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alexbartacustoms
12-31-2011, 11:10 PM
Is there any way to authenticate a game used Super Bowl football?
I know Wilson is making SB footballs and selling them on line.

cohibasmoker
01-01-2012, 08:34 AM
Is there any way to authenticate a game used Super Bowl football?
I know Wilson is making SB footballs and selling them on line.

Kind of Sorta -

PSA - Since 1999, all Super Bowl footballs have been marked with an invisible ink by PSA/DNA. It's a pretty cool system except, the ball has to be physically inspected by a PSA representative either in-person or sent away to PSA. I like this system because they us an invisible ink on the football and only PSA can detect the ink.

NFL - The NFL offers game used footballs through specific approved charities and those footballs will come with a LOA from the NFL.

Referee - Prior to PSA getting involved, some referee's used "rubber stamps" NOT sharpie markings but an actual rubber stamp to mark the footballs. Player LOA are nice but they can be suspect because player's sometimes mislabel items.

Today, there are approximately 216 footballs made and even less approved for game play so when you think about players, coaches, team owners, NFL officials, charities, sponsors, team's selling the "gamers" on their website and sideline personal all wanting a game used football, any Seller that states, they have a friend of a friend who knows a guy who lives around the corner or my sister got it because she knows someone or some other story, the item MAY be suspect. Personally, if a football does not have either a PSA/DNA or NFL LOA, I stay away.

I have 3 game used Super Bowl footballs and all three have LOA's from either PSA and/or the NFL. I have a 4th with LOA from a player and that LOA states the ball was specifically used in practice.

Just an opinion.

Here is a pretty cool articles on Super Bowl footballs and how they are made.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=lukas/110131_wilson_football_factory&sportCat=nfl

alexbartacustoms
01-05-2012, 07:33 PM
Thank you for such a detailed response to my question.
The football is from Super Bowl 25, back in 1990 long before PSA started marking them.

The seller says the ball was given to his father by Giants Fullback Maurice Carthon. His father was an attorney for Maurice at the time and gave him the ball when they were setting up a corporation together.
The father will provide an L.O.A. with the ball.

I plan to contact Maurice Carthon as well and ask him to verify the facts of the ball. The seller gave me a life-time money back guarantee on the ball, so I felt safe buying it.

If I can get 2 L.O.A.'s, I feel pretty confident in the ball's authenticity.

What do you guys think?

Thanks,
Alex

wsohlcano
01-05-2012, 09:46 PM
I was watching that ball last week.

Congrats on the Ball....