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bat_master
01-25-2007, 12:04 PM
Hi Everyone,

I just wanted to share a recent very postive experience I had with MEARS so that anyone (like myself) who had not previously had an item authenticated and graded by them might be interested in doing so.

As many of you know, I recently acquired a 1907-08 Spalding Autograph Ty Cobb bat with hand turned ends which proved to be a very early Ty Cobb professional model game bat.

I emailed Troy around 7 p.m. on Monday night January 22nd and was able to set up an appointment for the very next day (Tuesday the 23rd) at noon where I didn't have to mail it in, and was able to get the examination done and take the bat home with me all in the same day. I just drove to Milwaukee and was there while Dave Bushing examined and graded the bat.

I'd like to publicly commend Dave, Troy, and those working for MEARS for the quick response and the way they took time out to get me in on such short notice.

After being sort of on the fence about authentication in general I now have to say that I'm all for it and was quite impressed with the operation. In the future I will have no doubts about doing the same thing and would readily contact MEARS again if I needed work done.

RobSteinmetz
01-25-2007, 12:43 PM
Tim,

Thanks for making this post. Given the fact that posts are being made on another forum describing this site as one "that specializes in negativity and bomb-throwing", I think sharing this positive experience with our members is wonderful. We are working very hard to create a positive environment here, and I personally feel as though this site is a very different place than it was one year ago. If others choose to continue making negative public statements about this forum, our best way to combat that is to abide by the rules of the forum and by sharing positive experiences like this. Congrats on the Cobb bat.

JimCaravello
01-25-2007, 02:13 PM
Rob - couldn't agree more....

Tim - what grade did your bat receive? Nice find!!

Jim

bat_master
01-25-2007, 02:14 PM
Hi Jim,

I got an A6. 1 point for the A engraved on the knob and then a couple of half point deductions for grain separation/deadwood, a barrrel stain, and some slight chipping on the knob.

kingjammy24
01-25-2007, 03:37 PM
tim,

other than a quick response, what particularly impressed you about their whole operation?

personally, when considering the work of an authenticator, their knowledge, accuracy and diligence are the top priorities for me. a quick response is nice but i'd take accuracy over turnaround any day. i'm sure you'd agree. in light of that, your post seemed to solely highlight mears' response time without any comment on the quality of the actual authentication. in being impressed with the whole experience and encouraging others to give it a try, i'd be interested in knowing how the actual authentication went.

correct me if i'm wrong, but isn't deadwood/grain sep an indicator of heavy use? your bat was deducted points because of heavy use?

anyway, i hate to go left when others are going right but i recently purchased a bat from john taube. the bat was authenticated by both taube and bushing. the mears worksheet indicated there were no cleat marks. oddly, taube's papers indicated there were cleat marks. when i received the bat, there were indeed cleat marks. not a big deal, but it's just indicative to me of sloppyness. how do you miss cleat marks? i think accuracy must necessarily be an inherant part of the authentication process.

out of curiosity, what made you choose mears over john taube?

rudy.

bat_master
01-25-2007, 05:07 PM
tim,

other than a quick response, what particularly impressed you about their whole operation?

personally, when considering the work of an authenticator, their knowledge, accuracy and diligence are the top priorities for me. a quick response is nice but i'd take accuracy over turnaround any day. i'm sure you'd agree. in light of that, your post seemed to solely highlight mears' response time without any comment on the quality of the actual authentication. in being impressed with the whole experience and encouraging others to give it a try, i'd be interested in knowing how the actual authentication went.

correct me if i'm wrong, but isn't deadwood/grain sep an indicator of heavy use? your bat was deducted points because of heavy use?

anyway, i hate to go left when others are going right but i recently purchased a bat from john taube. the bat was authenticated by both taube and bushing. the mears worksheet indicated there were no cleat marks. oddly, taube's papers indicated there were cleat marks. when i received the bat, there were indeed cleat marks. not a big deal, but it's just indicative to me of sloppyness. how do you miss cleat marks? i think accuracy must necessarily be an inherant part of the authentication process.

out of curiosity, what made you choose mears over john taube?

rudy.

Hi Rudy,

For me, given the specifics of the bat involved I was able to do much of my original homework based on a couple of similar bats already in the MEARS database. Since the bat I was having authenticated was one of four known hand-turned Spalding Ty Cobb professional model bats and MEARS had already graded two of the four I already had compared the length, weight, and other characteristics. I just needed a professional authentication and grading to be completed as part of a current sale agreement for the bat.

My reasons for choosing MEARS over John Taube are two-fold, and have nothing to do with John or his ability as an authenticator. John Taube is a wealth of knowledge and is an extremely capable, intelligent, and well known authenticator. However, in my case I did not know if John ever had the experience of authenticating a bat like mine, but I knew Dave Bushing had. Also, MEARS was much closer. I simply made the 4 1/2 hour drive to Milwaukee and took the bat along. That option was not available as I wasn't willing or able to drive to New Jersey and needed the authentication done in under two weeks.

The case of the deadwood/grain separation was fine. Grain separation can also be caused by the drying of wood and not only by use. Given that my bat had presumably sat in a closet for nearly 100 years would cause the wood to dry out in the correct environment.

I would say that in the future I would likely be able to better speak for the full operation and "actual authentication" as you call it if I had absolutely no idea what I had or if it was good or not. Since they already had authenticated two Cobb bats like mine I'd say their knowledge was top notch.

brianborsch
01-25-2007, 10:36 PM
How good is MEARS at grading jerseys? I have a jersey I would love them to grade. Does PSA do jerseys as well? Does a graded jersey bring up the value of the piece?