Too Good to be True

[toddhead]

Have you ever come across a gem too good to be true, but you couldn't talk yourself out of it? It happened to me last year at the CSA show in Chantilly and I smack myself every time I think about...

I was there with my dad and we were walking out when I noticed a GU Giants helmet for sale. I'm not a Giants fan, but I decided to look anyway. Turns out it was signed by Tiki Barber. I asked one of the guys working the booth if it was a Tiki GU helmet and he said yes. I asked how much and he said $400.00. I was shocked... I said that was a great price for the helmet. He replied with "Yeah, Tiki game used stuff is really hot right now." I asked again, "This is a Tiki Barber GU helmet?" He replied with a yes and I said, well, I have to buy it then. Of course, it turns out that it wasn't his. I e-mailed the owner from the business card I was given when I bought it and, of course, the owner said it wasn't a Tiki GU helmet and whoever said it was wrong. He then began to lecture me on how much a real Tiki gamer would cost. I told him that is exactly why I bought it for that price and maybe he should educate his employees on what they're selling. In the end I got my money back after about 20 e-mails... in 3 days... persistence pays off.

Lesson learned: If you are buying from someone who knows anything about the hobby and it's too good to be true... it's fake.

I know there was a recent post about this in the Biggest Regret posting, but I would like to hear other stories...

[both-teams-played-hard]

Lesson learned: If you are buying from someone who knows anything about the hobby and it's too good to be true... it's fake.
Was a uniform number on the helmet? Was game wear contrived on the helmet? Could it have been a real Giants helmet, worn by another player, then signed by Tiki? Was it a clean, brand-new helmet? There is a difference between "fake" and "mis-represented".

[toddhead]

Here are pictures of the helmet. It was redone to look like a Tiki helmet. I knew looking at it that it didn't look like his style of helmet, but I was hoping that maybe it was something he used early in his career. There appears to be some game use...

http://www.honorcoins.com/tiki1.jpg
http://www.honorcoins.com/tiki2.jpg
http://www.honorcoins.com/tiki3.jpg
http://www.honorcoins.com/tiki4.jpg

[both-teams-played-hard]

I would agree that this Tiki helmet is a "fake". If you are just starting out, then focus on common players.
GOOD LUCK!

[allstarsplus]

last year at the CSA show in Chantilly and I smack myself every time I think about...

That's a shame that happened to you. I don't like to give in to temptation and buy game used items at a show as you can rarely be armed with enough info to research an item you see.

On a side note, I go to the Chantilly show each time they have it, but more so to get some game used items signed by the great list of signers they always have.

Andrew

[toddhead]

I do love going to the Chantilly show. I'm a huge 49er fan and I grew up idolizing Joe Montana. When he was there a couple of years ago I had some coins made up for him (I own a custom coin/medallion business) and gave him to him when I was getting my helmet signed. He wasn't sure what they were at first, but once he realized what they were he seemed genuinely appreciative of them. Do you know what the great part about the whole thing was? My dumbass forgot to put my note and business card in the box with the coins. So, even if he liked them, he would never know who they came from or where to get more.

Wondering why I would make coins for Joe Montana? I did it because first and foremost, I'm a huge fan, and secondly, I'm sure he gets hounded for autographs everywhere he goes and it probably sucks for him to say no. So, if he had some small coins he could carry around to give out instead of stopping to sign it would make his life a little easier and the fan would have a coin directly from him... and I was also hoping he would want more and we could have had some type of business relationship... that all went to crap when I didn't include my information...

Here is a really bad scan of the coin:
http://www.honorcoins.com/joecoin.jpg