Yankees Steiner letters

[kingjammy24]

there's been some recent discussion of forged yankees/steiner letters. i guess its not surprising given steiner's bullet-proof system. anyway, it's occurred to me that steiner/yankees letterhead has changed over the years. i thought it might be good to note some of the changes in order to help date a steiner letter and its pairing with specific jerseys. maybe people can post their steiner/yankees letters here and perhaps it'd be possible to organize them by year. of course, steiner doesn't put an actual date on their letters. here are some to start off.

here is one style for a 2007 jeter jersey. note the "new" steiner logo in the footnote:

http://img509.imageshack.us/img509/2856/steiner1.jpg

i don't know when steiner came out with that new logo. not sure if it'd appropriate for a 2007 letter. for example, here's a 2007 letter with the old steiner logo in the footnote:

http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/6867/steiner5h.jpg

here's a 2009 letter with the new logo as the masthead:

http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/5011/steiner2.jpg

it'd nice to get one example for each year from 2005-2009. common players would be more dependable than superstars. when did steiner come out with numbered holograms?

rudy.

[kingjammy24]

i think this is what they issued in 2005. generic hologram, no number or game-used/issued label:

http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/5742/steiner4.jpg

rudy.

[kingjammy24]

2006? numbered holograms seem to come in for the first time?

http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/7897/steiner4t.jpg

2007?
http://img691.imageshack.us/img691/5742/steiner4.jpg

anyone have ones from 2008 and 2009?

rudy.

[kingjammy24]

2008? still the old logo in the footnote. not sure why that first jeter letter i posted from 2007 has the "new logo":

http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/5742/steiner4.jpg

rudy.

[Dewey2007]

Rudy, I think this is a great idea. I think this should be moved to the Exceptionally Educational Threads section and should include letters from all teams that provide them.

I have come across one forged letter and one questionable Phillies Charities COA in trying to acquire a Jimmy Rollins jersey. The Phillies have changed their letterhead as well I believe so it would be great to get legit exemplars of their letterhead too.

Best,
Dewey

[bronx_burner]

Unfortunately I don't think you're going to be able to come up with a system as Steiner has not been consistent on any of this kind of stuff. But as far as Yankees Steiner goes I've seen 4 varieties of actual letter. Now I don't know much past that but I know there is at least one Steiner Mets letterhead, maybe Cowboys, maybe Red Sox, etc.

Skimming through ebay I can find all 4 of them on 2005 items. Just because the item is from 2005 doesn't mean Steiner gave it a letter then. The letters really should be dated but thats yet another huge flaw with Steiner. Anyway, as far as the 4 types for Yankees, I refer to them as..

1 - Early Generic Steiner Letterhead

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270385220710

2 - Early Yankees-Steiner Letterhead (this has the old Steiner logo at the bottom of the page and the "home plate" logo at the top has Yankees in script)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=400079158117

3 - Newer Generic Steiner Letterhead

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=350265166310

4 - Newer Yankees-Steiner Letterhead (this has the new Steiner logo at the bottom of the letter and the "home plate" logo at the top has Yankees in block letters)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=350273086953

Both of the "newer" type letters have a new address. As far as I can tell after seeing several hundred or so letters between what I have and what I've seen photos of, the early letters are the only ones that will have non-numbered holograms. However all 4 types can have the numbered holograms. Again, these letters are not always made up the year of the actual items use. I recently got items from the 70s, 80s and 90s from Steiner with newer style letters. I also have items from 70s-2000s with the older stlye letters. There's really just no way to tell for sure except that the 2 newer letters should probably be used for all items 2007ish-present, I guess it would depend on the date of the move and/or logo change.

There's probably many other varities of letter for other team items, maybe more generic letters as well. That Pedroia letter is not something I'd seen before for instance. I just don't know much about other teams or have the time to research it.

Ron

[bronx_burner]

Well I didn't see that 2008 Jeter letter before I started typing my reply. Clearly they are just using whatever stationery they have handy. Even if it has an outdated address on it. Its not surprising though as Steiner is sloppy with everything. I've seen items with letters stating game issued that had team repairs and worn tags to the point of being illegible. I personally doubt they have any records of the numbered holograms at all. That function has never worked on their site.

[kingjammy24]

i noticed that steiner's address in the letterhead recently changed. from 2005-2007 or so it used to be 33 lecount place. now its 145 huguenot street.

"Brandon Steiner, CEO of Steiner Sports Marketing and Memorabilia Inc., will move his 90-employee business in downtown New Rochelle early next year...Steiner last week said of the 10-year lease he signed for 40,000 square feet of office and warehouse space at 145 Huguenot St., into which his company will move on March 1, 2009..."

i'm not sure when steiner writes their letters. if, for example, in 2007 if they receive a gamer from jeter, do they write the letter in 2007 shortly after the jersey is received?or, if they end up selling it in 2008, would they write the letter on it in 2008 immediately prior to sale?

should all 2009 yankee shirts then have the 145 huguenot address?

rudy.

[bronx_burner]

Interestingly enough, the 2009 Sabathia, Rivera and Posada jerseys in the GUU auction have the older style "generic" Steiner letter with the old address.

[DonFan23]

i'm not sure when steiner writes their letters. if, for example, in 2007 if they receive a gamer from jeter, do they write the letter in 2007 shortly after the jersey is received?or, if they end up selling it in 2008, would they write the letter on it in 2008 immediately prior to sale?

should all 2009 yankee shirts then have the 145 huguenot address?

rudy.

In my experience, Steiner letters are printed when the item(s) are prepared to leave the building, not when they're received from the Yankees and put into inventory. Depending on when old unis were discovered by the Yankees at Yankee Stadium II or at their Tampa facilities, it is highly likely that even GI/GU items that pre-date the commencement of the Yankee-Steiner partnership may have any one of the previously displayed letterheads, including the most recent.

So while it would be generally safe to assume that items from a more recent vintage - say 2009 - should generally have the new LH/new address, you can't say the same for older items as the LH helps narrow down the date of sale, not the date of game issue/use.

[kingjammy24]

Interestingly enough, the 2009 Sabathia, Rivera and Posada jerseys in the GUU auction have the older style "generic" Steiner letter with the old address.

those 3 are all opening day jerseys. other 2009 yankees jerseys in the GUU auction which are not billed specifically as "opening day jerseys" such as the chamberlain and wang have letters with the new address. not sure what the connection is.

either way its clear that unfortunately there is little rhyme or reason or much of a system over at steiner. letters are undated, 4 different kinds of letterhead are used, new letterhead comes out yet old letterhead continues to be used, holograms change from generic to numbered and can apparently be easily transferred, removed, and replaced. there was once talk of invisible ink used by no further explanation was given. most collectors are at a loss to understand much of it and steiner certainly has made no effort to explain it. how does a company function like this?

rudy.

[mbenga28]

is there a reason why Steiner folds thei LOAs, it doesn't look that good when displayed.

[joelsabi]

is there a reason why Steiner folds thei LOAs, it doesn't look that good when displayed.

they come in a steiner envelope.