MEARS Authentication....

[princip]

Re: MEARS Authentication....

Awesome! Thanks for the follow up Eric.

[princip]

Re: MEARS Authentication....

Just to add, does this confirm that an LOA from Dave Bushing and Troy Kinunen, of MEARS, isn't worth jack squat?

[suicide_squeeze]

Re: MEARS Authentication....

the guu forum is often criticized by many in the industry as a place where malcontents, buyer remorse sufferers and ax grinders gather to complain and take unfair shots at auction houses and authenticators - a place where those with nothing positive to say about the hobby lay in wait, "like spiders", for the next shaky lot to appear at auction in order to pounce on it, anonymously air it out in public, scream foul and embarrass those responsible.

if nothing else this thread proves that the aforementioned notion is patently absurd and that serious game-used sports memorabilia collectors, i.e. guu forum members, want nothing more than a fair shake from auction houses and those that evaluate game-used items - they want those in the industry to be accountable for their work and responsive to their concerns.

after 400+ views not one guu member has posted a negative remark to this thread criticizing mears for missing the boat on these helmets. why? if the authenticator being discussed in this thread was lampson instead of mears, if it were lampson that had missed the boat on these lids instead of mears, i can pretty much guarantee that this thread would have taken an entirely different direction. again, why? pretty simple imo. collectors respond positively to dialog. and they are willing to extend the benefit of the doubt when dialog and accessibility is tabled as demonstrated by the obvious respect collectors at guu have for mears and the forum response to kinunen's email.

Well stated Robert.

I feel it's important to emphasize the fact that over the years in the conversations I have had with Dave Bushing, and more recently with Troy.....they have shown me nothing but the highest integrity and class-act professionalism anyone could ever hope to find in our hobby.

Great post, and an unbelievable pat-on-the-back to MEARS for Troy's response. It speaks volumes about their organization. My GOD......what a breath of fresh air!!! Someone actually taking RESPONSIBILITY for something in this world?? Cudo's to MEARS.

Regards,

Steve Mears (no relation to the company......unfortunately)

[nickacs]

Re: MEARS Authentication....

Hi everyone,
Sorry to bump a little old thread, but quick question about the MEARS grading/"expectations". Would you say that getting a jersey with a grade of A10 is one of the "best" in the biz?
I'm mainly an NBA game worn jersey collector and notice a couple nice looking jerseys coming up for auction and both jersey's I'm interested in have A10 gradings by MEARS. I know with Chicago Bulls jerseys, having a CharitaBulls letter is about the best you can get with those jerseys. And then team LOA's, etc would maybe be your "2nd tier".

The jerseys are a lot of money and don't want to blow the wad on crap that A10's don't really mean jack.

Thanks!
Nick

[suicide_squeeze]

Re: MEARS Authentication....

Hi everyone,
Sorry to bump a little old thread, but quick question about the MEARS grading/"expectations". Would you say that getting a jersey with a grade of A10 is one of the "best" in the biz?
I'm mainly an NBA game worn jersey collector and notice a couple nice looking jerseys coming up for auction and both jersey's I'm interested in have A10 gradings by MEARS. I know with Chicago Bulls jerseys, having a CharitaBulls letter is about the best you can get with those jerseys. And then team LOA's, etc would maybe be your "2nd tier".

The jerseys are a lot of money and don't want to blow the wad on crap that A10's don't really mean jack.

Thanks!
Nick

Let me just sum it up this way....

A10 is the highest possible rating.

It usually means there is direct positive identification of use by the player, sometimed from the player himself, and all of the "characteristics" are a perfect match. I don't think I've ever seen an A10 questioned and proven as a bad item......I'm sure someone will jump in if they know of one.

But you're about as safe as possible with an A10 rating.

[nickacs]

Re: MEARS Authentication....

Thanks Suicide...
Yea, I've noticed that A10's from MEARS tend to be that the consignor/jersey has some great provenance that ties it to the player, friend, coach, etc etc.
The two jerseys I'm looking at, a Jordan and Magic, has the Jordan coming from the Bulls official scorer and team statistition since '66. The Magic one doesn't say who the provenance is from to make it an A10, so I emailed MEARS to ask. I'm sure there aren't a lot of A10 Magic's they've graded through the years.

