Authentcity Question For CollegeJersey.com

[Nathan]

I can't believe there is actually a thread for this....no way in hell.

Let's break it down to basic semantics. When I was a senior in high school, I dressed for every game and participated in warmups. Every game that I played in was a home game, while I never got into a road game. Is my white jersey game-worn or not? After all, I wore it during a game that I stood a chance of participating in.

My advice is to go ahead and find every copy of Utah's 2002 season in which they wore white jerseys, then try to pinpoint exactly how many plays Brett Elliott participated in. If the answer is "one play or more", then this fits the bill of being game worn no matter who you're talking to. Or just check out the link below so you don't have to go through the trouble of, you know, actually doing research before coming on here and blasting a very reputable company over an issue of semantics.

http://web1.ncaa.org/d1mfb/playerDet...=732&player=3A

I count 133 offensive plays on the road, with 9 of them being rushes. Now, if you want to look at all that film to see exactly what kind of impact was made then be my guest.

[gamehawk]

Scott,

I made every attempt to contact you through Brenda. I even sent you 3 emails that went unanswered before this all happened. It is funny that you choose to respond on the forum instead of emailing me in private, as I tried to do to you unsuccessfully. Brenda and I went back in fourth quite a few times, and when she stopped responding to my SIMPLE questions, that is when I thought I would bring this issue into the forum.

[comment removed], but if a jersey is as clean as your employee said it was, most likely you made a mistake and issued it as game worn, when in fact it is team issued. You are to far into this now to admit your mistake, that is obvious.

And if you think that putting so much faith into the equipment managers at the collegiate level is a good thing, than you really need to take a second look at the jerseys. Most equipment managers are college students and are not the best at sorting through the number of football jerseys that pass through them. Game Worn, Game Issued, they really couldn't care less and you know it. Look at all the problems with the Reggie Bush on AMI Auctions as we speak....and The Matt Leinart and Landale White on Historic Auctions.....

If Brenda would have simply emailed me back that she would have someone take a second look at the jersey in question, this whole thing would have been avoided. Sometimes dealers are wrong and need to just deal with it. That Brett Elliott gamer is way to clean to be game worn, and should be changed to Game/Team Issued. If you see no signs of ACTUAL Game Use, not even A HINT of game use, than how can you deem it Game Used??? I know, you just guess that it was worn on the bench.

As people have stated in the past, "An LOA does not make an item real, the item itself does.." Your process of authenticating is weak, and that is what will put you with the above named dealers who everyone thought was so divine. Grey Flannel gave a nice black eye to the hobby, and so did Ron @ Cal Sports Inv. with his shill bidding. Elite Sports and the Hines Ward Shoes....That is classic...."We got it right from the locker room." That really goes to show what equipment managers/ "Impeccable Sources" can do.

And as for people who keep bashing Meigray, Your authentication process is just like the rest, and that is why you will never be anywhere close to there level. "3 people panel who look at every jersey etc..." Lou Lampson is one of the biggest crooks alive, and he does the same process you do?

[comment removed] I would highly suggest that you at least look closer at the Brett Elliott and share with the forum that you made the right decision to change it to game issued, from game worn.

[comment removed]

[Nathan]

gamehawk,

So, since you've judged this jersey to be "too clean to be worn", you actually ordered this and saw what it looked like up close and personal?

[gamehawk]

Also here is a nice email I just got from a Forum Member!



"I found your story interesting. I have around 10 game used College football jerseys that I was going to send to them. I looked on there website and I noticed that they can take a jersey and "customize" it for you for fee. I think they are overpriced and some are not game worns. But they probably don't care as they are the only website that has that type of inventory."

[gamehawk]

Nate,

You have to keep an open mind on this. Scott is not telling you about the email his employee sent me on "How the jersey shows absolutely no game wear whatsoever, and is in pristine condition.." Then back peddles on it "COULD HAVE" been this or that....Pure speculation.

Also, look at the email below that I just received. It raises a good point on how the company specializes in custom nameplates. [comment removed]

[Nathan]

gamehawk,

Since you state that you've been collecting for a number of years, then you're quite aware of the telltale signs that are left behind when a nameplate (or numbers) is added, removed, altered, reapplied, rescreen/resewn, etc. It's actually a lot easier to mess around doing number and name changes on older jerseys (pre-1975) than newer ones. Even then there is plenty of evidence to go around.

But as Scott and Joel pointed out, I hardly think it's fair to start something with a sensational title that would suggest that collegejersey.com sells bad items when there has yet to be that first shred of proof or even a reasonable doubt.

But as long as we're discussing semantics further, let me explain a jersey I acquired from the NHL-MGG program. I'll go through the situation and you tell me what it's classified as.

