Gavel Chat with Chris Nerat

I was going to write this in the comment field, but I wanted to make sure everyone sees this as it is covering what I will be writing about in the near future. Ned's question:
It's a tough spot to be in. On one hand, the auction house is paying you to "pass" as much as possible so they can have your stamp of approval along with the item. On the other, if you reject too many bad things, you're out of a gig with them. I know for a fact that authenticators have to plow through tons of stuff in a short amount of time and mistakes are made. Things are passed that shouldn't be. It all comes down to the almighty $dollar$. Unless you really know your stuff and know what you're getting, be extremely careful. Having a LOA is good for resale, but it doesn't always mean you're getting what you think you're getting.

Your thoughts Chris?

Ned
Milwaukee, WI

My response:

Ned,
You're right. It is a tough place to be in... Anyone who thinks authenticators are not ever wrong, or shouldn't ever be wrong, are kidding themselves.

I will go more into this topic next week (I was going to write about it today, but that has changed), but what I will say is it can take up to a week or even more to authenticate some items efficiently.

Auction houses are under a tight deadline to get a catalog produced and this usually means they have an authenticator come in for a few days to look at every item in a particular auction.

The authenticator uses the time he has and gives his best opinion. That is what the auction houses pay for.

What people tend to forget is the amount of jerseys and autographs that authenticators kick out of an auction. I worked at American Memorabilia for two years and worked very closely with Lou Lampson. Believe me, Lou isn't there flipping a coin. He is checking each jersey out as good as he possibly can in the time that he has. I have seen Lou kick out 50-100 bad jerseys in one auction. That is thousands of dollars that the auction house won't make, because they are not allowed in the auction.

If the auction owners were paying the authenticators to slip in bad items, that would be one thing, but that is not how it is.

In my entire time at AMI, I never saw a backdoor deal to get a bad item in an auction. Not once. That sort of thing wouldn't ever be tolerated. The owner, Victor Moreno, was very concerned about only allowing good jerseys with good use in his auction.

Thanks for the question Ned. Next time please enter your email address in the proper field.

chris

6/1/2007 3:02:25 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Comments [3]

6/1/2007 5:21:37 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Chris - you have hit a subject that is a sore spot with me.....

you say, "it can take up to a week or even more to authenticate some items efficiently"

So then, how can an expert pump out hundreds in such a short amount of time. Surely you can see my point, as I've been burned in the past and believe that you really need to do your homework on this stuff if you don't want to get burned.

I do believe that authentication is good if it's done properly. I do not agree with the fact of some people out there making good money to fly through racks of shirts in a couple days just to hit a deadline for an auction house. It's not ethical, and it only hurts the industry and the folks that purchase the item with the belief that it was truly worn by the athlete.

Ned

6/1/2007 5:37:46 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

Ned,
As I asked in my previous post, can you please post your email address when you comment in this blog?

As for what I wrote: "it can take up to a week or even more to authenticate some items efficiently"

All I am saying is for some shirts (and probably even some autographs), it can be a longer process to efficiently authenticate an item.

That doesn't mean extra attention isn't given to certain items. When I worked for AMI, there were many occasions that Lou Lampson was at our offices for a few days and then when he left Lou would continue his research.
I just bought a John Brockington jersey this week that I have spent about five days researching and I still am not 100-percent sure what it is.

All I am saying is this: Say "X" auction house has 1000 jerseys in a particular sale, one of those jerseys is no-good, the authenticator made an honest mistake... You still are out that money if you are the buyer.

Bottom line: Do your homework... That is the key in all of this.

Chris Nerat |chris dot neratAT NOSPAMfwpubs dot com

6/3/2007 6:33:00 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

"Unless you really know your stuff and know what you're getting, be extremely careful. Having a LOA is good for resale, but it doesn't always mean you're getting what you think you're getting."

I agree Chris. I wrote the above statement in my first post. I'd also like to keep my personal email to stay that way, so please stop asking.

I'll continue to comment on your posts, as I think this is a good forum for many different areas of the hobby.

Ned

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