With the formation of MEARS, Lou Lampson will not be authenticating under our umbrella. The reasons for this are twofold:
Regarding items submitted to us by collectors for retail opinions, our authentication team of Dave Bushing, Dan Knoll, and myself are located in the Chicago/Milwaukee area. When items are shipped to our home office, MEARS, 4034 W. National Ave., Milwaukee, WI 53215, we have regularly scheduled authentication sessions with our staff. Logistically, we can meet, inspect the items, prepare the LOO’s, and return the items from the Milwaukee office.
Regarding Lou Lampson, items submitted to us had to be shipped to Lou, retuned back to me, the letter had to be produced, then the LOO had to be reshipped back to Lou to be signed. (All items inspected by our authenticators were personally signed by that authenticator.) Then the LOO would be shipped to the customer. This process was slow and created customer service problems. But during the course of the time SCDA was in place, although cumbersome, this process was adhered to. All SCDA Lou Lampson letters signed by Lou were inspected by Lou.
Also, Lou Lampson is currently under contract with 100% Authentic. His contract remains until September of 2005. Lou has decided to finish out the remainder of that contract with no additional associations. When Lou was asked to become a member of SCDA, he made it clear to us that he was still under contract until September 2005. He was committed to honoring that contract and I commend him for that. An arrangement was made where he could work with both 100% us Authentic and us; therefore he was never exclusive with SCDA.
Lou Lampson is regarded by many to be the foremost expert of game worn basketball and football items. Auction houses and collectors will still have the opportunity to submit items directly to Lou at his home. I spoke with him today and he is preparing a price list with contact information. Since he has never participated in this forum, he asked that I would post this information for him. I agreed to do so.
From this point forward, Lou Lampson will provide his standard letter issued by him independent of SCDA or MEARS for those that request it.
I personally wish Lou the best of luck and thank him for all of the knowledge and expertise he freely shared with me during our association.
Troy's note regarding Lou induced me to write this under the "for what it's worth" department. Although I don't regularly collect uniforms (my collecting habits are already too broad as it is), I have had occasion to see Lou inpect uniforms for all of the major sports many many times and I must tell everyone....it is a joy to watch.
Lou, a collector and authenticator, is as knowledgable and honest of a person as I have ever had the pleasure to know. His expertise is superior and I would commend him to anyone interested in gaining an appreciation of the "in's and out's" of how one goes about authenticating uniforms as being from a certain athlete and/or as being "game worn".
Does that mean Lou is always 100 percent right? Likely not, as that is a standard none of us can meet. But, I must admit, I do see his work product as being rock solid.
I only occasionally participate in this forum, but I thought it might be nice to chime in about a person who I truly believe is a professional.
Like Frank, I got to watch Lou Lampson work in person and came away quite impressed.
He loves what he's doing and he's immersed in his subject matter. Very professional. Along with Grob, Esken, Bushing, Knoll, Spence, Simon and Grad, he's among the best in his field that I've been able to work with and observe. Perfect no. This is a tough field to attain the greatest accuracy on with constant uncertainties.
All I know is if I don't receive an SCDA LOA signed by Dave Bushing, Dan Knoll and Lou Lampson for my Heritage lot, as per the item description, there is going to be a serious problem, Troy.
As I said in a previous post..you should be upset..I think Troy explained who actually looked at the item and it was Lou and not Dave and Dan.
If your bidding decision was based on your impression that all three looked at it and you are not satisified with the item...you probably have solid grounds to expect a refund from Heritage as it was their representation and not the correct or incorrect opinon that is the basis of your complaint.
I would think that other possible courses of action would include having Heritage honor what they stated, that it was looked at by all three..This would probably involve you sending the item back so that this could be accomplished as well.
I hope this gets resloved to your satisifaction...
I recently received a football jersey that I won in a recent auction.
The auction ad stated that the jersey was authenticated by "Dave Bushing and Lou Lampson / SCDA."
Upon receipt of the jersey and SCDA letter, Lou Lampson's name is no where to be found on the SCDA letter, nor is there a separate letter from Lou.
Being as Lou is the jersey expert and Dave's specialty is bats, I find it strange that the letter is only signed by Dave, even though the auction ad stated the jersey was also authenticated by Lou.
