Open Letter To Lou Lampson

[3arod13]

Re: Open Letter To Lou Lampson

http://www.100percentauthentic.com/Authenticators.asp

I haven't bought anything or been involved with anything dealing with Lou Lampson, but I'm just blown away by all that I have read about him in this forum.

How can one man do what he does and is able to hide so easily?

Why would any auction house or anyone in the business want to involve their name to his with all this negativity?

Maybe I'm just clueless, but I don't see how he's able to continue in this business successfully.

Regards, Tony

[mvandor]

Re: Open Letter To Lou Lampson

I haven't bought anything or been involved with anything dealing with Lou Lampson, but I'm just blown away by all that I have read about him in this forum.

How can one man do what he does and is able to hide so easily?

Why would any auction house or anyone in the business want to involve their name to his with all this negativity?

Maybe I'm just clueless, but I don't see how he's able to continue in this business successfully.

Regards, Tony

Disclaimer: My opinion only, certainly not the GUU company line.

He appears to me to be the chief enabler in a highly profitable but corrupt industry. Through a catchy, memorable name and the sheer volume of his work, he appears to the average consumer be the dominant authenticator in the game used market. In fact, he is simply a guy getting paid significantly to help move millions in bad product through the mirage of "authentication".

The real question is how the scam has persisted this long without the intervention of the authorities. Apparently post 911 any crime not terrorism related, especially white collar crime, gets a pass.

If true reliable and honest professional authentication was provided in all cases, the revenues from game used sales would plummet putting a good number of people out of business as the vast majority of items would be dismissed. Accordingly, no one wants to REALLY look too closely.

[CollectGU]

Re: Open Letter To Lou Lampson

aeneas01,

I noticed that Mastro is now claiming that they have a photo of Butkus wearing this helmet, but I'm not sure of they are saying the same style or the same helmet? Also they have added additional provenance information...Your thoughts?

Regards,
Dave

[otismalibu]

Re: Open Letter To Lou Lampson

He appears to me to be the chief enabler in a highly profitable but corrupt industry. Through a catchy, memorable name and the sheer volume of his work, he appears to the average consumer be the dominant authenticator in the game used market. In fact, he is simply a guy getting paid significantly to help move millions in bad product through the mirage of "authentication".

I think even Lou would agree that the above statement is 100% Correct. If he disagreed, you'd think he might, at least once, speak up and defend some of his work.

[sammy]

Re: Open Letter To Lou Lampson

Lou Lampson appears to be just like the authenticators the Marino family used to pass so many autograph forgeries. It doesn't matter whether it is real or not, the authenticating fee is paid, and the authentication letter is produced stating the item is good.

You would think with the constant rise in the rates these auction houses continue to charge, added to the "Seller's Rape" which in many cases, when added to the BR is about 40 percent of the final price, millions per auction, they would invest in someone or company that was competent.

But being as Lou works for a set fee each day, he churns out as many letters as possible, which is what he wants to do and the auction companies want him to do. Neither wants to spend the time or money to do an honest job. Lou would be out of work if he wasn't a "YES" man, and the auction companies would be out millions of dollars because they would not have this trash to peddle.

It has come to the point where if it reads "Lampson LOA" I don't even look at the auction and/or item.

It's a shame the FBI doesn't get involved with this garbage. I guess they are too busy spying on the average American.

[both-teams-played-hard]

Re: Open Letter To Lou Lampson


Does anyone remember seeing this poster on display at the Fashion Village Promenade Towne Center?

[richpick]

Re: Open Letter To Lou Lampson

As many has said before Lampson churns out LOA's auction houses sell the suspect stuff for great money and both Lou and the auction houses are happy. Here is the problem both Lou and the auction houses are both not on the hook for any penalties. So smart collectors stay away from a Lampson LOA so what there are a ton of suckers in the ocean. Who knows how much money Lou makes probably a lot and all he has to do is avoid answering questions. If these auction houses stood up and collectively turned their backs on Lampson then every item that they sold (with a Lampson LOA) and took their 40% or so profit on could be included in a class action lawsuit against the auction house for a full refund and cost them millions. Since they have put their trust in him they are in bed together and we (the collector) will suffer until there is a huge shake-up (like in the autograph market)

[Eric]

Re: Open Letter To Lou Lampson

So, how many people here will take advantage of the opportunity and ask your questions to Lou in person at the National?

[gamehawk]

Re: Open Letter To Lou Lampson

I like how the bio picture of Lampson looks like a bad guy on a Matlock episode??

[Nathan]

Re: Open Letter To Lou Lampson

I'll be there on Thursday and Saturday and I'll see what I can do.

By the way, here's some fun math for you. I'll use the NHL as an example.

30 teams x 6 seasons = 180
28 teams x 1 season = 28
27 teams x 1 season = 27
26 teams x 5 seasons = 180
24 teams x 1 season = 24
22 teams x 1 season = 22
21 teams x 14 season = 224

If Lampson were to have one picture of a particular team from a given season, then just by going back to 1977-78 he would have 685 pictures. If he were to go back to the beginning of the NHL, there would be roughly 1600 pictures total.

Now consider that MLB, the NBA, and the NFL all had more teams than the NHL for most of their history....although I'm not going to do all the math on here, is it possible that simply taking one picture from a team for a given season times every season of a league's existence would equal the "astonishing 8,000 plus pictures"?

[harpt]

Re: Open Letter To Lou Lampson

I just got an email at home from someone who's email address is MyBlackEscalade@ aol.com there is no subject listed and the person does not sign a name.

The person quotes my post from this thread where I say

"A year or two ago SCD ran articles with his picture. I can't remember if he wrote the articles or if they were about him (or both)...but his picture was always present."

Then, their message is:

"ok, well what good does this silly remark make. how does this help people find the fraud"

That's it. No signature or anything. I wrote back and explained that I was responding to the question about whether or not he (Lou) exsists. I also told the person that I thought it was low-class and gutless to write such a message without signing a name.

Does anyone know who this guy is, or why he would take the discussion off the board like that? Has anyone else gotten similar emails? I don't know about you, but personally I would prefer not to get unsolicited emails at home. Asking for an email about a bat is one this. I think this is another. What do you guys think?

Thanks for the time,

Scott

[kneerat]

Re: Open Letter To Lou Lampson

That's really interesting Scott... When I worked at AMI I would constantly get emails from that same email address. The person would never sign his name and would hide behind that address.

I would be willing to bet that he is a contributor to this message board or knows some of the members personally.

OT: Scott, give me a call this weekend and I will give you an update from the National on any clue items that pop up.

[kneerat]

Re: Open Letter To Lou Lampson

I meant "cool," not "clue" LOL. Sorry bout the typo.

[Eric]

Re: Open Letter To Lou Lampson

I would be willing to bet that he is a contributor to this message board or knows some of the members personally.

He's not a member of the board as far as I can tell. I have gotten emails from this person as well, some unsigned, some signed Ben, John, Bill and Michael.

Many of them are about how to track down Lampson's contact info for a friend who felt rippsed off.

There is a reference to this person and their dealings with Grey Flannel found here

http://www.gameuseduniverse.com/vb_forum/showthread.php?p=38572

That's all I got.
Eric

[harpt]

Re: Open Letter To Lou Lampson

Thanks Eric and Chris for those responses. I was wondering if I had gone off the deep end.

Scott