Gavel Chat with Chris Nerat - Monday, May 19, 2008

The host of Gavel Chat's weekly newsbreak's host, Scott Kelnhofer, extended his vacation on accident today, so we are delaying this nifty new feature until tomorrow morning. That said, make sure you tune in tomorrow, as there's lot of stuff going on in the industry that he will be telling blog viewers about.

Instead, today I put the final part of my Lou Lampson interview on the blog. Enjoy.

l

5/20/2008 5:18:02 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

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Monday, May 19, 2008

"Autopen signatures are considered authentic"
Posted by Chris

This is a first... According to golfer Phil Mickelson's official website, "Autopen signatures are considered authentic as long as they are not offered for sale."

This is one of the dumbest things I have ever read since I've started collecting. And to make it worse,if that's even possible "It typically takes a year from the date of request to receive your item."

I think it's safe to say that if I ever have to refer a pro athlete to an agency, Gaylord Sports Management won't be on the top of the list.

5/19/2008 5:48:05 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

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Thursday, May 15, 2008

I still wanna see how this book is 80 pounds
Posted by Chris

About two years ago I started hearing about this book and I still have never seen one in person.

Premier Auctions is offering a Super Bowl XL Opus (MVP Edition, No. 140 of 400) limited-edition autographed book available from the publisher, KrakenOpus, in its latest auction that ends May 29.

The retail price was $40,000. The lot carries a minimum bid of $25,000.

The Opus also includes an in-depth analysis and story of every Super Bowl played, illustrated with more than 1,200 astonishing images. The 20-by-20-inch book weighs more than 80 pounds.
The MVP Opus also contains a page that is personally signed by the 34 of the 35 Super Bowl MVPs.

All I wanna know is, how the heck is a book 80 pounds?!!

Are the pages made out of lead? No question that's a hefty minimum bid for a killer modern-day football piece, but I would compare it to the NBA 50 Greatest players lithograph and those go for up near $70k.

I just got off the phone with Walter Cerini from Premier auctions and he said that this was the last example of the Opus book available and they will now be all sold out.

5/15/2008 4:45:49 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

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Montana sues Heritage, ex-wife
Posted by Chris

According to a report from the website thesmokinggun.com and a chat that Gavel Chat had with auction officials, former NFL quarterback Joe Montana is suing Heritage Auction Galleries for the sale of assorted items including love letters to his former wife Kim Moses. Montana is also suing Moses, who consigned the pieces to Heritage's May 2008 Signature sale. Montana, 51, claims that the sale of the assorted items violated his copyright and privacy rights.

Chris Ivy, Heritage sports division auction director said he hasn't seen a copy of the complaint yet.

"We're kind of stuck in the middle of this," said Ivy. "It's just a question of ownership and title. We're just kind of stepping back and letting their attorneys hash it out.

The total of the nine lots that Heritage sold for Moses tallied $20,972.

-Chris Nerat

5/15/2008 9:46:55 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

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Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Heritage sells the world's most expensive peanut butter jar
Posted by Chris

A couple Saturdays ago I decided to watch Heritage Auction Galleries live sale via my computer. By no means was it as exciting as attending the actual event, but when this 1961 Phil Goyette York Peanut Butter Glass sold for nearly $18,000, it got a lot more interesting! I talked to Chris Ivy of Heritage today and he was as surprised as I was.

"Mark Jordan is handling a lot of our hockey material up in Canada," said Ivy. "We're concentrating on that particular area more. He came back and we're doing the descriptions and I had my doubts if we were even going to put it in our auction. Mark told us that it was really rare and I guess he was right.

"Examples of this glass have sold for $2,000 and $3,000, but it's just an example of how we can reach the right crowd of collectors."

I can relate to what Ivy told me. I know nearly nothing about hockey, but I can really appreciate when an item that I know very little about turns the auction world upside down.

I don't know if I have ever bought a jar of peanut butter for more than $5, let alone $18k.

********************
Below is another segment from my Lou Lampson interview.

5/14/2008 5:42:46 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

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Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Gavel Chat Newsbreak for 5/13
Posted by Chris

5/13/2008 3:54:29 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

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Monday, May 12, 2008

Time to start participating
Posted by Chris

II'm not going to beat around the bush here. Just wanted to vent my frustration with Gavel Chat nation a little bit, because it's Monday and I'm a bit ornery. I get more than 1,000 unique visitors on my blog every day and rarely do I see anyone contributing by using the "Comment" field.