Wrote the auction company and I'm waiting for their reply on how to rectify this problem.
Regarding the recent Heritage auction, we were contracted by Chris Ivy of Heritage Auction to authenticate game used bats, baseball jersey, football jerseys, and basketball jerseys. The items he wanted us to look at were sent to us. Dave Bushing personally inspected the jerseys and issued letters on the items that he was 100% comfortable with. Due to the tagging data base and photo library we have developed, Dave Bushing is authenticating jerseys that match our exemplar library in the areas of football and basketball.
In the instances where the items were out of our area of experitise, those items were forwarded on to Lou Lampson. All items inspected by Dave Bushing had an accompanying worksheet and finished COO.
The problem arises with the way the authenticators were portrayed in the Heritage catalog. The entire staff of SCDA authenticators including Lou Lampson were listed after each and every lot description. Although the SCDA letters were only signed by the individual inspecting the piece, the catalog was in error.
The listing of all the authenticators were brought to my attention after the publishing of the catalog. I have spoken with Chris Ivy and he assures me this won't happen again. In a previous instance where Lou was listed as looking at a football and Dave had completed the authentication independently, Chris Ivy volunteered to forward the jersey to Lou Lampson at his expense and assure that Lou Lampson would inspect the item and provide a COO.
My suggestion would be to check with Chris Ivy in the morning. If for some reason he cannot accomodate you, I will personally see that Lou recieves the jersey for his inspection and letter. Chris Ivy has been very cooperative and helpful regarding all matters relating to customer service for his auctions and I am quite confident he will quickly and professionally assist you, but again, if for some reason he cannot, I will make sure Lou Lampson recieves the jersey.
I apologize for any confusion or extra steps you need to take to finalize this transaction. With the formation of MEARS, these problems will be addressed in conjunction with the live auction. Problems will be identified, listed, and corrected before the bidding has ended thus allowing the bidders to know exactly what they are bidding on and who inspected the item. Repeated violations will result in the cancellation of contracts.
Again, feel free to call me at 414-828-9990 or email me at kinunent@hotmail.com
I would like to let the board to know that my concern with the football jersey and the lack of Lou Lampson's letter has been rectified.
After my post, Troy responded promptly on the board and I e-mailed him. Received a reply promptly back and he and Lou will personally look at the jersey on Wednesday.
I have dealt with a lot of authenticators, and I must congratulate Troy and the folks at SCDA on the prompt service and attention to collectors concerns.
Some of you may not agree with them on everything, but in this business/hobby, they are as concerned with getting the right information in regard to items as you are, and will promptly respond to your concerns.
I for one would like to see Troy, Dave Bushing, and other authenticators and authentication reps post on this forum more regularly - - - - - their posts seem to often lead to good discussion and conflict resolution. Dave Grob and a couple of others have been carrying the load thus far - - - - - I know people are busy, but without us collectors, there would be no hobby and no authentication jobs - - - - - this forum is a great step toward cleaning up the hobby/industry and I hope MEARS will be, too. Glad to hear your situation was resolved so quickly.
Troy of SCDA/MEARS wrote: "The problem arises with the way the authenticators were portrayed in the Heritage catalog. The entire staff of SCDA authenticators including Lou Lampson were listed after each and every lot description. Although the SCDA letters were only signed by the individual inspecting the piece, the catalog was in error.
The listing of all the authenticators were brought to my attention after the publishing of the catalog."
Troy, thanks for confirming that you, Dave Bushing, Dan Knoll and the rest of SCDA/MEARS were aware of, and thus complicit in the recent potentially fraudulent activities by Heritage Auctions.
You knew that lots contained in the Heritage Auctions were incorrectly described as being authenticated by members of SCDA who had not actually examined the material, yet you and the rest of your SCDA/MEARS organization did nothing to correct the situation.
Whether I agree with Dave Bushing's and your organization's practice of undisclosed conflict of interest, I have always agreed that Dave Bushing was a leading authenticator (or at least the leading marketable authenticator) in the business.
It is indisputable that having his name on a LOA increases an items worth. The lot I won had a high bid of over $2,300 including the buyer's premium.
