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kingjammy24
05-06-2008, 06:09 PM
Lots of Grey area in game-worn rip-offs

By Michael O'Keeffe
New York Daily News

Justice may be blind, Grey Flannel president Richard Russek recently learned, but it certainly knows when a letter of authenticity ain't worth a damn.

Grey Flannel, the Long Island sports memorabilia house, bills itself as the world's foremost authenticator of game-used jerseys, but Judge Marilyn Milian issued a sharp dissent in a July 7 broadcast of "The People's Court."

"The Case of the Ripken Rip-off" began when collector John Cherpock bought what dealer Sean Ford claimed was a Cal Ripken game-used retro jersey tailored for the second game of the Orioles' July 18, 2001, doubleheader with the Texas Rangers. Cherpock paid $2,475 for the jersey, which was accompanied by a letter of authenticity from Grey Flannel.

"I wouldn't have bought it without the letter from Grey Flannel," Cherpock said.

Six months later, Cherpock consigned the jersey to Robert Edward Auctions. The New Jersey auction sent it back because, contrary to Grey Flannel's LOA, the second game of the doubleheader was canceled thanks to a chemical spill that shut down parts of downtown Baltimore.

Cherpock told Russek and Grey Flannel CEO Howard Rosenkrantz he wanted them to reimburse him for the $2,475. Grey Flannel was liable, Cherpock says, because it issued the letter vouching for the jersey. "This is why people pay premiums for certificates, because they hold themselves out as experts," Cherpock says. Russek and Rosenkrantz offered Cherpock the $400 Ford had spent to get the jersey authenticated. Cherpock filed suit in Nassau County small-claims court, but agreed to bring the case to TV when contacted by The People's Court producers.

"Even if I lost, I would have let the public know what kind of guys they are," he says.

Before Judge Milian, Russek admitted his company had erred. But he said Grey Flannel didn't owe Cherpock the $2,475 because Cherpock didn't hire Grey Flannel. Besides, he added, a disclaimer on the bottom of the certificate of authenticity was just opinion.

Russek said Grey Flannel thought it had reliable sources for its opinion - a letter from a limo driver who said Ripken gave him the jersey and a letter from a guy named Charles Jeffrey - but he later acknowledged he didn't even have a letter from the driver.

"Let me talk to you about negligence," the judge said. "There are two types of negligence. There's plain old simple negligences, and then there is negligence that is so out there, that is so bad, that is so wrong, that it is gross negligence...it takes two seconds to just find out if the game even ended up being played on the date and time you are certifying."

Milian then went ballistic: "What you have is just a paragraph signed by some schmo named Charles Jeffrey with no address, no phone number!" she screamed.

By the end of the show, Russek looked like a whipped dog. "This is what gives the memorabilia business the bad reputation that it enjoys right now," the exit interviewer told him.

"Yeah, well listen, in almost all cases we're correct," Russek countered. "We made a mistake. The judge ruled. What can I say?"

"Yeah, but gross negligence," the interviewer added. "You didn't even try."