[Duluth Eskimo]

James, it's funny that you mention that because I have always went by the belief that I judge an item based on the item. I do not let someone else tell me it's good, I judge the item. I know exactly what you mean with outside factors and influences, but the item stands on it's own. What i'm saying is that I buy a fair amount of items with no authentication whatsoever because I trust my own judgement. Do I get burned every once in a while? Yes, but it's getting rare. Do I get some great deals, yes.

With that being said, you can never really make a qualified judgement on an item unless you have it in your hand and I think that gets lost in a lot of the questions that are asked on this board by people.

Just by the research alone, Ben was able to match it up to a nice index card that he has seen or owns. Obviously this Gehrig is no good by that research alone and screams for people to steer clear of this seller. As previously said, that is the nice part of this forum.

What I am saying is that only a few people here and there are willing to give an opinion on an item without one of the trusted people to give their blessing. The signatures were actually real signatures that were photocopied.

I think Richard and Jim are great, but it's not because I don't think they ever make a mistake. It's because I think they run a great business and will stand behind everything they sell and are quality people. I don't know either one personally, other than seeing them back in the day at the National and buying a few items here and there.

In the end, I am no where near the level of experience of people previously mentioned, but I do trust my own eye and have the guts to go with it if I feel the item is good.