Thanks again! I'll see if I should bid or not

[lund6771]

Re: MEARS Authentication....

Thanks Suicide...
Yea, I've noticed that A10's from MEARS tend to be that the consignor/jersey has some great provenance that ties it to the player, friend, coach, etc etc.
The two jerseys I'm looking at, a Jordan and Magic, has the Jordan coming from the Bulls official scorer and team statistition since '66. The Magic one doesn't say who the provenance is from to make it an A10, so I emailed MEARS to ask. I'm sure there aren't a lot of A10 Magic's they've graded through the years.

Thanks again! I'll see if I should bid or not

Which auction will both of these be coming up in?

[yanks12025]

Re: MEARS Authentication....

Lund,
I think he's talking about the ones in SCP.

[nickacs]

Re: MEARS Authentication....

Yup, the July SCP Auction. Both are very nice pieces and I don't have an older Magic jersey and a Jordan from that year, but I'm soooo cautious these days on auction jerseys, esp these guys and Bird!

[lund6771]

Re: MEARS Authentication....

Yup, the July SCP Auction. Both are very nice pieces and I don't have an older Magic jersey and a Jordan from that year, but I'm soooo cautious these days on auction jerseys, esp these guys and Bird!

The tags on the Jordan look pretty crisp, but sure could have been worn for a few games

I would be soooooo cautious of the Magic

[nickacs]

Re: MEARS Authentication....

The tags on the Jordan look pretty crisp, but sure could have been worn for a few games

I would be soooooo cautious of the Magic

Thanks.. About the Magic, even with a MEARS A10? I know that there's always a chance the auth places miss something (as we all well know), but that's why I posted in this thread to see if a MEARS A10 is a "definite"/no question asked game worn jersey LOA.

[lund6771]

Re: MEARS Authentication....

Thanks.. About the Magic, even with a MEARS A10? I know that there's always a chance the auth places miss something (as we all well know), but that's why I posted in this thread to see if a MEARS A10 is a "definite"/no question asked game worn jersey LOA.

Nickacs....To me, nothing is a "definite" unless it's conclusively photo matched

If it's not photo matched, then comes the "leap"....basically who can you trust without the photo match...(also experience in authentication of a particular sport is huge in my book)....i don't believe that any authenticator out there is an expert in all sports..that's pretty tough

niche experts are the ones that I would trust, and you won't find more niche experts than here

this is my opinion of the Magic...there are a TON of Magic Tiernan jerseys out there....(along with Kareems)...WAY more that could have ever been worn during this time frame...the first key thing to look for to try and distinguish a good vs bad jersey is the eveness of wear....most of the Tiernan Lakers jerseys out there have uneven wear...on most of them the Tiernan label is beat to shit, but everything else that is sewn on is pretty crisp....when looking at the SCP jersey, it follows this pattern and most astute Lakers collectors know this

On the other hand, here is what a jersey with consistant wear should look like, and the final hammer price reflected that

http://bid.robertedwardauctions.com/bidplace.aspx?itemid=12864

Here is another example of what a jersey should like with that much wear on tag

[nickacs]

Re: MEARS Authentication....

Lund-
Sorry to bring up an old thread, but your last post was right on with what I'm currently looking at. SCP Auctions just had a Magic Tiernan jersey that looks like it has already sold off their "buy now" webpage. Darn! The tag was definitely beat up and looked really good.

There's another in the current Heritage Auction and wanted to know your thought (or anyone's) regarding the Magic jersey. The Tiernan tag looks pretty pristine and clean, but I don't know what else to look at/verify the early Laker Tiernan jerseys since there are no size/length/nba logo identifiers to compare with?

Any help would be appreciated! Thanks...

[lund6771]

Re: MEARS Authentication....

Niockas...

what's your e-mail?

[nickacs]

Re: MEARS Authentication....

Niockas...

what's your e-mail?

Thanks for seeeing this Lund! My email is: nick.twc@gmail.com