1986 Tony Gwynn Padres Rawlings Home Jersey

[R. C. Walker]

I have concerns with the 1986 Tony Gwynn Padres Home Jersey that is currently in Goldin Auctions. I have contacted Ken and MEARS has been called. The issue I have is Rawlings did not manufacture the Padres jerseys that year. When I brought up this fact it was communicated to me that, “. . . . 1986 photograph of Gwynn with the RAK patch and the Rawlings logo is on the mears LOA. That is indisputable evidence of this fact.”. Unfortunately, the photos represented in the MEARS LOA prove otherwise.

The bottom photo of the first page shows a supposed photo of Gwynn in 1986. No RAK on sleeve.
87143
The Second shows another photo of Gwynn supposedly wearing a 1986 Rawlings sleeve tag with the opposite sleeve cropped out.
87145
The third photo is posted in the Goldin Auctions and shows the same photo MEARS used minus the cropped sleeve. No RAK on sleeve.
87144
I have discussed this with fellow Padres and Tony Gwynn collectors and feel I have done my due diligence. I do not believe this is “indisputable evidence” and brings to light more questions than answers.

[KGoldin]

from Troy Kinunen of mears in response to this thread
he emailed me to post

the image of the reverse was meant to illustrate the font and the arch. I never intended it to be the same shot as the shirt we examined.

also, the full photo of Gwynn with the Rawlings logo was not cropped to hide anything. The image shows 5 sleeve stripes. The actual shirt has 6 stripes before you can see the RAK logo, so the shirt in the 1986 dated photo was taken at an angle where y ou cannot see the 6th stripe or the RAK patch. Troy


From Ken Goldin
DO you think I need this aggravation? I'm running a multi million $ auction, and this is a tiny item. I NEVER want to hear someone has a question in our auction and always address it immediately , as you all know. I don't like reading someone doesn't like it. However I got it from a great source, my consignor was an executive at a trading card company who received it from Gwynn's agent. I sent it to MEARS who awarded it their highest grade of MEARS A10. For me to immediately pull it under the above circumstances is unfair to my consignor and any of you consigning under the situation above would feel the same way.
there are nearly 3 weeks prior to the end of the auction and this will continue to be looked at and I will ask MEARS to reaffirm its findings, which it explained in detailed in their LOA .

[3arod13]

DO you think I need this aggravation? I'm running a multi million $ auction, and this is a tiny item.

Completely understand the large amount of items auction houses have to deal with, but I take offense to your comment that "this is a tiny item" implying that it isn't as important as big $$ items. No matter what the value is, everything should be treated the same and is just as important!

Here's a tiny item that ran in one of your auctions that wasn't authentic. In your auction of 29 October 2016, item #863, I did a simple search for 1996 MLB All Star Game and found video of the entire game. In this game, Arod only had one at bat as a pinch hitter in the 7th inning. As you can clearly see in the attached picture, he wore One Blue and One Red Rawlings Wristband and a Rawlings Batting Glove, not the ALL STAR gloves in #863. A simple and quick internet search found this video. So as you can see, EVERYTING MATTERS no matter what the $$$ value is.

This is why we all do what we do in this hobby to keep it safe. Yes, it's not popular with many when things like this are pointed out. Completely understand the extra time and effort it takes. But it's not to make your life miserable. It's to keep the hobby safe.

My recommendation would be to not make comments like that out of frustration, but to just address the issue. However, I do understand your frustration, as you have to trust those who consign the items. So I do feel your pain.

[BirdsOnBat]

My recommendation would be to not make comments like that out of frustration, but to just address the issue.

Yep. Goldin does an awesome job with addressing issues, likely the best among auction houses (the close affiliation with GUU also is a great thing) and while I'm sure MLB teams do not like to spend time and resources cleaning the seats in the upper deck after every game, I don't see tweets about it, the seats just get cleaned as do the luxury boxes.

