How does Lampson do it?

[kingjammy24]

When i think of the major authenticators in this hobby, the most prolific ones seem to be MEARS, Lou Lampson, and GAI. Lelands uses their own internal crew which consists of Heffner, Vari, and I assume an internal support staff. MEARS has Grob, Troy, Bushing and an additional staff of 6 or 7 which act as research support, etc. GAI also has a staff consisting of several people. Grey Flannel advertises that it uses 3-4 people to authenticate their auction jerseys and MeiGray also has several authenticators on staff.

When it comes to volume, I'd say that MEARS, Lampson, and GAI are all in the same league. Lampson may actually have more auction house contracts - his name appears as the authenticator for Vintage, Mastro, AMI, Bricol, Heritage, Historic. The thing is, as far as I know, Lou is a one-man shop. Long story short, how does 1 man manage to produce the same volume as his competitors that have entire staffs? Does Lou have a staff? Does anyone know of anyone who's ever worked for Lou? Does Lou even have a single person working for him in any capacity? (I know he has no "customer service" department).

If I became an independant authenticator, there's no possible way that I could compete with a staff the size of MEARS. In one day, they can pump out a total of 216 man-hours. Working on my own, I technically couldn't do more than 24. Our production capacities aren't even remotely close. How does Lampson manage to handle an entire auction by himself when his competitors require at least 2-3 staffers? How is that humanly possible?

rudy.

[hblakewolf]

Rudy-
It's my understanding that Lampson spends 2 total days at the account, and during this time, completes all authenticating of items.

Howard Wolf
hblakewolf@patmedia.net

ALWAYS BUYING PHILLIES, PORTLAND BEAVERS AND PORTLAND MAVERICKS JERSEYS

[suave1477]

Rudy its a very simple yet accurate process he uses its called eeny meeny miny moe

Yet some time even this scientific process stumps the wise Lampson and reverts back to old faithful (picking pedals from a flower) Its a real Jersey, its a not a real Jersey, its a real Jersey, its not a real Jersey. Its a real Jersey..........

Ok LOA for Green Ripken according to my process is real lol lol:D

[otismalibu]

Has an astonishing 8,000 plus uniform related photos in his reference library

If you take a jersey LOA, scan it, and save as a JPEG, couldn't you technically say it's a "uniform related photo"?

If you have 8000 of those saved to disk, I bet you could authenticate quite a pile, assuming your printer held up.

[kingjammy24]

maybe this is how he does it. apparently, this new low is now what passes as a lampson letter of authenticity:
http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/5245/historicve8.jpg

keeping in mind, these are for the jerseys of 1 first-ballot HOF'er and 2 likely HOF'ers. the analysis on the piazza is incredible. i love seeing all those details and how he came to his final grade. the amount of work lou did on the schilling is also mind blowing. i also love how there are no unique numbers, holograms, or even photos of the items on the loas so you could pair them with any jersey. if lou is anything, he's a workhorse!
money well spent. how could anyone not sleep soundly knowing that the pricey jersey they just bought is backed by nothing more than lou noting that there's a team patch, an 0062 code, and it says "san diego" on the front. you don't stay in business for over 30 yrs by slacking off! or apparently you do.

i don't know what's more revolting; that lou actually has the nerve to charge for a few lines of meaningless garbage or that someone actually paid him for it.

rudy.

[js0000001]

Has anyone ever tested Lou by sending him Jerseys to authenticate that were known to not be game used?

I would love to see the stuff he rejects.

[suave1477]

Rudy I think you missed one EXTREMELY HUGE fact missing from the LOA

and i wouldnt be surprised if it was missed on purpose so good ole lou can not be commited to any legal action.

In either of the letters that you presented does Lou mention anything as Game Used or Game Worn or Game Issued.

Yes he said in one letter it has a Gamer Code but that doesnt hold him liable about pointing out the obvious in a court of law. Also he mentioned in one letter shows some wear for all I know that could have meant my Grandmother wore it.

I bet a 100% that he left out the (GAME USED OR WORN) words to save himself from any legal back lash

Remember if in either of those Jerseys you were able to figure out they were Retail Jerseys - All Lou has to say is "I never stated in the letter it was Game Used/Worn"

[camarokids]

That is quite clever with the LOA's. He is not stating they are game used . Just what they look like and grading them . I think some people would call that a legal loophole.......

[camarokids]

I'm sorry Suave you already said that , oh well , I concur with you ...

[cohibasmoker]

How about this scenario, on the rare chance that legal action is filed against an auction house for a suspect item, could the auction house use this as a defense, “WE RELIED ON THE OPINION OF A RECOGNIZED AUTHETICATOR”.

Jim

[obeyone10]

What is Lou is dead or a made up person all together? Or maybe the authentication houses all forge the L scrible.... Lampson scrible on their own loa's! Not a very hard signature to forge. Until Lampson shows his face, displays his drivers license and birth certificate...I as a collector will never purchase an item with a Lou Lampson LOA period! Who is watching him sign these LOA's in the first place? I want to see a photo, just one of him signing the actual LOAs. Anyone...Anyone???

[obeyone10]

Just dawned on me...maybe Lou signs a blank piece of paper and historic puts their letter head and whatever else they want on the LOA. I know ASI did it with their player LOAs. The players would sign a line on a piece of paper and they would write in: I Player used this piece of equipment for this game..bla bla bla. Maybe Lou is just getting paid to sign his signature and doesn't do any research and doesn't even know what's going on these LOAs
Just food for thought

[Eric]

Just dawned on me...maybe Lou signs a blank piece of paper and historic puts their letter head and whatever else they want on the LOA. I know ASI did it with their player LOAs. The players would sign a line on a piece of paper and they would write in: I Player used this piece of equipment for this game..bla bla bla.

What???

Did we know this about ASI? Can you elaborate? How do you know this?

[sportscentury]

What???

Did we know this about ASI? Can you elaborate? How do you know this?

Eric,

My understanding with the old ASI (Authentic Sports Investments) was that the players would sit down and sign a stack of generic LOAs (e.g., the words "game used" or "autographed" could be circled after the fact, and there was a space for the item description to be written in by hand - this is how the Rickey Henderson LOAs were, at least). I'm not sure what was printed on them prior to the signatures being added, but the process was described to me as one that took the players only a few minutes to complete. I have no idea how the new ASI (Authentic Sports Incorporated) and ESM (the other spin-off company of the old ASI) do things as I've had no dealings with either one.

Reid

[kingjammy24]

http://www.gameuseduniverse.com/vb_forum/showthread.php?t=5391

rudy.

[kingjammy24]

http://www.gameuseduniverse.com/vb_forum/showthread.php?t=5391

rudy.

steve jensen - "We've had many submissions that have come with auction house letters signed by Lou that he failed while authenticating for us"

if i'm reading that correctly, steve said that lou has failed items that he previously positively authenticated. a man who disagrees with himself. i love it.

rudy.