Lampson AMI Connection?

[kingjammy24]

Re: Lampson AMI Connection?

found this statement from rich ellis:
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docellis
Veteran
Member # 336
posted July 05, 2007 01:23 PM

Just to set the record straight I have never been a member of the 100% authentic team and nor will I be. Call me and if you want my reasons why.

I do authenticate hockey items for AMI but it’s through me and no one else.

The 100 % authentic team does have some respectable people that really know stuff.

Again just wanted to set the record straight.

Rich Ellis

--------------------
CEO of Dropthepucks.com and the Spirit of the Game.
(763) 537-4572
Please visit
www.dropthepucks.com/sotg
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fyi, rich ellis authenticates items for AMI. here is his AMI bio:
Game Worn Hockey Memorabilia - Rich Ellis


Rich Ellis, a long time game worn jersey collector with over 29 years of experience, started dropthepucks.com in 1999 to catalog all of the versions of every team jersey ever made (an ambitious goal!). Rich's current site is The Spirit of the Game.
Rich graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1989 with a Bachelor of Science degree in business management. Rich purchased his first game worn jersey in the summer of 1976, and has been in the hobby ever since. Rich has been to countless shows all across North America and has seen thousands upon thousands of jerseys.
Rich also worked for one of the leading auction houses in North America, he was the director of hockey acquisitions for Lelands.com in 2003. Rich has also been a member of the Society for International Hockey Research since 2004. He authenticates hockey memorabilia for the following major auction houses, Broadway Rick's Strikezone, Geppis Road show, American Memorabilia. Rich has also helped Lelands.com and Mastronet.com on authentications.
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so, one of AMI's authenticators is saying that he "has never been nor will ever be" part of their... tracking system. maybe someone can take him up on his offer to call him and have him explain why he won't be part of a tracking system.

rudy.

[sylbry]

Re: Lampson AMI Connection?

I actually think this is an unfair statement. I'm just guessing, but it doesn't seem like it's a front- the authenticators look at the items and make their judgments. They're not signing whatever is put in front of them. It's just unclear if the authentication company is also owned by the auction house. It appears to be and if so, that should be disclosed so the potential bidders can make an informed choice.
Eric

It could be an unfair statement. I don't disagree. But in the eyes of this collector, this is how it appears to be.

I am not looking to argue nor defend my statement. Just pointing out my perception regarding the lack of info surrounding 100% Authentic. And I would be 100% receptive to them telling me otherwise.

I mean no ill will. Heck, this isn't even my thread to argue. If I am proven wrong I would be happy to retract my statement and publicly apologize. But at the moment my above statement is the most logical conclusion I can come up with given the information provided.

Bryan

[Eric]

Re: Lampson AMI Connection?

Fanz-
Please email me at ecky3@aol.com
Thanks
Eric

[sportscentury]

Re: Lampson AMI Connection?

It's just unclear if the authentication company is also owned by the auction house. It appears to be and if so, that should be disclosed so the potential bidders can make an informed choice.
Eric

(cough, cough) Wait a second, I thought 100% Authentic was just American Memorabilia's "tracking system." (cough, cough)

I've really got to take something for this nasty cold.


On a serious (and ironic) note, I would absolutely love to be banned by AMI. No matter how many times I have asked, though, they continue to solicit my business with countless emails and catalogs. Dave, can you help me out?
.

[FANZ4EVER]

Re: Lampson AMI Connection?

[quote=Eric;42077]I am no closer to understanding this situation. Dave O'Brien says it's not an authentication service, and then i see an ad in the new American Memorabilia publication welcoming Ron Fukushima as 100% Authentic's newest authenticator. So it is an authentication service, but it's not... but it is.

Speaking about Ron Fukushima AMI got a really good winner check this out. My Friend bought a jersey from him in the mid 90’s it was a cowboys Thanksgiving Day double star throwback jersey. He was bragging about that jersey. He was so happy that he got that jersey from Ron that he would not stop talking about it right until he read a full page ad in the SCD from another collector who also bought a double star Thanksgiving Day jersey from Ron, asking people who bought these Cowboy throwbacks to contact him. This collector contacted the Cowboys directly and spoke to the equipment manger and found out that the Cowboys only wore them for one game and he still had them in stock and that he was going to give them to the players at the end of the season. This started a long process to for my friend to recover his money. My friend really did buy a Cowboy “turkey” from Ron and he is now one of the new authenticators for AMI in what….fake jerseys. This calls for a new thread.