[KGoldin]

You misunderstood my point.
Every item is important
Every item defines our reputation and customer service.
My point is, ". My easiest path is to yank the item immediately "
That is the easiest path, and what I normally do.
In this case, because of the source, and because it's a mears 10 and because of the verbiage in the mears LOA I do not the know that my right course of action is to knee jerk remove the item.
Please do not misinterpret my comments to mean I do. Not care about the item because it's not $100000. Just the opposite I made that comment to point out that the easiest course of action for me would have been to simply pill it but with three weeks left in the auction and the information I have from mears and consignor I do not think it it fair to hi to simply pull it without having every thing checked all over again.
Understand the difference?
In this auction we received emails about 3 similar items, a college jersey, a pujols jerseys and a ichiro jersey and all 3 items were pulled. Those items did not have the back up that the Gwynn has, so please do not take offense when I require extra time to ensure the proper decision is made.

[3arod13]

You misunderstood my point.
Every item is important
Every item defines our reputation and customer service.
My point is, ". My easiest path is to yank the item immediately "
That is the easiest path, and what I normally do.
In this case, because of the source, and because it's a mears 10 and because of the verbiage in the mears LOA I do not the know that my right course of action is to knee jerk remove the item.
Please do not misinterpret my comments to mean I do. Not care about the item because it's not $100000. Just the opposite I made that comment to point out that the easiest course of action for me would have been to simply pill it but with three weeks left in the auction and the information I have from mears and consignor I do not think it it fair to hi to simply pull it without having every thing checked all over again.
Understand the difference?
In this auction we received emails about 3 similar items, a college jersey, a pujols jerseys and a ichiro jersey and all 3 items were pulled. Those items did not have the back up that the Gwynn has, so please do not take offense when I require extra time to ensure the proper decision is made.

Not any issue with your point, but your words "DO you think I need this aggravation? I'm running a multi million $ auction, and this is a tiny item." Here, let me help you..."Tony, you're correct in that I shouldn't have shown my frustration and should have chosen my words a litter better." There, how's that? Thanks!

[KGoldin]

Tony
Bad word choice and no edit feature here to fix

[MarlinsFan1993]

You misunderstood my point.
Every item is important
Every item defines our reputation and customer service.
My point is, ". My easiest path is to yank the item immediately "
That is the easiest path, and what I normally do.
In this case, because of the source, and because it's a mears 10 and because of the verbiage in the mears LOA I do not the know that my right course of action is to knee jerk remove the item.
Please do not misinterpret my comments to mean I do. Not care about the item because it's not $100000. Just the opposite I made that comment to point out that the easiest course of action for me would have been to simply pill it but with three weeks left in the auction and the information I have from mears and consignor I do not think it it fair to hi to simply pull it without having every thing checked all over again.
Understand the difference?
In this auction we received emails about 3 similar items, a college jersey, a pujols jerseys and a ichiro jersey and all 3 items were pulled. Those items did not have the back up that the Gwynn has, so please do not take offense when I require extra time to ensure the proper decision is made.


Hello Ken-

You note "In this auction we received emails about 3 similar items, a college jersey, a pujols jerseys and a ichiro jersey and all 3 items were pulled".

Your statement is inaccurate.

I was the original owner of the 2015 road grey Marlins Ichiro in question, lot #696 in your current auction. I've reached out to you several times since your current auction began and have provided you with both information and photographic evidence that confirms this jersey is not in the same condition as when I sold it. As noted to you, i sold this on Ebay noting in my listing that it had very light use. When comparing the photos in your auction to those in my ebay auction, there is now significant wear on the back numbers and added wear/use throughout including the tagging.

The current consignor of this Ichiro jersey to your auction (Ken Bonamo) also purchased a 2015 road grey Marlins Stanton through Ebay that was sold as "issued/non-worn" and then consigned this to your previous auction. When the Stanton was described in your auction, it was noted that it had significant wear and still had "cologne" on it from Stanton's wearing!!

Both the Ichiro and Stanton Marlins were doctored after leaving my possession and both offered through your auction house for resale to unsuspecting bidders. Although you removed the Stanton after being notified (which was then consigned to Grey Flannel by Ken Bonamo and removed after they were notified of the issues above), you continue to offer the Ichiro. Based on the information I've provided and the history of the consignor, I'm confused why you are allowing this jersey to remain active? What more needs to be provided in order for this doctored shirt to be removed as well?

