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ChrisCavalier
01-19-2006, 05:52 PM
Hello Everyone-

There seems to be a lot of interest in the HBO Real Sports segment aired recently. Therefore, for those who do not have HBO or will have a difficult time seeing it, I thought I would take a moment to offer a brief summary of some of the things discussed. This is not intended to be an exhaustive summary so if anyone would like to add anything else please feel free to do so. In addition, as you read the summary I hope it reinforces the value of sites such as ours as a place people can go to get additional information before making purchases.

Below are some of the key points in bullet point form. The intention here is to help others so if I have misrepresented anything, or missed anything significant (I wrote this after jotting down some notes during the broadcast), please feel free to add to it:

·According to the segment, the increase of signed sports memorabilia and proliferation of auction sites have made it easier than ever to sell fake goods and not get caught.
oTo show this, the segment started with a Mickey Mantle autographed cap that was offered on eBay with a “COA” (it was later suggested that the item was likely fake).

·The segment then introduced a person whose identity was kept anonymous (they called him “Eddie”) who participated in a forgery ring in the late 1990s that generated over one million pieces of fake signed memorabilia.
oAccording to Eddie, close to half of the sought-after autographs on the market are fakes. He also said the internet contains many thieves.

·The segment they went on to talk about the forgery ring and its use of an aspiring young artist named Greg Marino who generated many of the fake autographs.
oAccording to Eddie, Greg Marino could produce fantastic fakes of many celebrities and historical figures as well as hundreds of famous athletes. Eddie would order large numbers of autographs of key stars (Ruth, Cobb, etc.) and Marino would deliver them in short timing.

·The segment then played an FBI tape of conversations between Eddie and his contacts which helped the FBI to put a stop to the forgery ring.
oThe FBI confiscated a warehouse of items with fake autographs (jerseys, bats, cut signatures, etc.). However, according to Eddie, 90% of the fake items were already distributed and where being introduced to the secondary market.
oAccording to Eddie, the internet is conducive to selling fake items as it is the “Land of Disappearing”. That is, a person can sell something fake, disappear, and then do it again the next day under a different name.

·Dan Marino was then brought in to examine some of the Dan Marino autographs being sold online. According to Dan Marino, most of the autographs they looked at online that were attributed to him were fake, even if they had a COA.

·According to Eddie, “COAs are a scam like no other.” Basically, having a “forensic expert” authentic an item would allow it to sell for much higher values. In Eddie’s ring he claimed to have primarily used Donald Frangipani.
oThe FBI then showed boxes of Frangipani COAs that were confiscated from the ring and showed a number of them that were all generated on the same day. They then borrowed some of Eddie’s fake items and went back to Frangipani to see if he would certify the items again. When they went back Frangipani issued certs on all seven items.

·The HBO people then went back to Frangipani again and asked him about the items he certified. Frangipani didn’t deny issuing the certs and said he was fooled (he also said he rejected some as well). When asked if he ever questioned the shear number of items that were being submitted to him, he said he did question it but was still offering his “opinion”.

·HBO then sent the same items to six other authenticators. Four failed their test and two passed. The ones that passed the test were Global Authentication and Richard Simon.

·HBO then interviewed the owner of a company called “Cardboard Memories” whose business is being crushed by the fake autographed memorabilia being sold on the internet at prices less than his.
oThe owner specifically talked about the impact of eBay on his business. He said eBay does not protect anyone. According to the owner, eBay takes their cut and doesn’t really care if items are fake. In his opinion, this was ruining the hobby for people who genuinely care about it. EBay declined to comment on camera but said they have secured the services of a company (PSA/DNA) to offer "Quick Opinions" to help collectors. EBay also said there are items sold on their site that were authenticated by Upper Deck which they claimed was the "Gold Standard" for autographed memorabilia.

·They then went on to mention the Upper Deck SP Quad card (the “1 of 1” card with signatures on Cobb, Ruth, Wagner and Johnson) that was sold on eBay. According to Eddie, the Ruth and Johnson were done by the artist Greg Marino. HBO then submitted the signatures to Global Authentication and Richard Simon and both of them rejected the Ruth and Johnson. In addition, they submitted the signatures to PSA for a “Quick Opinion” and got back the opinion that the Ruth and Johnson were “Likely Not Genuine”. The card sold on eBay for $85,000.

·At the end of the segment, Gumbel asked Keteyian if any effort was being made to clean up the industry and specifically to standardize COAs. Keteyian replied that there was no effort being made to standardize COAs and that one would think there would be more scrutiny an the industry where billions of dollars of transactions are taking place. Keteyian then went on to say the buyer has an obligation to find out as much as possible about the chain of custody of autographed items before buying them. He also recommended going to Game Used Universe before buying a game used item (sorry I may have imagined that last sentence).

As I have already stated, please feel free to add to or correct anything contained here. In addition, I hope more and more people will become aware of our site as a place where they can come to get more information to protect them from the dangers that exist in the secondary market.

Sincerely,
Christopher Cavalier
CEO – Game Used Universe

apujols04
01-19-2006, 09:24 PM
Hello Everyone-

He also recommended going to Game Used Universe before buying a game used item (sorry I may have imagined that last sentence).

As I have already stated, please feel free to add to or correct anything contained here. In addition, I hope more and more people will become aware of our site as a place where they can come to get more information to protect them from the dangers that exist in the secondary market.

Sincerely,
Christopher Cavalier
CEO – Game Used Universe

As long as collectors/experts on this forum don't try to convince others who are not experienced game used collectors that the items they are trying to authenticate/(or ask questions about) have too many "problems" for there to be a chance that something is actually the real deal, so the item(s) are probably "bad" and the "newbie" must be a scam artist. CA

allstarsplus
01-20-2006, 10:13 AM
Chris - Great summary! On this site, we generally concentrate on "Game Used" but could you imagine if we scrutinized autographs! Let's face it, the guys who are buying the $50 Derek Jeter signed ball vs. the $250 with the Steiner Cert are probably in serious trouble. In this case, use common sense and do your homework. Caveat emptor!

Andrew