Keeping up with the OJ theme, I thought I would pose the question to memorabilia collectors – How much of your collection is stolen?
Before I start getting bombarded with derogatory emails asking me how I could suspect such a thing, please read what I have to say below:

For many years, stolen memorabilia has ended up in tons of collections. It’s kind of weird if you think about it; mainly because the distribution of stolen memorabilia is basically accepted in this industry. This holds true especially in the game-used-equipment-collecting hobby.

How, you ask? Since the origin of nearly all sports, game-used bats, jerseys, balls and more have somehow managed to walk out of locker rooms and into people’s collections. Equipment managers, trainers, and even players and coaches have stolen equipment in order to sell the stuff to collectors.

How is this any different than what OJ is going through right now? Well, I guess it is a little different. OJ’s stuff disappeared from his house and not a locker room, but if a player or trainer takes a jersey (that is owned by the team) out of a locker room and then sells it, it is still stealing.

The funny part about this is the “acceptance” that YOU may be buying a stolen good. How many times have you seen in an auction description, with the following phrase?: “XXX comes from an equipment manager”

I am sure that sometimes the person who takes the piece gets permission from the team's owner or person in charge, but I know for a fact that many times the goods are taken when nobody is looking.

I have a strong feeling that some day all the leagues will start cracking down on this very thing. The NBA has hired MeiGray to take on the sale of some of its jerseys. The MLB also sells many of its pieces via MLB.com. NFL Auction gets jerseys from some teams, but not the majority.

That said, this is not good enough. I have said it before and I will say it again. I want to see every single jersey that is used used in game play, properly inventoried, so everyone knows what is real and what isn’t. Via this process, we would know exactly what game a uniform was worn, how many games it was worn and where it will end up (auction etc.).

There are too many real jerseys slipping out the back door and too many fakes that are entering the market. Something needs to be done.

Clothing designer Marc Ecko. I tried to contact Mr. Ecko a few minutes ago and will let everyone know if I hear from the man.

Not sure if he is a collector or not, but he paid more than $750K for the ball. It doesn’t look like he plans on keeping it either. CLICK HERE to view his website where you can vote on what you would like to see done with the spherical piece of history.

You have three choices:
-    Send the ball to Cooperstown
-    Brand it with an asterisk and then send it to Cooperstown
-    Send it to the moon

Send it to the moon, hey? LOL… That’s a new one… I kind of hope the ball ends up in Cooperstown without the tattoo, but I have a feeling it may end up getting launched on the rocket. Either way, it will be interesting. Hope I get to ask Ecko his thoughts on it.


Leave it to OJ Simpson to top sports memorabilia headlines for the weekend. Turns out The Juice and some armed, thug buddies of his crashed a potential auction consignor’s party at a hotel in Vegas to try and get some of his stolen pieces back.

What ever happened to simple, nonviolent communication? OJ still may be innocent of all the charges on this one, but if you listen to the audiotape of the altercation, it doesn’t sound very good for the Hall of Famer. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO TAPE

This story has quite the auction correlation as well… Turns out that Universal Rarities owner, Tom Riccio, was the man who provided the audiotape to TMZ.com and who also tipped Simpson off that some of his memorabilia was being peddled without his consent.

I wonder if some of the memorabilia in the hotel room were the infamous “non-fitting” gloves.

In the past month or so various auction houses and authentication services have published “Codes of Ethics” that each company will incorporate into their business procedures. Robert Edward Auctions, MEARS and now Mastro Auctions have all actively promoted these new policies on how they are willing to make the hobby a better place.

There is no question that between collectors’ message boards, and customers willing to voice their opinions, that all major auction houses have taken notice about industry concerns.
In a hobby that has been plagued with fraudulent memorabilia and shady practices for many years it is about time that the some of the big players realize that something has to be done.

I have been ripped off many times in my collecting career, and although I have become very knowledgeable because of it, it still doesn’t get rid of the bitter taste in my mouth.

I will never forget the top three times I got taken:

-    When I was about 14 years old, my uncle and parents took me to an antique mall in Appleton, Wis. In one of the showcases there was a full Super Bowl I ticket. It even had a sign on it that described it as such. The price was $80, and even though I didn’t have the money at the time, my uncle bought it for me as a Christmas gift. I loved this ticket, but years later I found out that it was not real.
-    In 1997 I placed a bid on a pair of Brett Favre game worn cleats from “the 1995 season and from an impeccable source.” I paid about $600 for them, and barely could afford them, as I was a freshman in college. I went through game tape of every contest from the 1995 season and found out that Brett never put these shoes on for NFL use.
-    Years later I traded nearly $3000 worth of memorabilia for a Favre game-worn helmet, accompanied with a COA from a well-known authenticator. I used Getty images to find out that the decals were in the wrong place and the helmet was really not even close. The Packers equipment manager later confirmed my assumptions.

