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“MEARS does not photo match, we use the process of imagery analysis. This includes using the process of mensuration, a concept introduced by retired LTC Dave Grob. With photo matching, you must have an understanding of tagging, sizing, style, lettering, numbering, wear, source/provenance, and imagery analysis. To just take a jersey and match it against a photo is an amateurish way of authenticating."
I’ve got no beef with MEARS. Pretty sure I’ve purchased from them in the past and would do so again. But it seems that auction houses have a different definition for “photo match” than many on the board do. To be fair, I think many of the posters here are confused by the term.
If you have a high quality image and you can match an exact repair, mesh hole locations in screened letters/numbers, lettering anomaly, etc. – I'll take that.
Look at the MEARS auction description below. This auction description is the very definition of amateurish.
Although unsuccessful in our attempts to find an exact photo match, what the above did provide us was style matches of Jackets worn by the Jazz from 1975-78. This did not match any of those styles.
What does the above statement even mean? We couldn’t find an exact match to the item we’re trying to sell, but we found pictures of other jackets? Style match…but to completely different pieces. There’s a reason they say a picture is worth 1000 words. This description is probably approaching 1000 words, but would have been so much more convincing with no text whatsoever and a single style match to any Jazz player. That means a Jazz player wearing this style of jacket.
Now, there are also some pretty amateurish approaches to photo matching on this board as well. We’ve all seen a game photo of a player standing at an angle and then someone drawing all their little reference lines on a photo of a jersey laying flat, hoping to match it to the game photo. Perspective is kind of important.
Trying to match a jersey to screen cap of a paused YouTube video is not the same as matching an item to a kylehess10 photo.
I don’t disagree that one must have a knowledge of tagging, sizing, style etc. but a TRUE photo match…what’s better? A letter? And, IMO, way too much weight is given to source/provenance.
Example – Erving SCP collection auction item.
You’ve got Julius Erving selling his personal basketball collection through SCP Auctions. SCP President is David Kohler who has a Lakers collection which is beyond belief. The owner of the items AND an auction that is run by someone with an extensive knowledge of basketball memorabilia. The perfect marriage. Every item comes with a letter from Erving.
Below is lot #91 from the Nov. auction. As you can see, the item is listed as a presentation jersey (1984 AS game) with a min. bid of $1000.
I know the vast majority of you will cringe when you read this next part, but I emailed Mr. Kohler and pointed out that this was actually Erving’s 1983 AS game MVP jersey. How did I know this? I photo matched the jersey. Yeah, I thought about keeping that nugget of info to myself. So the item was pulled and put in the December monthly auction, with a min. bid of $7500. It sold for over $73,000.
Just for reference, below is an actual presentation AS game jersey (1977 AS MVP) and it sold for a little over $6000.
Now one might argue that this was just an oversight and the mistake would have been caught even if I never pointed it out. I think if Mr. Erving and Mr. Kohler truly knew what this piece was, a 1983 AS game MVP inscription surely would have been added (like jersey below), when Doc was out in CA signing all the pieces.
As a side not to this story. Mr. Kohler sent me an email, said thanks and told me it would be the feature item of the next auction. I replied to both Mr. Kohler and Mr. Erving and suggested that a few autographs for some of my items would be a nice thank you, seeing I probably just put $15-30K back in their pockets. This was a conservative guess, because the 2nd auction had not yet run. Looking back now, I would say the difference was more like $50-60K. I never got a reply from either gentleman.
I’ve got no beef with MEARS. Pretty sure I’ve purchased from them in the past and would do so again. But it seems that auction houses have a different definition for “photo match” than many on the board do. To be fair, I think many of the posters here are confused by the term.
If you have a high quality image and you can match an exact repair, mesh hole locations in screened letters/numbers, lettering anomaly, etc. – I'll take that.
Look at the MEARS auction description below. This auction description is the very definition of amateurish.
Although unsuccessful in our attempts to find an exact photo match, what the above did provide us was style matches of Jackets worn by the Jazz from 1975-78. This did not match any of those styles.
What does the above statement even mean? We couldn’t find an exact match to the item we’re trying to sell, but we found pictures of other jackets? Style match…but to completely different pieces. There’s a reason they say a picture is worth 1000 words. This description is probably approaching 1000 words, but would have been so much more convincing with no text whatsoever and a single style match to any Jazz player. That means a Jazz player wearing this style of jacket.
Now, there are also some pretty amateurish approaches to photo matching on this board as well. We’ve all seen a game photo of a player standing at an angle and then someone drawing all their little reference lines on a photo of a jersey laying flat, hoping to match it to the game photo. Perspective is kind of important.
Trying to match a jersey to screen cap of a paused YouTube video is not the same as matching an item to a kylehess10 photo.
I don’t disagree that one must have a knowledge of tagging, sizing, style etc. but a TRUE photo match…what’s better? A letter? And, IMO, way too much weight is given to source/provenance.
Example – Erving SCP collection auction item.
You’ve got Julius Erving selling his personal basketball collection through SCP Auctions. SCP President is David Kohler who has a Lakers collection which is beyond belief. The owner of the items AND an auction that is run by someone with an extensive knowledge of basketball memorabilia. The perfect marriage. Every item comes with a letter from Erving.
Below is lot #91 from the Nov. auction. As you can see, the item is listed as a presentation jersey (1984 AS game) with a min. bid of $1000.
I know the vast majority of you will cringe when you read this next part, but I emailed Mr. Kohler and pointed out that this was actually Erving’s 1983 AS game MVP jersey. How did I know this? I photo matched the jersey. Yeah, I thought about keeping that nugget of info to myself. So the item was pulled and put in the December monthly auction, with a min. bid of $7500. It sold for over $73,000.
Just for reference, below is an actual presentation AS game jersey (1977 AS MVP) and it sold for a little over $6000.
Now one might argue that this was just an oversight and the mistake would have been caught even if I never pointed it out. I think if Mr. Erving and Mr. Kohler truly knew what this piece was, a 1983 AS game MVP inscription surely would have been added (like jersey below), when Doc was out in CA signing all the pieces.
As a side not to this story. Mr. Kohler sent me an email, said thanks and told me it would be the feature item of the next auction. I replied to both Mr. Kohler and Mr. Erving and suggested that a few autographs for some of my items would be a nice thank you, seeing I probably just put $15-30K back in their pockets. This was a conservative guess, because the 2nd auction had not yet run. Looking back now, I would say the difference was more like $50-60K. I never got a reply from either gentleman.
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