Opinons on Ripken jersey in Paragon auction

[nickacs]

http://www.paragonauctionsite.com/LotDetail.aspx?lotid=16&searchby=0&searchvalue=None&page=1&sortby=0&displayby=2&lotsperpage=50&category=8

At first I saw the A10 rating and thought, sweet a nice MEARS grade, but then clicking on the link saw that's it's an A10 evaluated by SCD back in 2004 and then the "awesome" kicker LOA by none other than Mr. Lampson... Ooofa.. what a let down...

Might be good, but I'm no Ripken jersey expert but know there's a few on here.. Any info would be much appreciated if I'm going to bid several thousand on it! ;)

[earlywynnfan]

SCDA is MEARS, so that grade shouldn't bother you if you trust them.

Ken
earlywynnfan5@hotmail.com

[ironmanfan]

there are a LOT of 1985 Ripken home jerseys in the market...MEARS just auctioned one off at the end of January....

i know of at least 12 people who own a 1985 home Ripken...

i have never seen another 1985 home/white top of another Oriole from 1985 (other than Murray....I know Beantown has a Lynn which has issues IMO which we discussed privately a couple years ago). show me a Fritz Connally, Lee Lacy or Rich Bordi...........

[nickacs]

SCDA is MEARS, so that grade shouldn't bother you if you trust them.

Ken
earlywynnfan5@hotmail.com

Oops, thanks! haha... sorry about that..

Ironman, your like me when it comes to Jordan jerseys. Everyone and their mother has one or the '91 Larry Bird ones that are everywhere....
Hmmm.... yea, just not sure.. One day I want to own a legit Ripken, but just not 100% on this one.... Weird feeling :)

[sox83cubs84]

It LOOKS good, but...

In the mid-1980s, a local dealer....honest but often foolish when he is offered a "deal' by a self-proclaimed insider...trotted a number of these out at a Chicago show. All were tagged properly, but there were multiples (2 or 3) Of Cal Jr. and Murray, and there was a Mike Boddicker, as well. Can't say for sure if this was from that source or not, but more provenance wouldn't hurt.

Dave Miedema

[BostonSportsFan]

there are a LOT of 1985 Ripken home jerseys in the market...MEARS just auctioned one off at the end of January....

i know of at least 12 people who own a 1985 home Ripken...

i have never seen another 1985 home/white top of another Oriole from 1985 (other than Murray....I know Beantown has a Lynn which has issues IMO which we discussed privately a couple years ago). show me a Fritz Connally, Lee Lacy or Rich Bordi...........

One of the very, very odd things also, is that I compared as much as possible the Ripken MEARS auctioned in January to this one from Paragon and the photos, both of which graded an A10 by SCD then MEARS, and the nameplate on the back of the MEARS A10 jersey was just ridiculously large forming almost a half moon shape on the jersey. When compared to the Paragon Ripken, the nameplate is literally half the size.

I would find it extremely difficult to believe that the nameplates of two jersey for the same player from the same year, both tagged exactly the same otherwise would feature such a contrast in nameplate sizes. Just something that I personally observed.

Like Ironmanfan, I too have seen countless home Ripken 85 tops over the years and have steered clear of them as something has to be off especially with Ironmanfan stating that at least 12 people he knows have 85 home jerseys.

Joe

[jonschuette]

Ironmanfan:
Of the twelve you know of, was the tagging the same as it is in the picture of the auction?

[mears]

Greetings.

Several weeks ago I contacted Paragon regarding the offered Ripken jersey. I requested the jersey be re-sent to our home office for re-evaluation. I also saw the jersey, and upon inspected, the tag seamed to have been re-sewn.

I checked our database, and the jersey was not listed. When seeing the jersey, it was per my recollection a jersey that was removed from an auction house that was under contract with SCDA during 2004.

If it is the same jersey as I recall, I asked for the letter to be returned, and was told it was destroyed. There was a difference of opinion with regards to the authenticity of this jersey, and I made the decision to remove the jersey from the auction. Again, this was in the very early stages of our authentications.

My initial review of the jersey caused me a reason to pause, and I would ask any potential bidders to wait until the jersey has been re-examined by MEARS.

If Paragon auction or any potential bidder would like the jersey examined, MEARS will conduct the evaluation free of charge.

During the 2004/2005 era, it became our policy to list all items as unable to authenticate in our permanent database. This jersey may have predated that policy.

It has also been our policy to transfer all SCDA letter to the MEARS database. To my knowledge, this has been successfully accomplished. Meaning, if the jersey was evaluated, it should have appeared in our current database. When I didn't see the jersey in the database, it caused me to be concerned, thus my investigation.

Regards,


Troy R. Kinunen/MEARS

[nickacs]

Thanks for your post/comments Troy. Much appreciated.

I'm going to personally refrain from bidding just because there seems to be just too much talk/issues with this jersey. If there's this much concern, it's not worth it to me. Someday I'll find one :)

I appreciate the re-evaluating of the jersey for free, but I've been burned too many times by other auction houses that once the auction lot is paid for, it's bye bye and doesn't matter what 3rd party authenticators think. But it's great your willing to do that for the winner.

Thanks again....

[ironmanfan]

Here is a Type 1 original photograph from the files of The Sporting News dated May of 1985 showing Cal wearing a home jersey....No real significance one way or another, other than it is the closest/clearest shot I own (note the drizzle) of a 1985 home top:

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k172/whhp72/Misc%20Ripken/185cal.jpg

[gorilla777]

Here is a Type 1 original photograph from the files of The Sporting News dated May of 1985 showing Cal wearing a home jersey....No real significance one way or another, other than it is the closest/clearest shot I own (note the drizzle) of a 1985 home top:

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k172/whhp72/Misc%20Ripken/185cal.jpg

Great photo, as what I notice is that he is holding a Rawlings bat, very unusual!

[jonschuette]

Ironmanfan:

Have you ever seen an authentic GU 1985 home Ripken jersey?