only items that come directly from my contacts on the team will receive our standard letter.

Dan dceniceros248@yahoo.com 323.257.4898

Also, you mention you have "contacts" on the team - Do multiple contacts with the Los Angeles Lakers sell you game used equipment? Not just a ball boy, there are several contacts who supply you with numerous Kobe Bryant jerseys every year plus other players jerseys?