Can't believe I missed this...

A buddy of mine used to own these - I'm sure he didn't notice.

He sold them to Rick - I'm sure he didn't notice.

They have a Lampson LOA - I'm guessing he didn't notice.

http://bid.strikezoneauctions.com/Bidding.taf?_function=detail&Auction_uid1=588207&_UserReference=7F000001477C6CBE24D75CCE78FA433DC36E

Click on the pics of the shoes at the bottom of the auction page (or below) and it's plain to see this is not a matching set. The fellow that won these, just got them signed and he was kind enough to send me a photo of the signed shoe. I already had some photos on file of the unsigned shoes and when I compared the pics, it jumped out.





Greg
http://www.geocities.com/otismalibu/index.html

I'm guessing the 12 lace eyelets on one;10 on the other? Was this mentioned in the LOA?

You are correct, sir.

Harder to see, but the chevrons differ as well.

I don't know if it was mentioned in the LOA. Seems unlikely.

Greg

If you would like to receive my list of game used baseball and basketball items, please email me at rgf2@hotmail.com.

There also should be a "DR J" blocked letter stamp on the ankle. Converse game worn NBA shoe 101...Who exactly is "The Doctah"?

I'm not sure when Converse added the DRJ stamp to his shoes, but I think it was after he joined the Sixers. I've seen photos of him with the Sixers, wearing shoes w/o the stamp, during his first season (76-77). And based on my photo research, the thinner the chevron at the angle, the older the Doc shoe.

The 12 eyelet shoe with the thinner chevron looks comparable to Erving gamers from the late ABA / early NBA era. Could the 10 eyelet shoe possibly be another Erving game shoe? I haven't been able to find any pics that show him in 10 eyelet Converse, but very few pic offer that kind of detail...but it still looks like pro style high shoes. Tough to compare, simply based on pics. Would be interested to compare the measurements of the sole, height, etc.

The fellow in possession of the shoes took a closer look at my prompting and found that the ventilation holes around the chevron differed as well.

That's the great thing about the DRJ stamp. If the shoes have it, you can at least be assured they were issued to Erving. I don't know how you could possibly identify his early ABA shoes (Chucks, leather 2 stripe 'Verse, Adidas Pro Models and his traditonal leatherConverse) other than getting a matching size.

Greg

Actually, the 10 eyelet shoe has the thinner chevron...not the 12, as I stated in the previous post

Greg

Please don't take this as a defense of anyone involved in the selling or authentication of these shoes, I just am going to throw this out as a thought.

It is not uncommon for players to wear mismatched shoes. This could be due to one foot being longer, or wider than the other or just more comfortable(or a number of other reasons).

Remember this is before the days when shoe companies started pouring crazy money into sports and had reps who only job was to take care of their athletes.

Again, this is not a defense of Lou Lampson or Broadway Rick, the info still should have been noted on the LOA.

Owen,

Agreed. I'm sure Erving had quite a few pairs of shoes on hand and he may have simply mismatched the pair. He could have worn them mismatched or simply grabbed a mismatched pair when he gave them away. I talked at length last night with the owner of the shoes, and they seem to match pefectly in size.

I don't think anyone tried to purposely deceive anyone else. But if we can spot the difference in pics, you'd think someone else might have seen the difference while holding the shoes in their hands. But, perhaps not.

Hopefully, my initial post didn't come across as finger pointing. It was meant more as a "check out this oddity".

Now if we could just find the other "matching" pair

Greg