Nerat on authenticators & auction houses

[kingjammy24]

some comments i read today by SCD's chris nerat regarding lampson/authenticators/auction houses:

"Many auctions hire authenticators for only a couple days and they are expected to go through hundreds of pieces....Now, I know some of you will say that the authenticators should be brought in for a longer period of time… That sounds like a good idea, in theory, but it isn’t that realistic. First of all, that costs much more money for the auction house.."

apparently it's not realistic for an auction house to spend more money to ensure a higher rate of authentic items. apparently it's more cost-effective to lose customers instead.

"..and second of all, there are deadlines to get the catalogs prepared."

chris, i'm going make a suggestion here. now the last 2 companies i worked at grossed close to $6 billion in annual revenue combined so i may not have the business acumen and process experience that's clearly present in so many auction houses today but hear me out nonetheless.

extend either the consignment deadline or the catalog production deadline.

the notion that catalog deadlines are written in stone and they should drive the entire authentication process is nonsensical.

chris, even going by your ideas, ultimately it's the authenticators choice to accept or reject the job. lampson knows exactly how much he can do in a day and if he knows the auction houses exceed that amount, then please explain to me why he accepts the contracts anyway. please explain to me why lampson constantly sets himself up for failure by deliberately taking on more than he can accurately handle.

if an auction house told me that i have 5 days to get through 600 items, then how big of an idiot would i have to be to sign that contract when i know i can't do it accurately?
furthermore, how big of an idiot would i be to then blame the tight schedules that i agreed to? is someone forcing lou to sign these contracts?

rudy.

[hblakewolf]

Rudy-
You're a pretty smart guy, however, I can't believe you don't see the continued position SCD takes on Lampson. Considering the pages of SCD are dwindling down to 60, and the classifieds are now 3 pages, do you honestly think for a second that Nerat or his staff writers are going to fault Lampson, or shed ill-will on any of the auction houses that advertise with SCD that use Lampson as thier authenticator?

The facts could not be any clearer. Even when presented with Lampson's past and current blunders, the tail continues to wag the dog at SCD.

Possibly if you once had a premier publication that now is nothing more than fluff stories and multi-page ads, you too would try to defend one of your key revenue sources-the auction houses that employ Lampson.

Howard Wolf
hblakewolf@patmedia.net

[skyking26]

Speaking of SCD, I agree with Howard on all notes. I have been a subscriber to SCD since 1983, 24 years to my account not missing a single GD issue. Pretty loyal customer, and what do I get for my loyalty - not a thing. When this subs. runs out, I am done. The hobby continues to make its changes. I was at the National Thursday and the amount of GU equipment was reduced to just maybe 5 dealers. They say they are agressively buying, but unless you are giving an item away that would be the only time they are buying anything. The bulk of quality GU equipment is now seen by way of major auction houses. The guys with big wallets are those that will be able to purchase items of the future.

Same can be said of vintage autographs. 3 years ago I bought a Cobb 3x5 for $700 - now $1600. Last year I bought a Cochrane for $200-300, now $600 plus. You get the idea...

[kneerat]

Rudy,
I think we may want to give board members a chance to read what I wrote in its entirety, rather than the chunks that you took out of context to make your point.

You failed to pull this bit of text, which qualifies some of what I wrote:

That said, this time constraint should not let the auction house off the hook if a mistake is made. “All sales final” policy or not, if a mistake is made on a jersey and it is called to the auction houses’ attention, in my opinion the business should stand behind its item.

FULL TEXT HERE (http://gavelchat.sportscollectorsdigest.com/Auction+Houses+And+Authenticators++Make+Sure+YOU+A lso+Do+Your+Homework.aspx)

Also, what I wrote was just my opinion. The man you should direct these points to is Lou himself, who was at the National.
I was there and almost nobody went up and confronted him with problems that are talked about every day on this forum. Why is this?

[kingjammy24]

chris,

the validity of my points isn't diminished by posting your editorial in its entirety. my points and questions still stand.

i realize your editorial was just your opinion. at no time was i under the impression that your blog was scientific fact. i was simply looking for the rationale behind your opinions.

"The man you should direct these points to is Lou himself"

excellent advice. i was unable to attend the national. could you please pass along an email address or phone number where i can chat with lampson? thanks in advance.

"I was there and almost nobody went up and confronted him with problems that are talked about every day on this forum. Why is this?"

i don't know but for the topic of this thread (your editorial) it's irrelevant. the purpose of my post was to discuss the specific opinions you set forth in your editorial. namely:

- why not extend the consignment or catalog production deadlines in order to allow for more authentication time? i imagine your time at AMI would enable you to speak with some authority on the matter.

- why did you not also place blame on the authenticators who willingly agree to such timelines?

rudy.

[both-teams-played-hard]

I was there and almost nobody went up and confronted him with problems that are talked about every day on this forum. Why is this?

Chris
I realize this question wasn't addressed to me. But, since you were in attendance, why do you think that almost nobody confronted Lampson?

[kneerat]

Rudy,
I see your points... As for providing you with Lou's contact information... I have read many, many times on this forum that Lou doesn't respond to email and doesn't answer his phone calls.
I don't know how me providing you this info. would help.

You ask: - why not extend the consignment or catalog production deadlines in order to allow for more authentication time? i imagine your time at AMI would enable you to speak with some authority on the matter.

I admit... I don't have great details on why they wouldn't "extend the consignment or catalog production deadlines."
I do know that when they plan on having an auction on a certain date, that it is initially not "set in stone."
However, at some point you have to commit to a concrete auction date because of ads the auction house will run for its future auction and other timing reasons.

Maybe the answer is to plan out the dates better... That would have to be taken up with the auction house. The authenticators would need to plan it out better too. I have worked with Lou at AMI and I know at least on two occasions he stayed longer than expected in order to authenticate more jerseys. (I only worked at AMI for two years) Lou works for many auction houses and has many commitments that could force him to leave an auction house that would want him to stay for an extra period of time. I am not making an excuse for Lou... I am just stating the way it is.

That said... You are right. If an authenticator claims an item is good... he should stand by it and the auction house should stand on it... Absolutely... no question.

Also, in my opinion, many authenticators use COAs as a document to declare proof that something is 100 percent real. I am not a big fan of that. I truly think that when Lou "authenticates" an item, he feels that the item is "real." Problem is, he is not 100 percent correct. That has been proven by many of you, although I don't think any authenticator could be 100 percent correct...

That said, I feel that it should be presented as an "opinion," not a document that tells the public that it is "100 percent real." Nobody can be 100 percent correct.

If an authenticator is knowingly certing bad items on purpose, then that is a completely different subject and a definite problem.

Rudy... I think you are one of the more knowledgeable board members and your insight is always appreciated. I would have liked your thoughts if you could have chatted with Lampson. Maybe next year.

[kneerat]

BTPH,

Good question... I think Lou was there for at least three days at the show...

I would have thought with all the interested people on this board about him that he would have been flooded with people wanting to chat with him, but that simply didn't happen.

As for the show itself. It was very cool to chat with all the experts and auction owners, as well as the collectors.

I had very nice talks with Chris Cavalier (and think his auction is going to do very well... some very nice stuff), chatted with Leon from the Network 54 vintage card forum and many other guys...