Regards,
Esteban Bejarano

[MarlinsFan1993]

UPDATE: The lot is actually 627 (not 696, as 696 is the inventory # on the tagging).

The individual who purchased this and the Stanton is actually Kyle Bonamo, not Ken.

Sorry for the error.

Esteban

[MarlinsFan1993]

UPDATE:

The Ichiro road in question has now been removed from the current Goldin auction.

Esteban

[KGoldin]

If any if you friend me on Facebook you know I am out of the office traveling I do not have a laptop with me I instructed my ooffice yesterday to pull each of ichiro our jerseys in question there were actually two of them they pulled only one because my email was not clear in the other ones mentioned above has subsequently been pulledI'm attaching a photo of the one jersey that was pulled prior so you can see the lot

I am sorry for typos but again, attached is a screenshot of the ichiro that was pulled but was one of two being pulled
Now both have been pulled
Thank you for your assistance

[KGoldin]

In short
I have an email instructions to have ichiro pulled
One but not both of ichiro sin questions were pulled
Upon hearing this I contacted my office and had both pulled as opposed to one only.
I am in la and do not have a laptop to do these Things myself td she so instructions were to clear
I posted the screenshot of the " other" ichiro jersey that was pulled as it was said I said something and ncorrect.

And what I said was correct, ichiro was indeed pulled when I typed that.
Just not the one he was referring to whic I have fixed

[gorilla777]

Hello Ken-

You note "In this auction we received emails about 3 similar items, a college jersey, a pujols jerseys and a ichiro jersey and all 3 items were pulled".

Your statement is inaccurate.

I was the original owner of the 2015 road grey Marlins Ichiro in question, lot #696 in your current auction. I've reached out to you several times since your current auction began and have provided you with both information and photographic evidence that confirms this jersey is not in the same condition as when I sold it. As noted to you, i sold this on Ebay noting in my listing that it had very light use. When comparing the photos in your auction to those in my ebay auction, there is now significant wear on the back numbers and added wear/use throughout including the tagging.

The current consignor of this Ichiro jersey to your auction (Ken Bonamo) also purchased a 2015 road grey Marlins Stanton through Ebay that was sold as "issued/non-worn" and then consigned this to your previous auction. When the Stanton was described in your auction, it was noted that it had significant wear and still had "cologne" on it from Stanton's wearing!!

Both the Ichiro and Stanton Marlins were doctored after leaving my possession and both offered through your auction house for resale to unsuspecting bidders. Although you removed the Stanton after being notified (which was then consigned to Grey Flannel by Ken Bonamo and removed after they were notified of the issues above), you continue to offer the Ichiro. Based on the information I've provided and the history of the consignor, I'm confused why you are allowing this jersey to remain active? What more needs to be provided in order for this doctored shirt to be removed as well?

Regards,
Esteban Bejarano

Esteban,
Is this person, Bonamo, a member of GUU? It seems familiar, but maybe I am mistaken. The reason I ask is due to the nature of the claims, doctoring jerseys.
Thanks,
Ben

[MarlinsFan1993]

Hi Ben-

I have no idea if Kyle Bonamo is a member of our site but I can confirm from his Ebay purchase of the Ichiro that he lives in Lemon Grove, California and has the Ebay user name of sdthriftstore1

Esteban

[TG19]

I sell around 20-30 Jerseys in GOLDIN each auction...and this is for the past 2 years...All Jerseys that I sell sell though auctions houses....Most Jersey were bought from Ebay or private collectors...I know people get upset at me because I buy at a right price...sit on the Jerseys and turn around as make a profit....I bought that Mears A10 Photomatched 1983 Tom Seaver Jersey for $6500 and it sold for $14,000. I did my part in photomaching the Jersey before buying it.