There is no doubt in my mind that the lot would not have reached such a high price if Bushing and Knoll's names were not fraudulently included in the item's description of the accompanying LOA.
So, in a very real sense, Heritage defrauded its customers in order to increase its own bids (and buyer's and seller's premiums) by including the names of SCDA/MEARS authenticators who had not actually authenticated the items to be named in the item description.
Conversely, without Bushing and Knoll's name on my LOA, the resale value of my item has dramatically decreased.
So, I (and possibly others) have been hit twice by Heritage and SCDA/MEARS. Inducing a higher bid from me than I would have bid otherwise, and leaving me stuck with items that might have a substantially lower value than what I paid for it.
Yet, now we are to understand this occurred not just to me, but potentially to every customer that bought an SCDA inspected item in the recent May 14 Heritage Auction.
You could have forced Heritage to come clean about their items. You could have come here and made an announcement that Heritage was mislabeling their items. Instead, you and the entire SCDA/MEARS organization chose silence (and profits) and by that you and your organization are complicit in perpetrating this enormous fraud along with Heritage against the collectors who purchased items.
In my mind, this is an enormous scandal of fraud on a large-scale perpetrated against the game worn collecting community. The worst that SCDA/MEARS has ever been involved in my mind, since by your own admission it was perpetrated not just on a single item but throughout an entire major auction house offering.
This all but destroys a collector's faith that an item has actually been authenticated by the SCDA/MEARS authenticators who have signed an SCDA/MEARS LOA.
Regarding Dave G's response, in which he tried to absolve all responsibility of this fraud from SCDA/MEARS and shift blame to Heritage, I went to make perfectly clear I hold SCDA/MEARS just as responsible for defrauding me out of money as Heritage is.
I am more than willing to find an amicable solution to this situation, but I hold both auction house and authenticator responsible for possibly defrauding me and I will seek restitution from both parties.
I have been openly in agreement with you on this issue for some time. I am involved with MEARS which has yet to produce a single letter on any item. You have every right to be upset with both SCDA and Heritage Auctions and I have stated so. I offered courses of action available to you that involve both SCDA (having all the parties stated look at the item) or having Heritage refunnd the money.
I ask you to go back an re-read what I have posted before you consider accusing me or MEARS of fraud.
Dave G., wrote: "I have been openly in agreement with you on this issue for some time. I am involved with MEARS which has yet to produce a single letter on any item. You have every right to be upset with both SCDA and Heritage Auctions and I have stated so. I offered courses of action available to you that involve both SCDA (having all the parties stated look at the item) or having Heritage refunnd the money.
I ask you to go back an re-read what I have posted before you consider accusing me or MEARS of fraud."
Dave, I am not accusing you of fraud. I am merely stating that apparently, according to Troy, he knew (and if he knew SCDA/MEARS knew) that items were incorrectly attributed to multiple SCDA/MEARS consignors in the recent Heritage auction, yet did nothing to stop or correct it (until weeks after the auction had closed).
While Heritage may deserve the lion's share of the blame for this mess, it was within the power of SCDA/MEARS to stop it, yet you chose not to. For that you have to accept some responsibility.
This reminds me of the whole undisclosed conflict of interest issue. For months Troy, Dave Bushing and others associated with SCDA/MEARS would say they were not to blame for undisclosed conflict of interest because it was the auction houses themselves who were not disclosing the conflict in the item description. Yet SCDA/MEARS continued to consign items to those houses and did not publicly list their conflicts on site's such as this one. So, while it may have been the auction house's lack of disclosure, certainly SCDA/MEARS could be held culpable for allowing the situation to continue.
Now the blame is again placed on the auction house for incorrectly attributing an item's authenticator sources. Yet, once again, it was within the power of SCDA/MEARS to correct the situation. You could have compelled Heritage to at least correct the listings on their web-site (which instead reflected the erroneous listings of the catalog) or you could have come to a public site such as this one and sent out a public notice accurately listing the actual authenticators for a particular item. But once again, SCDA/MEARS did nothing. So, while it may have been the auction house's inaccurate listing, certainly SCDA/MEARS could be held culpable for allowing the situation to continue.
I've held back writing about this particular topic for some time now and can no longer sit idle regarding Lou Lampson. I have glanced through many different posts regarding auction houses, auction authenticators, and misguided practices from both. Unfortunately I do not have the time to read them all or in any great detail, hoping to find some verbiage that may be misconstrued.