With companies taking a proactive stance like the email I recently received from Mastro (below), hopefully there will be fewer collectors that will have to go through the garbage that I went through.  
Dear Valued Customer:
    
     

         When it comes to business ethics and integrity, Mastro Auctions has operated ever since its inception under the premise that actions speak louder than words. We thought, perhaps naively, that that was enough. I have talked to a lot of customers over the last few months, both at the National Convention and through my travels, and have come to the conclusion that our customers, in fact, expect more.
    
     

         As the hobby continues to evolve and new concerns plague our industry, the time to assume a proactive stance has arrived. To that end, Mastro Auctions is taking our unwritten code of professional conduct to the next level by enhancing the code and memorializing it in writing (see below). This act of leadership is not required by law or by the industry, but it represents the high standards of commitment and responsibility that Mastro Auctions has always embodied.
    
     

         Since we just missed our deadline for the October Classic sale to make this announcement, this code will appear in and be in full effect for our December Premium Catalog sale. As always, we greatly value your support and assistance. By working proactively as a team, we can make a difference in the hobby we all enjoy today -- and ensure that it is headed in the right direction for future enthusiasts.
    
     

Sincerely yours,
Doug Allen
President & COO
Mastro Auctions
    
     

Mastro Auctions

Code of Professional Conduct

1.    Disclosure of Ownership

Mastro Auctions allows employees, authenticators, the Mastro Auctions corporate entity and other third party affiliates to own and consign items in Mastro Auctions’ sales. Mastro Auctions will disclose in its catalogs which items are owned by any of the aforementioned parties. PLEASE NOTE: The definition of ownership extends to spouses and immediate family members associated with the aforementioned groups.  

2.    Mastro Auctions Employee Bidding Rules

Certain Mastro Auctions employees are also collectors, and, similar to the practices followed by other major auction houses (e.g. Sotheby’s, Christies, etc.) are permitted to bid in Mastro Auctions sales. The following restrictions have been placed on the bidding practices of employee(s) to ensure fairness for all auction participants: ·        Mastro Auctions employees do not have access to ceiling or “top-all” bids. One designated administrative employee will have access to this information for the sole purpose of responding to bidding questions or for correcting bid errors. That designated individual will not be allowed to bid in the auction. ·        Mastro Auctions employees, the Mastro Auctions corporate entity, and all third party affiliates (authenticators, service providers, etc.) are considered related parties. These related parties are prohibited from bidding on each other’s consigned items. PLEASE NOTE: The definition of the Mastro Auctions “related parties” extends to family members.

3.    Disclosure of Restoration

If Mastro Auctions believes or has knowledge that an item has been altered in any way, this information will be fully disclosed in the auction catalog. Occasionally, we will have items restored in order to improve their presentation quality. In these cases, the extent and nature of any restoration will be fully disclosed. Under no circumstances will we have restoration work done on trading cards.  

4.    Trading Card Guidelines

Mastro Auctions prohibits its employees from altering trading cards. Our policy on altering trading cards is in strict compliance with standards set by all major grading companies.

5.    Use of Third Party Authenticators

Mastro Auctions is a company of experts. In almost all of the collecting genres handled by the company, there is an employee on staff who specializes in that area. As a result, before an item ever reaches a third party authenticator, it must first pass our scrutiny.  Once an item that requires third party authentication has been accepted by Mastro Auctions, the following process will be employed: for each auction, the catalog will identify approved third party authenticating sources by category. We will not sell an item unless it has been authenticated by one of the listed third party authenticators.   

6.    Bidding Records

Effective for auctions held in 2007, all Mastro Auctions bidding records are maintained into perpetuity. These records are considered private and confidential. In order to maintain the privacy of our customers’ information, these records will not be voluntarily shared with any third parties.
    
     

This e-mail was sent from an information only e-mail address and cannot receive incoming messages. Please send e-mail to CustomerService@mastroauctions.com.


As a little Friday treat I am going to post one of my favorite Youtube.com videos... These guys are opening packs that I am sure most of you are familiar with... I cracked up when I saw this video because it looked like these guys were opening up the packs on their lunch break. I guess it brought back some memories. CLICK HERE TO SEE JOE'S VIDEO

First of all, I would like to apologize for neglecting my loyal blog readers. I have been away from the SCD offices for about two weeks now and in Tampa for the National Fantasy Football Championship and Las Vegas on vacation.