A jersey was made up in the preseason for a goaltender (let's call him "Goalie #1"). He played in the preseason and was sent down to the AHL before the regular season started. As it happened, the starting goaltender for the NHL team got injured and Goalie #1 was recalled. The jersey had been kept on hand in case of an emergency callup and was reissued for the duration of the callup. Goalie #1 dressed for 9 games and appeared on the active roster, but he never saw the ice during the course of the game. He did participate in pregame warmups though, and there is visible wear that allowed me to achieve a photomatch to numerous cards. Now....what is this jersey officially classified as?

Scott,

If it strikes your fancy, feel free to ship the jersey to me and I (an unbiased collector with equipment room experience) will take a look at it and let everyone know what my opinion on the matter is.

[Mike Grueber]

Scott,

If a jersey could be in pristine condition and still be considered game-worn according to your definition, what authenticiation process do you use to determine if jerseys in pristine condition are game-worn or game-issued?


Mike Grueber

[collegejersey.com]

Mike,

Thanks for your post.

As I mentioned in my earlier post, our definition of “Game-Worn” is:

“A jersey worn during an official game by a player on the roster in attendance at the game.”

As I mentioned earlier, this does not say that they have to be in game action. Therefore, it follows that a game worn jersey can be in “pristine condition”.

As I further acknowledged, reasonable people may differ on their agreement with this definition. However, it is my belief that as long as we clearly state our terms, which we have posted on our glossary page, we have done our part in this regard and leave it up to the consumer to decide.

As far as the process we use to authenticate a jersey or other item, it depends on how we acquired the item in the first place. For the purposes of simplicity, there are two basic ways we acquire jerseys. First, in bulk directly from the schools. Second, in small numbers from collectors or other third parties.

I will begin with the small lots. If we acquire a jersey from a third party collector, we go through several steps in order to authenticate it. First, we speak with the seller via email or on the phone and gather as much detailed information about how they acquired the item and what they know about is history. Next, we overlay that information against our database of over 20,000 college game worn items. We check things like the style, patching, fabric, condition, manufacturer, etc. that was used by a school for a given time period. Third, once we get the item in house, we do a visual inspection and cross check it against our current physical inventory. Fourth, we photo match the jersey against one of our pictures of sold items or use one of several outside professional sports photography sources. If we are unable to confirm the authenticity of the item via any of these criteria, then we do not accept it and return it to the seller. If we can match the jersey, then obviously we designate it accordingly.


If the jersey was acquired in bulk from a school, we go through the following steps (not necessarily in this order as each school differs). We take the stock in house and do our own inventory. We catalog details about every item including cut, color, condition, size, etc.

Once we have our own independent inventory, we set up a meeting with the school and gather general & detailed information about the purchase lot including the year period(s) the items were used and the process that the schools uses to manage the items when they were being used. We determine information like, do the schools rotate jerseys? How many jerseys does the school use in this rotation through the course of the year? Who does the repairs on a jersey? When are they done? What is the process for laundering? Schools vary greatly in their approaches, so it is key to understand these details. As a side note, it is the equipment managers who typically define these processes, so that is why they are important in the authentication process.

Next, we reference our in house resources including our current inventory, photo inventory of sold items, media guides, roster lists, etc. Then based on all of this information, we designate each piece as game worn or team issued according to the definition that is posted on our glossary page. If the jersey was worn on the field by a player on the roster in attendance at a game, it is deemed game worn.

Let me know if you have any further questions and/or if I can clarify anything further.

Thanks,
Scott

Scott O. Kent
President

www.collegejersey.com
Game Used Jerseys and More...
Get the real deal.
11965 SW 142nd Terrace
Suite 109
Miami, FL 33186

877.251.GAME | Toll-Free
305.774.6601 | Local
305.774.6603 | Fax
scott@collegejersey.com | Email

[PK]

Scott, I think you know the answer to your own question, at least you should if you bought the jersy from Barry at Meigray. I will let Barry chime in with the exact name he puts on a jersey like this, but it lies between game issued and game worn. It sells for more then a game issued and less then a game worn on the ice.

[CollectGU]

Scott,


Look at all the problems with the Reggie Bush on AMI Auctions as we speak....and The Matt Leinart and Landale White on Historic Auctions.....

."

This has nothing to do with this post at all, but is one of the reasons why this forum sometimes annoys me. The Bush jersey (i will be bidding on it) in the AMI auction has been photo matched , not style matched, and is easily one of the nicest unwashed condition jerseys I've seen. And yet, the perception is there is a problem with it because peeople on the forum questioned the jersey BEFORE they put the photo match up, and also questioned the signature which PSA authenticated...If you are going to go through all that trouble to fake a jersey, why add a signature that if deemed fake ruins the whole jersey.....