Having waited patiently for Bernie’s call today which never came, and since this was a rather lengthy and complex topic, I’ll do my best to try to clarify a few points.

First to Rudy:

When I was originally enlisted by an interested bidder to do some research on the Historic Auctions’ jersey, I called them and was told that the jersey had been authenticated by Bernie for Global Authentications Inc. Calling Bernie, with the intent if determining how, during the authentication process, he had determined/verified the jersey to be a 1985 vintage, he revealed that he had purchased the jersey, along with several others that had been consigned to the auction, from the collection of Bronco Hinek, former equipment manager of the San Francisco 49ers. As to whether or not others at Global Authentications were involved with the authentication process or not, I have no knowledge.

Regarding the warning, I will leave it at that and let each individual decide how much (or how little) weight they would choose to give this information. The warning can only be that of a general nature since the whole truth of the matter is unlikely to remain unknown. While I have no doubt that there are indeed a number of high quality pieces from this collection, I would also look with great deal of skepticism on anyone’s claim to having ownership to no less than three 1985-’86 road Elway jerseys as Mr. Hinek apparently did.

As to the purchase arrangement question, I believe that Bernie has already verified that he, along with Lou Lampson, purchased these jerseys in bulk from Bronco Hinek.

And to Bernie:

“Funny how there is no question of authenticity, but now a question of "how many" jerseys I owned.” While authenticity was not the prime issue here, it most definitely does come into play. How many jerseys were owned certainly cannot be dismissed particularly when discussing a collectible that exists in a very finite number. As we’re talking about a 2-year style during an era when even top star players rarely were issued more than a few jerseys a year, having three of these pop up from the same source in a 2 month period raises considerable concern where authenticity is concerned. I’m assuming that this fact was not lost on you since if it were, there would have been no need to have misrepresented this number to four different individuals.

“First of all I have no clue what involvement Pat would have with any of this…. None of this is his business.” Briefly outlining my involvement, I became involved when (as you pointed out) 1. I had been retained to examine a jersey for a customer that you sold, only to find out that after putting my name to it that you had materially misrepresented the origin of the item; 2. I had been retained by a customer to provide pre-purchase research on a jersey which he purchased at auction, based in part on misrepresenting information which you provided; 3. I received unsolicited contact directly from another party who had purchased yet another Elway jersey from you and had concerns about it, based upon his newly found knowledge of the other two.

“Pat is absolutely wrong on so many of his points in his thread. He should have called me instead of spending 3 hours trying to put together untrue statements on a public forum.”
As a long-time critic of the careless bashings that often take place on this and other similar public forums, I was very mindful that such a posting might seem hypocritical. On numerous occasions I’ve gone out on a limb to even defend Bernie, not so much as his advocate, but because in general I was so personally opposed to the type of hit-n-run cheap shots that so often occurred. In fairness, I sent an e-mail outlining the facts of this situation to Bernie on the 1st of February asking that he take proactive measures to acknowledge and explain the situation publicly (on this forum). Having declined that opportunity, he would now lash out at me for making this information public.

“I personally spoke with the individuals (Tom Jacobson, David O'Brien) who purchased the 2 Elway jerseys and have exchanged phone messages with Mr. Silverman the past week.” If this is indeed the case, then I commend you for finally making the effort to make contact. At last contact with Tom and Steve, neither had received any word from you over a week after initially trying to reach you.

“I have absolutely no involvement nor did I sell or previously own the John Elway in Strike Zone's auction. Don't know where you came up with that one either.”If you read my original post, I made no inference regarding your having any involvement with the Strike Zone jersey, to the contrary I specifically stated that it was authenticated by Lampson and consigned by a person unknown. My point was simply to point out that we’ve tracked a total of six sales of this style jersey over a total of six years, yet four of them have occurred in the past 3 months, with 3 of them being yours.

“Since you were big enough to write a thread of misinformation here you should have no problem speaking to me over the phone when I call you and hold you accountable for what you stated here” Again, I will stand by what I’ve stated as fact until proven otherwise, and when and if proven otherwise I will be big enough to stand up and admit it. A week ago I would have been likely to welcome your private phone call, and pass the context of that call on to my concerned colleagues. At this point in time, however, I would just as soon keep things out in the open.

While Bernie has laid claims to gross inaccuracies and misinformation on my part, the one thing that his response lacks is an address to the critical issues at hand. Which remain:
  • As a knowledgeable authenticator, how many of the exact same style of any 20-year old jersey from the same player is reasonable to come from any single source?
  • As an ethical dealer, having established the answer to the first question, what rationale would there be for misrepresenting this number to your customers
Regards,