Relative to Lou Lampson, I have never met the man, spoken to him, or even written to him. BUT, after seeing the praises from several forum members I have this to offer regarding a particular item in my collection which was authenticated by Lou.
Several years ago, before this forum and criticality and research now required to be in this business, I purchased, what I thought, was a very significant piece of Cal Ripken Jr. memorabilia from a private dealer.
In short, this was a kelly green St. Patrick's Day "game used" jersey of Cal Ripken Jr. from the early to mid 80's. Along with the jersey came a full 8 x 10 page of pain stakingly detailed description written by Lou Lampson citing references to other Oriole St. Patrick's Day jerseys in that era, refences to wear, etc.
Over the past year I've tried to find any photos ANYWHERE showing any Orioles player wearing a St. Patrick's Day jersey and guess what......................not one to be found................because..............They NEVER WORE ANY!
Readers of this forum may say it's my own damn fault for not researching this prior to purchasing and too bad for me! Well, maybe so but this was purchased several years ago prior to all the exposure now thrust into this hobby as exhibited by reading this forum. At that time Lou had a lot of notoriety and I, unfortunately, put a lot of faith in the fact that this piece came with a hand signed letter from him. Today, I approach all my purchases much differently, you can bet on it!
I personally would like to have Lou Lampson explain his justification for deeming this jersey an authentic "game used" Cal Ripken Jr. St. Patrick's Day jersey. If Lou or any other authenticator does any sort of research, albeit some photo comparison, this would have been a " no brainer" for him.
Troy, as a friend of Lou's I'm hoping you can pass this along to Lou as I'd be more than willing to share all the details of this situation with him in hopes to satisfy this bad taste I have been struggling with. I've heard from several members that Lou does not respond to collectors questions and I have not wasted my time trying. I guess I'm calling Lou out on this one to stand by his credibility.
Lou Lampson-I want a game worn Orioles St. Pat's jersey, too!
June 8 2005, 2:43 PM
Dan-
You indicate Lou wrote that your Ripken St. Pat's jersey compares to other Orioles St. Pat's jerseys he has inspected? Maybe Troy can have Lou shed some light on this statement, and in particular, specific players, tagging and years of these other green O's jerseys he has seen. I have been collecting Ripken game used items for over 15 years, and have never seen a photo, card or proof that he or any O's player has worn a special green jersey on St. Pat's day.
I have spoken with Lou Lampson and he is willing to review this jersey and letter. In order for him to do so, he needs to see a copy of the original letter and photos of the item. Please mail to me at Troy Kinunen, 4034 W. National Ave., Milwaukee, WI 53215
I will be seeing Lou soon and will pass these along.
Troy - - - - - in general, do things need to go through you or American Memorabilia in order to get to Lou Lampson, or does he have a publicly known mailing address, phone number, and email address? If he does, would you post this information as I can't be the only one that would like to have it. Dave Bushing, Dave Grob, Keith Vari, and most "experts" in the hobby, are easy to contact - - - - - just wondering if Lou Lampson is, too - - - - - - please let us know. Now that SCD Authentic is a flash in the pan and Lou is not with MEARS, I'm wondering how collectors can get a hold of him. Thanks! It's good of you to help out Dan - - - - - a shame what happened to him on this silly St. Patrick's Day O's jersey.
As I promised, I will post a fee schedule for Lou Lampson along with his contact information.
Regarding your comment that SCDA has washed out, there could not be anything farther than the truth. MEARS is still under contract will all of the auction houses we presently were with, we are negotiating to add two new large accounts, and the launching of MEARS-ONLINE is scheduled for August 1st.
All of the letters we completed under SCDA will still be recognized by MEARS and included in both our bat and jersey population report.
Troy - - - - - thanks for clarifying. I did indeed have the impression that SCD Authentic had ended. Is SCD Authentic negotiating or signing any new contracts or will it officially end once it has fulfilled its obligations under current contracts? If SCD Authentic is still going to be a functional "authentication" business, will it compete with MEARS? Who will be the authenticators for SCD Authentic with most people leaving to start MEARS? Will Lou Lampson be the main "authenticator" for SCD Authentic? I did read Dave G.'s notes - - - - - I guess I'm just confused as to the future of SCD Authentic if they are not over and done with, as you say. If SCD Authentic is going to end after they fulfill their current contracts, what is the time-frame for it's official end? - - - - - - Thank you.