I am back now, refreshed and ready to get back into the memorabilia world. This Saturday Barry Bonds’ 755 and 756th balls will be sold in SCP/Sotheby’s auction and I excited to see the results.

I have no clue what they will sell for, but I know for a fact that Todd McFarlane will be watching, as it has been reported that if “the price is right,” he would be interested in pulling the trigger. My gut tells me it will be a bit less than what he paid for Mark McGwire's No. 70 ball years ago.

The Bonds balls aren’t the only reason SCP has been in the spotlight recently. While I was gone, the auction house conducted a private sale of the PSA 8 Honus Wagner card and set a new record of $2.8 million. I really am curious to see who the buyers have been for the past two sales of, what they call, “The Holy Grail of Baseball Cards.” CLICK HERE FOR MORE ON THE WAGNER

Also, is it me or has eBay less than impressive lately? I haven’t been following every auction since I have been away, but the lots I have been involved in have sold for very low prices.
I have heard the same thoughts from other collectors.

Please feel free to share your experiences.

It didn’t take eBay very long to offer another free-listing period. But this time they one-upped themselves and made it a “Free-Listing Month.”

What’s going on here?

I have definitely noticed a decline in quality items being offered on the Bay, and after I saw this email I realized I wasn’t dreaming. It’s obviously a move for eBay to get more sellers during this “dry” time.

A quick look at an eBay stock analysis chart from the past three months shows that the company has been on a gradual decline since the beginning of August, but definitely nothing to be worried about yet.

Readers may want to take note that, like for the last free-listing day, eBay requires participants to pay for the Gallery thumbnail and to start bidding below 10 bucks.

*********************
One of our ad guys showed me a neat little site today called auctionblip.com…

I haven’t had a chance to navigate every portion of it yet, but it appears to be a neat service. From my understanding, all you have to do is tell the program what items you are interested in and it will send you an email notification every time your selected item is offered via an auction.
There is a nominal fee that goes with this nifty program, but if it ensures you never miss an important item again, then the price is a totally worth it.

******************

A lot has happened in the memorabilia world since I last posted a blog. On Monday, I found out that Matt Murphy, the guy who caught Barry Bonds’ No. 756 home run ball, had listed the jersey and cap he was wearing at the game on eBay.

I figured this was pretty interesting so I gave him a call.

Matt answered and we chatted for about 15 minutes.

Keep in mind, this was on Monday Aug. 20.

Murphy told me all about the night that he caught the milestone ball. He was fresh off vacation from Australia, and rather tired.

Here are some excerpts from the interview:

 “I’m in LA right now and staying here for today. I’m jet lagged like crazy.”

On that milestone night:
“It happened so quickly and I just had it. I was just holding on thinking just don’t let go. You know, it all just kind of clicked. It didn’t really hit me until later that night when I was finally left alone with that ball.”

What Giants security told him:
“In the bank. They said ‘put that damn thing in your pocket. Hold on to that and take it to the bank and then go on your vacation, kid.’”

Did he think he would have to pay taxes to keep the ball?
 “I think it’s not a myth, I think it’s a fact that I have to pay for something that I already own and it’s kind of ridiculous. I cannot pay $200,000 to $300,000 to keep a baseball. I could pay $20,000 to $50,000 to keep it.”

Has his life changed?
“Nothing’s changed so far, just my phone bill.”

On Aug. 21 Murphy pulled the items (the jersey and cap) he had listed on eBay and announced his ball would be sold in SCP/Sotheby’s auction. As of the day I talked to him, on Aug. 20, he was still undecided:
“It’s more about how much it’s going to cost me to keep it and it’s about who is actually going to buy it. If it’s the Hall of Fame trying to buy it, I’m gonna sell it. Joe-whoever from Kansas, then I don’t know.”

I really think Murphy wanted to keep the ball. But, from what people were telling him, he thought he would have to pay that crazy amount in taxes to the IRS to keep it. I think that is absolutely horrible.
What kind of a world do we live in when you actually have a guy who doesn’t want to cash in on a home run ball for once and he can’t keep it as a souvenir, and as a result is forced to sell it?


In other major hobby news, Upper Deck dropped its offer to buy Topps. I know that a lot of card dealers are happy with this because it keeps the competition alive and the competition between Upper Deck, Topps, Donruss etc., should be good for all collectors of sports cards.


Also,  The National Card Convention filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last week. CLICK HERE FOR STORY That said, the 2008 National is still slated for Chicago and everything seems to still be going as planned.

“Anyone who selected a booth for next year’s show at the lottery in Cleveland will receive their contracts and invoices next month,” said Etta Hersh, president of the NSCC.