As explained to you in a message on ebay when I get the Jerseys I send them to Dave M. Right away to have him look at them. If you see how I ship Jerseys, its not the best way My fault, going forward I wont try and ship 20 Jerseys in a small box all wadded together... I throw everything in a box. This Ichio Jersey was shipped 3 times after I got the Jersey from you. I am sorry that the Jersey was "Wrinkled" during shipping. Going forward I will make my shipping happened better.

[TG19]

Here is my list of Items sold in the October Auction....I bought some Items from some members on here...Please look it over and see If I doctored any Items...I have nothing to hide...

[seanbaseball]

Just my 2 cents:

I have sold Kyle Bonamo several items and have seen a couple being resold. None of those items were doctored in any way and I found Kyle to be a nice honest guy to work with.

I think it would be unfair for Ken to just pull the Gwynn jersey without spending a little more time having it researched. Whats the harm in that? Ken represents the sellers but also looks out for the buyers.

[whoman]

I also had issues with this 1986 Padres Tony Gwynn jersey. First of all, I've been collecting Tony Gwynn/Padres jerseys for over 30 years and I have never seen a 1986 jersey tagged with Rawlings tag. Attached is a photo of my 1986 Gwynn home jersey with "PROPER" tagging.
I also took screen shots from the 1986 All Star game and as you can see no Rawlings patch on the sleeve. When i emailed Ken Goldin about this he stated that because it came from an executive and had a MEARS A-10 letter this jersey was indisputable. Are you kidding me, first of all we all make mistakes and i think Mears made a major blunder here.
Mears letter shows pictures from both 1986 and 1987 combined which in my opinion does not make this jersey indisputable.

[KGoldin]

You guys have a choice
I have stated we have three weeks left before this closes and I can pull at any time.
I have asked for additional supportive evidence , or alternatively I have requested mears retract the letter and refund the authentication fee.

So here is your choice.
You can continue to pile on needlessly ,
Or you can let this process run its course so I am fair to everyone.
In the end we will not be shipping a customer a jersey we are not 100 💯 % satisfied with. And it won't take more than a few days.

So will you let me do my job as you would want the same courtesy and thoroughness if you were my consignor
Thank you
Ken goldin

[KGoldin]

That didn't take long
We were told no additional support would be available and the consignor would receive a refund on his loa
The item has been pulled

[twarman17]

Completely understand the large amount of items auction houses have to deal with, but I take offense to your comment that "this is a tiny item" implying that it isn't as important as big $$ items. No matter what the value is, everything should be treated the same and is just as important!

Here's a tiny item that ran in one of your auctions that wasn't authentic. In your auction of 29 October 2016, item #863, I did a simple search for 1996 MLB All Star Game and found video of the entire game. In this game, Arod only had one at bat as a pinch hitter in the 7th inning. As you can clearly see in the attached picture, he wore One Blue and One Red Rawlings Wristband and a Rawlings Batting Glove, not the ALL STAR gloves in #863. A simple and quick internet search found this video. So as you can see, EVERYTING MATTERS no matter what the $$$ value is.

This is why we all do what we do in this hobby to keep it safe. Yes, it's not popular with many when things like this are pointed out. Completely understand the extra time and effort it takes. But it's not to make your life miserable. It's to keep the hobby safe.

My recommendation would be to not make comments like that out of frustration, but to just address the issue. However, I do understand your frustration, as you have to trust those who consign the items. So I do feel your pain.

I was the winner on these Arod gloves/wristbands. Unfortunately I learned after the auction they were not worn in the game. But, I let it go because they had been authenticated by arod. I assume he used in some capacity at the all star game, like BP.

[sherbal15]

Just my 2 cents:

I have sold Kyle Bonamo several items and have seen a couple being resold. None of those items were doctored in any way and I found Kyle to be a nice honest guy to work with.

I think it would be unfair for Ken to just pull the Gwynn jersey without spending a little more time having it researched. Whats the harm in that? Ken represents the sellers but also looks out for the buyers.

I'll second that. I sold him the 2012 molina jersey on that list and it did not appear doctored in any way when it got to goldin.

[Jags Fan Dan]

If a Gwynn gamer is a tiny item then I do not own any sports memorabilia at all. I understand now why my concerns about a far lesser item went unaddressed.