The last card show I attended was the 2006 National in Anaheim. I think I was there for only one day, so I really didn’t get my fill. I am a memorabilia junkie. Going to card shows is one of my favorite parts of this job.
Where else can you see all those great cards and pieces of memorabilia under the same roof?
All the big-time dealers will be in attendance at this year’s SportsFest. I have been to almost every SportsFest since its origin and I am excited to check out its new location in Schaumburg, Illinois.


Now something really off-topic… I finally am going to join the 21st Century and buy an LCD flat-screen TV.
For those of you who don’t know, Krause Publications is in a very small town in Wisconsin and there isn’t a whole lot to do during the weekdays. That said, I spend more time than I should watching television. May as well do it in style.
In the next few weeks I will be making the purchase. If anyone has any flat-screen TV advice, please let me know. One of my friends told me that LCD is much better than Plasma. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? I can’t wait to watch NFL football on a nice tv!

For the past few years, various publications, online news outlets and Internet message boards have been talking about game-worn jersey and autograph authenticators and their roles within an auction house operation.

Much of this coverage has become very heated and sometimes even controversial.
It’s understandable. Hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars are at stake and anyone that has, or feels they have a potential of getting burnt when spending their hard-earned money will feel very strongly on this subject.

Now my take on all of this: There was a time when auction houses didn’t even use authenticators, in fact, many mom and pop auction houses that deal with family estates don’t use an authenticator and have an “All Sales are Final” policy. As a general rule, auctions are not like Wal-Mart… You usually are expected to pay for the item as an “as-is” type situation. At least that’s how it used to be.

Many of the people who own auction houses may have some knowledge in the area of sports memorabilia that they are selling, but very few can be classified as “experts.” That is why third-party authenticators are brought in to go through the auction items and offer their opinion on each lot.

I just had the opportunity to buy a nice vintage Packers jersey that may have been game-worn. It took me about a week of phone calls and my own research to determine that it was not a gamer.
A week!

Many auctions hire authenticators for only a couple days and they are expected to go through hundreds of pieces.

In my opinion, there is no way that this can be done in this amount of time without making any mistakes.
Also, keep in mind... authenticators DO reject many jerseys that were consigned for a particular auction. I remember Lou Lampson rejecting over 50 jerseys for one American Memorabilia sale, when I still worked there. There was never any intent to deceive a customer into buying a jersey that we didn't think was game-worn.

Now, I know some of you will say that the authenticators should be brought in for a longer period of time… That sounds like a good idea, in theory, but it isn’t that realistic. First of all, that costs much more money for the auction house and second of all, there are deadlines to get the catalogs prepared.

That said, this time constraint should not let the auction house off the hook if a mistake is made. “All sales final” policy or not, if a mistake is made on a jersey and it is called to the auction houses’ attention, in my opinion the business should stand behind its item.

That can also sometimes be tough though. Many times a consignor is already paid when a problem surfaces and as a result that money can not be gotten back easily. Maybe have a 10-day return policy or something.

Anyway, that’s my take… I asked Troy Kinunen of MEARS to chime in on this topic and here is what he provided me:

For his blog, Gavel Chat, Chris Nerat asked me to give my views on how
authenticators are treated on various message boards. With my
association with MEARS as a person who gives opinions, I know what it is
like to be on the receiving end of message board created criticism.

As an organization, MEARS always separated the sometimes-personal natures of the criticism and examined what the core of the issues was. In the early
years of the internet, topics such as undisclosed conflict of interest,
proper attribution of authenticator to work, creation of terms and
definitions, and responsibility of authenticator to their opinions were
often the topic of debate.

Therefore, the message boards served as a voice to our organization where
concerns were stated and for which current policies were shaped and
in-acted. To date, in response to hobby concerns, MEARS was the first
authentication company to voluntarily disclose which lots members of our
company owned when consigning to various auction houses. Both Dave Bushing
and myself volunteered to have our names listed in the auction house
descriptions and Rob Lifson of REA was the first to incorporate the
practice. When we were not listed in the actual lot description, the lots
were identified on the MEARS homepage, and were in an area that was open to
any interested parties. This change was the result of concerns voiced on
various internet forums.