[Eric]

Re: Lampson AMI Connection?

From this thread I am drawing the conclusion that 100% Authentic is nothing more than a letterhead owned by American Memorabilia used for printing their predetermined auction description which is to be signed by their puppet Lou Lampson in the hopes of giving bidders a false sense of third party independent authentication meanwhile shielding both parties from blame if a discrepancy arises.

Bryan

Someone please correct me if I am wrong.

I actually think this is an unfair statement. I'm just guessing, but it doesn't seem like it's a front- the authenticators look at the items and make their judgments. They're not signing whatever is put in front of them. It's just unclear if the authentication company is also owned by the auction house. It appears to be and if so, that should be disclosed so the potential bidders can make an informed choice.
Eric

[sylbry]

Re: Lampson AMI Connection?

From this thread I am drawing the conclusion that 100% Authentic is nothing more than a letterhead owned by American Memorabilia used for printing their predetermined auction description which is to be signed by their puppet Lou Lampson in the hopes of giving bidders a false sense of third party independent authentication meanwhile shielding both parties from blame if a discrepancy arises.

Bryan

Someone please correct me if I am wrong.

[Eric]

Re: Lampson AMI Connection?

I am no closer to understanding this situation. Dave O'Brien says it's not an authentication service, and then i see an ad in the new American Memorabilia publication welcoming Ron Fukushima as 100% Authentic's newest authenticator. So it is an authentication service, but it's not... but it is.

If it's a system to track COAs, why are they hiring authenticators?

I have made 3 attempts to email American Memorabila in the last 5 days and have not gotten a response.

I welcome a response to my email address- ecky3@aol.com

If anyone can explain this situation to me, I'd love to hear about it. I'm not saying anyone is being underhanded, I'm just trying to comprehend what's going on. If you read the first post in this thread, I tried to contact 100% Authentic and didn't get a response so I contacted the Better Business Bureau. The BBB in turn sent the complaint to AMI. That's where the confusion started and remains.
Thanks
Eric

[ChrisCavalier]

Re: Lampson AMI Connection?

Hello Dave,

Just to close the loop, I think the thread was generated because Eric was hoping to get answers to some questions first outside the forum and he was directed to 100% Authentic. I believe Eric tried to get these answers directly as per his statement in one of his posts that "...I could not get 100% authentic to respond to a single question about their methods of authentication." It appears Eric then created the thread to try to understand more about 100% Authentic and how to get his questions answered.

I think the thread then led to some further questions because people were confused by the explanation provided in this thread that 100% Authentic was not an entity. This clearly would have an impact on how Eric would go about getting responses to his questions.

At the end of the day, AMI and/or 100% Authentic is free to do whatever they like and they can also choose to answer or not answer questions here directly. That is certainly their prerogative. However, given the apparent confusion created by your answers on this thread, I actually participated to try to get the thread directed back to where Eric could get his original questions answered. Unfortunately, I'm still not sure whether Eric is there yet or not (Eric would have to answer that question).

Notably, if anyone at 100% Authentic and/or AMI has the desire to contact me to provide answers to the questions on this thread, please feel free to let them know they can reach me anytime at the numbers below. I will be happy to pass on any information they care to share if they don't want to post directly.

Sincerely,
Chris Cavalier
Office - 925.552.8023
Cell - 925.413.1429

[CollectGU]

Re: Lampson AMI Connection?

Chris,

I cannot speak as to why AMI is not intersted in doing business with you. but maybe you should pick up the phone and ask instead of asking me. Secondly, I apologize that for misquoting Rob - it was "something doesn't add up" but the connotation of something being inappropriate is still the same. I would also suggest that as the owner of the forum and now competitor of all auction houses, you no longer sit idlely by and allow irresponsible posts to be made calling the competion a "sham" allowing posters to insinuate that there is something inappropriate going on with another auction house, without any facts to back up these insinuations. Especially when you can simply call the auction house to explain to them your "confusion" so they can speak with you directly and help clarify this confusion you have. By simply picking up the phone and doing this you eliminate all this silly nonsense back and forth. It would help to eliminate the appearance that maybe you have lost objectivity and don't mind the competition being questioned unfairly becasue after all they are your competition. I know this wasn't your intent, but a simple phone call to Victor who you have known for a long time I think would have been appropriate. I will not post again here on this subject because there is nothing being discussed here that is helping the collecting community - it has become a back and forth pissing match....