As promised, here is contact information for Lou Lampson. He will be recieving items at this address up to the date of August 1, 2005. He asked not to send items after that date, but all items recieved before that date will be processed.
Troy,
Thanks for listing Lou Lampson's address and authentication rates.
I assume he does not have an e-mail address...
I HOPE he has a computer. "Google" might have prevented some of his authentication mistakes...
Why does Lou Lampson need a mouthpiece (spokesperson)?
His street-cred is melting, as we speak.
Troy,
I greatly appreciate you stepping up and helping me out. I am very curious what Lou's response will be after reviewing the photos and LOA. Thanks again. I'll be getting these out to you ASAP. Would it be faster to send scans via email or would you rather have hard copy??
...but it has a letter of authenticity-it has to be real
June 10 2005, 7:19 AM
Dan-
You are curious to see what Lou will say?
What can he say, except, "Sorry....made another mistake".
You are one of the lucky ones who may get your $$$ back on this so called "genuine 100% original as compared to the other Orioles St. Pat's" jersey. What if you tucked it away for 10 years, then came to realize that this shirt with the rock-solid LOA is complete garbage? How many other collectors have similar Orioles St.Patrick Ripkens or Toronto Blue Jays St. Patricks jersey or special Boston Red Sox jerseys made from virgin wool, worn for 1/2 of 1 inning but comes with a letter from Lou stating that the Red Sox did indeed wear these on the Popes birthday in 1977, and then come to discover 10 years from now that they have a similar situation as you?
I can only imagine what this Forum will look like in 10 years....."how can I locate this authenticator who wrote me a letter on this shirt that I have come to understand was a style never worn by the Phillies, yet I purchased it for $6,000 based on a letter of authenticity?".
Dan, please keep us updated on the outcome.
Howard Wolf
Howard - - - - - you are on the money. Your post is both funny and sad (I'm sure you agree). But let's take it a step farther - - - - - you wrote to Dan the following:
"Dan- You are curious to see what Lou will say? What can he say, except, "Sorry....made another mistake". You are one of the lucky ones who may get your $$$ back on this so called "genuine 100% original as compared to the other Orioles St. Pat's" jersey."
First - - - - - if Dan does get his money back, he can thank Eric first (for this forum) and guys like you second (for your/their informative posts).
Second - - - - - What can Lou say, you ask? "Sorry...made another mistake" does not cut it if he did indeed state that he compared it to other known game used Orioles St. Patrick's Day jerseys. How can that be true if they never wore Orioles St. Patrick's Day jerseys???????????????????? That is more than, "Sorry....made another mistake" in my book. - - - - - again, I'm sure you agree. I, too, am looking forward to hearing the outcome of this.
Just an update to the forum memember with interest in this saga that photos of the jersey and LOA from Lou Lampson have been sent to Troy Kinunen who will pass these along to Lou for his examination. I honestly am waiting with baited breath to hear, hopefully first hand, Lou's response to this jersey and LOA. Updates pending...............
TROY - UPDATE YET???? Ripken St. Pat's Jersey - Lampson Credibility
June 21 2005, 5:26 PM
Troy,
Myself and various other members of this fourm are wondering what feedback you've received (or haven't) from Lou regarding the Ripken St. Patty's Day jersey?
All of this begs the following question - Why do many authenticators who specialize in a particular field eventually feel inclined to authenticate items outside their area of expertise. I have seen it time and time again through the years, and it inevitably leads to trouble.
Here's my FREE advice to all the "expert authenticators" out there - stick to what you know best and quit trying to be what you're not.
But how will they fill their pockets with wads of money?
June 21 2005, 11:32 PM
They can't fill their pockets as well unless they authenticate everything under the sun - - - - - football, basketball, baseball, hockey, needlepoint, good items, bad items, nonexistent items - - - - - you name it, it's good and here is a pricey letter so that you can know it's good! (otherwise, how would we know?)