We have expanded on the policy and with the launch of the MEARS For Sale
site, at the top of each description the owner of the item is identified.

The topic of responsibility of an authenticator to their opinions is the most often voiced concern for collectors. MEARS takes this responsibility
seriously. I am quite aware of the amount of work it takes to get an authentication of an item correct.
For the year 2007, MEARS was only contracted with Mastro Auctions and REA. The contract called for us to look at all game worn/used items submitted to those houses. With our long-standing policy, a grade is assigned to each and every bat and jersey we offer opinions on. This included both favorable opinions and items deemed unable to authenticate.
Over a 50-week calendar year, we schedule a minimum of 56 hours per week to authentication per those two auction contracts alone. It typically takes 6 weeks per Mastro Auction and about 46 weeks for REA. The rest of our staff handles photography, letter production, data entry, website maintenance, reference material archiving, and retail submissions.
We have mandated for our auction house contracts that all our grades, which sometimes are low and not favorable, are printed in the lot description of their catalogs.
Another policy invoked by MEARS to address the concerns of accountability to collectors is our practice of writing letters on 100% of the items that we inspect. This means even the bats and jerseys that we reject. Those are
titled as "unable to authenticate."
Those items are hologramed, photographed, a worksheet is completed, and the opinion is archived in both the LOO and trade index portion of our website, which is available for members. The member's section is part of our $40.00 subscription fee, but the fee charged is used to offset the labor fees of producing the LOO‚s and maintaining them on our website.

Chat rooms and forums will continue to facilitate discussions with respect
to the opinions offered by authenticators. This is a good thing, as each
group of authenticators will continue to be responsible for the opinions
offered. Criticism will still be given when collectors feel a wrong opinion
has been given. But, what I have noticed, is there is nowhere near as much
credit given when somebody does a good job. Take a moment to thank an auction house that does do things right. I can't speak for non-contract
holders, but when we are contracted to for a calendar year to offer
opinions, the cost is substantial to the auction house. By hiring MEARS,
profits have been lessened, as contract holders are willing to pay for the
services provided by our company.
Chat rooms are here to stay, so lets continue to use them in a manner that enlightens the collectors and creates continued excellence from the
authenticators whom understand their responsibilities.

Sincerely,


Troy R. Kinunen
MEARS

Hopefully my opinions and what Troy touched on will spark some discussion. You can post your comments to this blog or email me at chris.nerat@fwpubs.com

I am still putting together my blog dealing with the way authenticators are treated, so I will hold off on writing it for a few more days.

Today I want to focus on the Mastro catalog that I received in the mail today. It came poly-bagged and included a magazine put out by SGC, and to my surprise, a DVD about The Lionel Carter Collection.

If you haven’t heard yet, Carter is a true baseball card pioneer and this year he decided to sell his collection through Mastro Auctions.

I just finished watching the video and I must say that I am very impressed. The 30-minute DVD was one of the most informative programs covering the hobby that I have ever seen.

The video includes interviews from Bill Mastro, Doug Allen, Lionel Carter and others.

The great thing about the program is that you get to see Doug and Lionel going through the collection. Video allows the viewer to experience much more than a photograph could provide.
I think in the future you will see many more auction houses utilizing more video, at least I hope so. I would have paid money for this DVD and it actually came free with Mastro’s catalog.

Check out this article written about the authentication company MEARS, which was featured in Robb Report’s Luxury Portal. Any time the hobby gets mentioned in a classy magazine such as this, I feel it is important for us to take notice. Very interesting article.

I am compiling some information for tomorrow’s blog entry where I will talk about authenticators and why I believe they are treated unfairly.

Over the last couple years almost all authenticators have taken a beating on various message boards and in other publications, most notably in the New York Daily News.

Check out what I write tomorrow and see if you agree.