Regards,
Dave

[ChrisCavalier]

Re: Lampson AMI Connection?

Hello Dave,

I must say that I think there is an issue with your posts being both accusatory and being based on inaccurate information. In looking back, Rob's post seemed to simply express his confusion regarding seemingly conflicting information out there. In fact, I am personally still confused by what has been stated.

For the purpose of clarifying things for our members, in a previous post I asked you specifically if 100% Authentic:

1) Is an actual company composed of the members listed in the AMI catalog?

2) If 100% Authentic is a company, is it independent of AMI or some form of subsidiary of AMI?

3) If 100% Authentic is not an actual entity, can be best described as a mechanism to refer to the independent authenticators that evaluate AMI's items and serves as a storing house for any certs written?

You stated you thought it is option #3 listed above. Yet, when you look at AMI's website for their current auction, in the item descriptions, under 'Authenticators' it states "100% Authentic Team" with the explanation that "A team of experts inspects and authenticates each item by the authority they have in that particular field." Personally, I don't see how anyone would interpret the "100% Authentic Team" as not being an entity as you stated above (especially since the individual authenticators are not even listed in the item descriptions).

At the end of the day, Rob's post seemed to be an attempt to clear up something that I still don't even understand (and I am a magna cum laude graduate so please don't claim this is easy to understand and I just don't get it). Further, I think your accusatory posts based on misinformation, including a post that even misquotes Rob (with your use of quotes around words he didn't use), clearly are out of line.

BTW, just out of sheer curiosity, why am I "banned from bidding" in AMI's auctions? If you look at the history of my posts I probably gave AMI the benefit of the doubt in previous threads as much as anyone on the forum (excluding you of course). And, in this thread, I thought my post simply tried to help clarify the situation. Here is a link to my previous post:

http://www.gameuseduniverse.com/vb_forum/showpost.php?p=41055&postcount=35

Is there something specific I have done that has warranted a "ban" from AMI? Maybe I'm oblivious to some criteria that would be useful in determining when people should be banned from sites.

Thanks in advance,
Chris

[rbalm]

Re: Lampson AMI Connection?

Interesting how the moderators have been banned by AMI. Could it be that GUU auction is now the competition, even though they have yet to have their first auction. Speaking about slow pay. I did call AMI to find out when I was going to get paid for something I had in their March 29 auction. Hmmm checks will be cut June 15th and sent out. Almost 90 days! I hoped they enjoyed the interest on my money they owe me.

Adam

[RobSteinmetz]

Re: Lampson AMI Connection?

your quote and insinuation about "something not being right" with 100% authentic

Dave,

Once again, you are posting inaccurate information (this time misquoting me). I NEVER said the words "something isn't right" with 100% Authentic.
Also, as previously stated, I will not discuss my private phone conversations in a public forum. All I can say is that Denny Esken didn't provide me with any information that I felt as though shed additional light on this rather unique tracking system and it's team of trackers.

[CollectGU]

Re: Lampson AMI Connection?

Dave,

Your post about my having received some sort of inside information about 100% Authentic from Dennis Esken is inaccurate. I received no information from Denny that would provide forum members with any more insight than you've already shared about this groundbreaking tracking system. Even if I had, I would not share any information from a private conversation in a public forum without Denny's consent.

Best,

Rob,

It wasn't inside information. It was a history of how and why it was started as he was around from the beginning which makes everything very plausibler as opposed to your quote and insinuation about "something not being right" with 100% authentic...Am I incorrect or was this info provided? On another note, I do find it commendable that you and Chris offered to buy back the Bears jersey. I believe that it actually made it to AMI on consignment but was rejected and returned. I believe it now may now sit with Steve Jensen at Vintage, but I am not positive. You may want to reach out to him and let him know your offer so that he can let the consignor know.

Regards,
Dave

[lund6771]

Re: Lampson AMI Connection?

Lund6771,

I have no knowledge of this. I do know from experience that it takes 45-65 days to get paid. If you were told somehting else, they were wrong for that. It happens about an item not being paid for and it is common practice that it goes into the next auction. I had an A's Joe Rudi jersey not be paid for in the first auction and it went in the next auction and sold for almost double the first auction results.

Regards,
Dave

Dave,

So I understand correctly...it is a "common practice" for AMI to not inform a consignor that an item hadn't been paid for...and without consent, put into their next auction?

I think that maybe these "practices" should be disclosed on their website...

Pete