We received as a consignment for auction from an extremely well known , well respected collector and dealer in sports memorabilia for the past 25 years a pair of gloves purported to be signed and used by Marciano. With those gloves we received a notarized letter from the original owner. Based on research of that original owner , it was obvious he was a friend of Marcianos and did have a close relationship with him for many years.
After accepting the gloves into consignment, we contacted PSA to authenticate the signature on the gloves. After a review on site in NJ as well as a review in CA, PSA/DNA issued two LOAs , one for each signed glove. Complete with the PSA/DNA certification as well as the notarized letter we placed the gloves into the November 17th auction.
After the release of the catalog online I was alerted to a post in this forum. After reading the post we immediately edited the description to ensure that it was not implied PSA/DNA was certifying any ‘use’. I also personally contacted the original poster and one other who was said to be affiliated with him. They were both invited to come see the gloves in person and render an opinion, at my expense. One of them (Travis) did respond, although I was not able to get a phone # to have a discussion with him. The other (Mark Ogren) did not respond to several requests by email or phone. (until several days later on 10/24). My discussion with Travis led us to contact an attorney who could properly investigate the gloves for us, who advised us that legally we had taken the right steps to ensure authenticity, however that was not enough for me. I didn’t want to ‘do enough’ …I wanted to be 100% RIGHT. So we formulated a plan to allow to be ‘100% right’ and if anything did not match up, the item would be pulled. I informed travis of this just so he was aware. Despite some’s desire to see an item pulled the minute they make a comment, based solely on their post, we believe that the correct ,carefully thought out and investigated decision is the correct one, and not the EXPEDIENT and EASY ONE.
We contacted a forensic ink lab and had it verified that the ink the gloves were signed in was available since 1962, which did not of course mean they were signed by Rocky, but did mean that it was period specific ink. I contacted MEARS to assign them the task of photo matching the gloves to images available of Rocky training and sparring in 1951 (and there are images of him using Everlast in 1951). This was to begin Monday 10/29. The third part of this three tiered approach was to contact recognized boxing autograph experts to solicit their opinion. I spoke with Jim Stinson on Wednesday and had a great conversation with him. I also spoke to a long time friend in the business Mike Heffner of Lelands, and I thank both Jim and Mike for their time. I also again invited Travis and Mark to look at the gloves and render an opinion in person at my expense for their travel. Travis mentioned he lived to far away, and Mark replied after I had completed all my other research (first reply to me since start of the post). After Jim and Mike’s feedback I did converse with PSA/DNA and did also converse with the consignor. After these conversations, I informed MEARS I would not need their services as my decision was made.
We respect PSA/DNA and their good work, however in this instance feel that too many individuals in the boxing community feel so strongly that this cannot be Marciano’s autograph that we pulled the item. We will ALWAYS make the correct decision with anything we list in our auctions, and anything we feel we need to remove in our auctions. Please keep in mind we feel it is most important to make the CORRECT decision, as opposed to the EASIEST and most expedient decision, which is why we were methodical in our process and response. Obviously , as you can see from my efforts, we were willing to spend more investigating the gloves then we possibly could have made on a 10% buyer’s premium, however it is most important to us to make the correct decision. I can always be reached directly at
ken@goldinauctions.com and I look forward to seeing many of you bid in this and future auctions of ours. Regards, Ken Goldin