I think we should all take time out for a moment of silence for my friends, Steeler nodder and Roger Maris nodder. Each have served their time in the world of the collector and now have made it on to the eBay cemetary.

Today I would like to briefly cover the wonderful world of vintage nodders. These little guys are some of the coolest items a person can collect and they can come at a hefty price tag depending on how rare they are and what condition they are in.

There are a couple businesses that specialize in nodders and probably the largest company in this field is Inside the Park Collectibles. Make sure to check out their site if you're interested in nodders.

Touchdown Treasures also carries many nodders, and other statues that deserve a look.

Like any highly-desirable item, nodders attract crooked people trying to pawn their items off as original. Many of the nodders being sold on eBay are either restored or simply not real.

Be very careful when purchasing nodders online. Ask the sellers lots of questions and DO YOUR RESEARCH. Also, I am not considered a nodder expert, but I could probably help if you have any questions. Feel free to drop me a line at any time.

Admittedly, I don’t collect cards anymore, but in the early 90s that was my passion. I knew who the hot rookies were before the mainstream media covered them, and was first in line when new packs of cards hit the shelves.
That said, a good portion of the hot cards that I was buying back in the day are not worth anywhere near what they used to be… Here is my Top 10 list of players' cards that used to be hot, and now are definitely not. To give you some perspective, I included links to current or recently closed eBay auctions for each card.
Enjoy checking out the cards that I blew all my money on! As you will see from some of my comments, I really had no clue what the heck I was doing when buying cards back then.

#10 – Gregg Olson - Don't know much about this guy. I think he was Rookie of the Year and a Pitcher for the Orioles. Other than that, I can't tell you anything about the guy.


#9 – Blair Thomas - Running back from Penn State... Went to the Jets and he was never to be heard from again.


#8 – Brien Taylor - What's better than a good looking rookie pitcher for the beloved Yanks? Definitely not the career-ending injury that put an end to all hopes of card investors everywhere.



#7 – Chris Sabo - If it wasn't for his crazy goggles, I probably wouldn't even remember this guy.



#6 – Dee Brown - Had a bad case of Harold Mineritis... FYI – Just because someone wins the dunk contest, it doesn't mean their cards are going to hold their value.



#5 – Bo Jackson – I remember buying his 1988 Topps Football rookie for over $20, back in the day. Wow... this thing dropped quick.



#4 – Greg Jefferies – Had a solid career, but the hype in the early 90s was much bigger than how well he played.


#3 –Jerome Walton – About 17 years ago there was no card hotter than this one, in addition to the Jim Abbott 1989 Upper Deck card. Now, you can get them for about a nickel.


#2 – Jim Abbott – See above




#1 – Andre Ware – The Lions weren't bad at drafting only under Matt Millen. This guy was supposed to be the best thing ever, but never did anything as a pro.


Honorable Mention: Percy Snow


Bonus Honorable Mention: Wild Card, Classic Board Game Cards and Sports Flics

You will rarely ever hear me tell someone that a particular article is a “must read,” however you will want to read Scott Fragale’s article on Hank Aaron’s 755th home run ball. Fragale’s article is an in-depth timeline laying out the period when Aaron hit the historic round tripper to the sale of the historic treasure.



Lelands’ spring auction ended last week and the results are in… The Honus strip card went unsold because it didn’t meet the reserve. The Mantle game-used jersey did sell for 100k and the Musial shirt sold for 50k…
The boxing pieces also did quite well.


On a personal note, over the weekend I was visiting some friends in Milwaukee. On Saturday we decided to drive 30 miles to the Dairyland Greyhound Park in Kenosha. This was the first time I have ever bet on a dog or even a horse race.

I have to study up on dog-racing gambling strategies, as the first four out of five dogs I bet on finished in dead last. I tried analyzing the stats in the event program, watched the dogs before the race to check their demeanor, anything I could think of.

Nothing seemed to work. Then, for my last bet, I picked the dog that had the coolest name. The little guy won. Guess there isn’t much of a science to this dog-racing thing.