I have been offered a Barry Bonds jersey from the 2000-2004 era or so (does not have 911 flag on back). The jersey is the Giants home "cream" color, has Russell 50+2" tagging, lettering is all correct etc. But does not come with a letter from Bonds, but does have a stamp on the inside flap below the last button from the team. The stamp reads "Purchased from the San Francisco Giants". The stamp is a good indication, but I thought that Bonds sold all of his jerseys individually. I am not too familiar with his company, or his more recent jerseys. Can Anyone explain this? Does Bonds just sell some of his items himself? Please let me know the pros and cons of the jersey. I will try to get scans up over the weekend.
Over the last few years, "mint" Bonds Russell jerseys have been offered all over Ebay. They have the correct tagging, including size and extra length. Once it is sold as non-game worn on Ebay, no doubt it resurfaces in an auction or even back on Ebay as a gamer.
The Bonds gamers I have seen all have his BONDS 25 patch and a letter from him.
Don't be fooled by the "PURCHASED FROM...." stamp. For $5.99 and a trip to Staples, you too can own such a stamp.
No Bonds jersey with a "Purchased from . . . " stamp has been sold through the Giants since 1996. And there were ABSOLUTELY none sold through the team between 2000 and 2004. STAY AWAY FROM THAT JERSEY!
The Bonds "team issued" jersey that was offered to me has just been put up for sale again by seller "thesofasurfer". I have no problem with the person who offered it to me, he was just trying to make a quick couple of hundred, offering it to me for $950, as team issued. The only problem now is, he informed me he bought that Bonds jersey......
What do you guys think? I was also told he forwards his items from an Asian country, I think it was one of the Korea's, but Im not sure. He also primarily sells retail jerseys, with the occasional "team issued", or "game used" jersey in there.
He also has sold tons of Ichiro "team issued" and "game used" jerseys.
Forum Readers-
It was noted in an earlier post that the Giants have not stamped their jerseys with the "PURCHASED FROM THE SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS". I purchased a Ron Wotus (coach) 2001 Giants jersey from a collector on Ebay with a team letter, and it indeed does have this stamped on the Russell tag in the tail. With a team letter, and considering that it is worn by their bench coach, I have to assume that the Giants ARE stamping their tags.
I clarified my comment on another post. The Giants have stamped all their jerseys since December 2001. But they have not stamped and sold any Bonds jerseys during this time. Hope the information on the other post helps protects collectors from crooks.
Redirected Bonds Jersey and Giants Stamping Information
July 17 2005, 7:20 PM
Howard,
You purchased the Wotus jersey from me. I have been collecting Giants jersey for over 25 years and was a friend of Dick Dobbins for nearly 20 years. The following is a history of Giants jerseys sold through the team and stamping:
Beginning in approximately 1980, Stan Marks, the Giants Spring Training Team Pharmacist, began acquiring and selling Giants jerseys. But none of the jerseys Stan sold were stamped or included a team COA. Most also required nameplate restoration. A couple years later, Stan convinced his friend, Dick Dobbins, to partner with him on the jerseys. Dick, a long-time collector, was a teacher-administrator at Acalanes High School in Lafayette, California, and had ventured into jersey sales a few years earlier when he found boxes of Kansas City/Oakland Athletics flannels at a junior college flea market in Oakland, California. Dick purchased those jerseys for $10 each, and sold them for $40-$50 each.
A couple years after partnering with Stan, Dick took over the business and began rubber stamping the jerseys "PURCHASED FROM SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS." Most of the time, Dick would stamp the jerseys in obvious places, i.e., the tail. But sometimes, they would be out-of-sight in unobvious places. In fact, I've authenticated a few jerseys by pointing out the stamp to an owner for the first time. And recently, one seller was trying to sell me a 1982 Chili Davis home jersey for $200, and I think he truly believed it was fake, as he admitted a dealer told him it was fake. When I showed him the hidden stamp, he was shocked and withdrew his offer to sell!
Initially, Dick offered no COA. But beginning in the mid-1980s, he officially formed San Francisco Giants Memorabilia, and began offering COAs with the stamped items. Dick received and sold Giants jerseys and equipment through 1996. And he stopped simply because it became increasingly more difficult to make a profit on the jerseys. Specifically, at the end of each season, the Giants required that Dick purchase all the jerseys, no cherry picking. Initially, it worked because he would truly receive ALL the jerseys. But after 1995, Dick began receiving less and less of the name players. For example, he would receive one Bonds, and a pile of Benzingers, Scarsones, Faneytes, and such. And the Bonds was always sneaked-in by Equipment Manager Mike Murphy, as from day one with the Giants, and with one minor exception I'll explain another time, Bonds ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS kept his jerseys. Additionally, as Dick said, by 1996, most collectors had already added the current style to their collection. So with sales decreasing, Dick began trading jerseys, including Bonds, for autographed photographs and press pins because, "They always sell." In fact, two collecting friends of mine got their Bonds jerseys by trading modern sports autographs for the jerseys. The final straw was in November 1996, when the Giants sold their 1996 game-used helemts through their Giants Dugout Stores instead of through Dick. I purchased a Matt Williams for $50 at the Embarcadero Center 4 store, called Dick, and he, for one of the few time in the nearly 20 years I knew him, exploded and began complaining about the Giants new merchandising manager, who "never listens."
In 1997, Dick's friend, Robb Wochnick took over the sale of Giants jerseys. Robb was given the "PURCHASED FROM SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS STAMP" by Dick, and he used it to stamp all the jerseys. In 1998, the Giants terminated their relationship with Wochnick, and began selling the jerseys on their website and through the Giants Dugout Stores. Although the jerseys were not stamped, they included a team COA.
In December 2001, at my and a collecting friend's suggestion, the Giants created a new "PURCHASED FROM . . ." stamp and began stamping their jerseys once again. But the new stamp has a different and larger font, and states "PURCHASED FROM THE SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS"; note the addition of "THE." It also occasionally leaves a rectangular border imprint, whereas Dick's left a triangular imprint. One of the reasons for the style change was because we saw 2001 Giants jerseys being sold on Ebay with a "PURCHASED FROM . . ." stamp BEFORE the Giants had even received their stamp from the stationers! So, except for unsold remnants from earler years that were sold and stamped after December 2001, no Giants jersey from 1998 to 2000 should have any "PURCHASED FROM . . ." stamp. But EVERY, EVERY, EVERY jersey sold through he Giants from 2001 to 2004 should have a "PURCHASED FROM THE SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS" stamp AND, AND, AND an original team COA. As to the Bonds, based on my current Giants team relationships and benefits of those relationships, NO stamped game-used or game-issued Bonds was sold through the Giants between 2001 and 2004.
Finally, if anyone wants a photographic example of an authentic Dobbins or 2001-2004 Giants stamp, e-mail me, and when I have a chance, I will e-mail you photos.
