Alarming news about Mastro's UNC Jordan shirt

[Eric]

I asked Doug Allen the following question

Doug-

You mentioned that the buyer was comfortable buying the Jordan shirt even after they were told (after the auction) that there was a name change. Is there any way I could send a few questions to the buyer?
Eric
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He sent me this answer, and I'm posting it here with his permission


Hey Eric,

Let me relay my conversation with the bidder.

Our bidder knows Ken Crowder, the equipment manager Cynthia Somers referred to in her e-mail correspondence. When the bidder heard about the name change he still wanted to show it to Ken as the bidder's recollection was that the JV team did have warm ups and in his own collection he has late 70's early 80's jerseys that were originally varsity shirts that were later changed to generic "Tarheels" for JV use. It was on this basis he thought a vintage name change was possible. Obvioulsy this did not go far once we confirmed other problems with the shirt.

Regards,
Doug

[Moustache Gang]

Rudi,

If you get a chance can you send me an email. I would like to talk to you on a couple of issues.

Thanks always for your commentary as it is always very insightful.

Mark
www.weimerskirch95@aol.com

[warheel]

Not to hijack the thread, but seeing the "SMITH 33" jersey brought back some memories. I went to Carolina and Ranzino Smith used to live above me his senior year. I worked with the football team and we hung out some, even took a class together.

The class was "Classics" and we were supposed to study Greek and Roman stuff. Z and I went to class every day, but didn't bother to do the reading. Test day comes and 90% of the test is from the reading. We both made single digits on the test, and ended up dropping the class.

Sorry for the diversion...

[Eric]

I emailed with Doug Allen today who said I can submit some questions to the buyer of the doctored Michael Jordan jersey.

I will be sending them to Doug tonight and will post the responses when I get them.

Eric

[Eric]

Here is the email I sent to Doug Allen. He has said he would pass some questions along to the buyer of the Michael Jordan shooting shirt. Thanks to Doug for his help here. I will post the responses when I get them.
Eric

Doug-

Thanks for agreeing to pass the following questions along to the buyer of the Jordan shooting shirt.


To the buyer-
Thank you for taking the time to address this situation. Your responses to these questions will help hobbyists learn from this situation. The questions are below. If you would like to contact me directly about any of this, you can email me at ecky3@aol.com
Thanks
Eric Stangel
administrator, game used forum

1) Before the Mastro auction, what was your experience with collecting Jordan items or North Carolina items? Do you have an extensive collection?

2) Had you seen the Jordan shirt in person at the National before bidding, or did you base your knowledge on seeing the photos in the catalog and reading the auction description?

3) Did you bid in person or on the phone?

4) What kind of research had you done before placing the winning bid on the shooting shirt?

5) At what point did you learn the shirt had issues (name change, mears failure to authenticate letter)

6) When you found out there were questions about the shooting shirt (stains that match a Ranzino shooting shirt and evidence of a name change) what was your response?

7) Did it concern you at all that the shirt went up for auction without a mears letter?

8) Knowing what you know now, what do you think about the fact that mears deemed it unable to authenticate and Lou Lampson wrote a letter on it without even noting a name change?

9) How do you feel about the whole process? What if anything would you change?

10) Doug Allen said you do not have to pay for the Jordan shirt and it has been sent to MEARS for more research. Once MEARS does the extensive work on it, will you have the option to buy the shirt back? If so, what do you plan to do with it?

11) Doug said "...it is interesting to note that the high bidder on the item would actually have still purchased it with MEARS "unable to authenticate" letter as he indicated it would not be unusual for a college jersey to have a name change. This didn't bother the bidder."
Can you elaborate on this?

Thanks for taking the time here. It's going to help a lot of people.

[Eric]

I have been getting emails from people asking if Doug sent me the answers to the questions for the Jordan buyer.

He hasn't yet. I followed up with him yesterday and will let everyone know what happens.

Thanks
Eric

[Eric]

Doug Allen was nice enough to send me the answers to the questions for the buyer of the Michael Jordan shooting shirt. Here's what he said...

Eric,

Sorry for the delay....here are the responses based on conversations with the buyer.

Regards,
Doug

1) Before the Mastro auction, what was your experience with collecting Jordan items or North Carolina items? Do you have an extensive collection? - I have an extensive collection of early North Carolina items.
2) Had you seen the Jordan shirt in person at the National before bidding, or did you base your knowledge on seeing the photos in the catalog and reading the auction description? I have never seen the item in person.

3) Did you bid in person or on the phone? I bid via the phone as I was not at the National

4) What kind of research had you done before placing the winning bid on the shooting shirt? Reviewed description and images.

5) At what point did you learn the shirt had issues (name change, mears failure to authenticate letter) Doug Allen called me the week after the auction and explained in detail the findings of MEARS and subsequently he called me back after he determined that the in addition to the name the number "2" had also been changed.

6) When you found out there were questions about the shooting shirt (stains that match a Ranzino shooting shirt and evidence of a name change) what was your response? No specific response.

7) Did it concern you at all that the shirt went up for auction without a mears letter? No. I did not consider MEARS an authority on vintage game used college material.

8) Knowing what you know now, what do you think about the fact that mears deemed it unable to authenticate and Lou Lampson wrote a letter on it without even noting a name change? I was more surprised that neither MEARS or Lampson saw the number change. As indicated to Doug Allen the name change is not what concerned me. I thought that "acceptable" for an early college shirt.

9) How do you feel about the whole process? What if anything would you change? I am disappointed that the shirt is not real as I would have loved to add it to my collection. I am glad Mastro Auctions did the right thing and cancelled the sale.

10) Doug Allen said you do not have to pay for the Jordan shirt and it has been sent to MEARS for more research. Once MEARS does the extensive work on it, will you have the option to buy the shirt back? If so, what do you plan to do with it? This has never been discussed. Doug Allen indicated the shirt would be destroyed.

11) Doug said "...it is interesting to note that the high bidder on the item would actually have still purchased it with MEARS "unable to authenticate" letter as he indicated it would not be unusual for a college jersey to have a name change. This didn't bother the bidder."
Can you elaborate on this? I know the UNC equipment manager who indicated it was not unusual to change names in order for pieces like this to be reused. The name change in and of it self would not be the kiss of death for this piece.

[Eric]

I just noticed one of Eric Inselberg's ebay names ny1prada is listed as no longer a registered user.

Wonder what happened
Eric