[RichardSimon]

I receive many e mails daily.
Here is one that is a beauty. I have not revealed the name of the sender in order to protect the stupid.

Hello,

I have a concern about a baseball I owned. I was hoping you could
offer some advice about this given your expertise. I bought a signed
1932 Yankees World Series Champions Team Ball (signatures including
Ruth and Gehrig) at a charity auction a few months ago. I bought this
in good faith (it was a charity auction after all).

When I decided to sell this ball I contacted several groups and sent
them photos of the ball with the signatures. I had many responses
about this. Some wanted to buy it outright, some wanted to sell it at
auction at a later date on commission, and some were concerned how
authentic it was. I sold it to an auction house that gave me the best
offer.

I didn't get this ball authenticated because, first of all, I don't
know anything about sports memorabilia so I wasn't even aware of the
authentication process until I wanted to sell it. Secondly, I
understood that the person who donated it to the charity auction was a
sports collector so I had no reason to even question it. Finally, it
turns out it is expensive to get baseballs authenticated. I presumed
the sports auction house that bought it knew more about baseballs than
I do. I sold this ball without any conditions concerning
authentication and the buyer knew it wasn't authenticated.

Three weeks have passed since I sold this ball. This sports auction
house just called me today and want a refund for the ball because it
isn't authentic. I don't know what to do.

According to them, this ball was submitted to an authenticator when we
owned it and it failed. This doesn't make any sense because I thought
authentication had to be done in person. I know some potential buyers
decided to not buy the ball because they thought it wasn't authentic
but at no point did anyone take this ball out of our possession. The
only person who saw this ball in person was not an authenticator but a
sports buyer who offered to buy it. This sports auction said they
recently had it authenticated and it failed.

What are my rights? Isn't it strange that 3 weeks have passed since I
sold this to the sports auction house? How can they claim it was
authenticated during the time we owned it? I believe a potential
buyer submitted my photos to an authenticator and they determined it
was not authentic. In the process of selling it, some individuals
didn't think it was authentic but they were not authenticators. Also,
of course, some people will tell you what you're selling isn't worth
much so they can get a good price!

It's possible that this sports auction house may be trying to scam me.
I never claimed the ball was authenticated. They knowingly bought an
unauthenticated ball. How can they hold me accountable when their
expertise apparently failed them in a purchase that was not
conditional on the ball passing authentication? Also, who's to say
they're not going to try to return a fake ball to me and sell the real
one at auction?

Please help! I am so concerned. The money we sold the baseball for
is for buying our first home. I am so worried about this as I feel
like we're getting duped here. Your advice would be greatly
appreciated.

Best regards,

XX,,,PhD. (yes she said she is a PhD)