Well, I think it is time to start. Nobody wants to hear from me every single day and definitely don't want to hear just my opinion, so lets hear it people!

***********

Just one quick topic for today. I have actually noticed some killer prices on eBay this week. Is it because of users will always spend their hard-earned cash on collectibles, or did the IRS Economic Stimulus checks really make that big of a difference? I think it's a little bit of both. What did Gavel Chat nation do with their checks?? We would like to know!!! Hit that "Comment" button folks.

5/12/2008 5:42:25 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

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Friday, May 09, 2008

The Gavel Chat Time Machine
Posted by Chris

Do you remember during the mid-90s when eBay listing rarely had pictures with the item’s description? Remember what it was like before GOOGLE and Wikipedia? Do you remember the card grading company SCD Authentic (I do because I worked for it).
robertedward.com.jpg

Well, the reason I bring all this up is because Gavel Chat got a hold of a trusty time machine today, and rather than taking the time machine to a tobacco store and going back to open up some old Sweet Caporal packs in search of some T206 cards, stupid, old me decided to go back to the mid-90s to check out what some of my favorite home pages looked like around 10 years ago.

What you are seeing is the actual home pages from the sites GOOGLE, Upper Deck, Robert Edward Auctions, SCDA, PSA and ESPN.com. I really have no point to this blog entry other than that fact that I thought seeing these were really neat and it brought back to some cool memories of when I used to struggle with computers during my early college years.

Hope you enjoy this as much as I did.

Have a great weekend!

Also, here's another Lou Lampson video... In this selection, the game-worn jersey guru is talking about the way he prefers to display his collection.

>
-Chris

One last fun thing for Friday:

5/9/2008 4:02:57 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

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Thursday, May 08, 2008

Are you one of the culprits?
Posted by Chris

Filling out your Super Bowl pool sheet, checking eBay, bracket time during March Madness, going through personal email, visiting blogs and message boards that have nothing to do with your line of work.

How much time do you spend using online features that seem to be more interesting than what you're "supposed to be doing" while on the job?

Now, don't get me wrong... I'll take my Gavel Chat readers any way I can get them, and I will say that I can't beleive how popular this blog has actually gotten, but I thought this was an interesting topic that I'm sure your bosses might not be too thrilled about.

Have you ever listed or bid on an eBay auction at work? How bout visit the various sports memorabilia message boards at work? Heck, you might be Gavel Chatting at work right now! If you are a die-hard, like most of us are, it's hard not to venture away from the daily grind once in a while, but be careful guys ... Gavel Chat is almost more important than work, but not quite.

5/8/2008 3:12:53 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

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Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Authentication takes time
Posted by Chris

In my multi-part interview with Lou Lampson the world-famous jersey collector talked about the steps involved in the authentication process. This is a very big business and everything has to be taken into consideration when analyzing the work of an authenticator. I would never want to be an authenticator ... The demands, the stress and the headaches would really wear on the hobby that I love. Click below to listen to Lampson's take on this "sometimes controversial" topic.

5/7/2008 2:18:39 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

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Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Every Tuesday will be Gavel Chat's Video Newsbreak
Posted by Chris

Hello Gavel Chatters ... I am very pumped to announce that every Tuesday, Scott Kelnhofer, the host of Sports Collecting Radio's, will also host Gavel Chat's News Break show. This new card and memorabilia feature will showcase the latest that is happening in the industry that we all love. Please tune in every Tuesday evening on Gavel Chat to watch this exciting new segment.

Also, I just read about this tragic story... Found this on Game Used Forum

5/6/2008 2:59:14 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

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Monday, May 05, 2008

Keith Olbermann visits Gavel Chat... Well, sort of
Posted by Chris

I know I already posted once today, but I wanted to get this video posted because it is actually a big deal.

Keith Olbermann just sent us a fantastic series of articles about rare Topps proof cards, and even if this isn't your cup of tea, you should read the series. Very, very interesting stuff.

Click on the video link below to hear SCD editor talk about the sweepstakes that will accompany Olbermann's articles. Also, as promised, here is the URL for the plaques T.S. talks about:

http://www.philadelphiaathletics.org/cgi-local/cart.pl

5/5/2008 4:59:05 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

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