I know this forum has been pretty inactive for a while but I just discovered it and wanted to chime in and share my experience dealing with Frank and Piedmont sports. I was the purchaser of Mantle Aaron ball discussed on this forum back in April
http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=135030
I originally went to his store to sell him an antique football jersey I owned. He offered me $50 cash or store credit. So I looked at his online store and saw the ball for sale on ebay. I won the auction for about $45 so I just considered it an even trade with him. I picked up the ball and then started researching it a bit more which is how I found the forum discussing it's authenticity which I immediately brought to his attention. He responded saying he would track down or obtain a cert for it. After a few weeks he gave up on the cert but was confident that the Aaron was real and the Mantle clubhouse. He gave me the option of retrieving my jersey or keeping the ball. I found a very similar ball personalized to the same person by Ted Williams and also signed by Hank Aaron and Certed by JSA.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/370501097523...84.m1438.l2649
The Aaron Sig is almost identical so I figured they were signed around the same time and decided to keep the ball since $50 for an Aaron autograph on a Cronin ball was still a good deal.
When I went to pick up the ball Frank pulled a real classy move (no sarcasm implied) and decided to give me my Jersey back as well so basically the ball was completely free. To make the deal sweeter it occurred to me that if their ever was a cert for the ball with JSA as Frank claimed; that it would probably have been certed around the same time as that Ted Williams/Aaron ball on ebay. That ball's cert # is B88462 so I went to JSA's site and searched similar numbers. Bam!!! B88464 was a match (an Aaron Sig with clubhouse Mantle on a Reach ball). The whole experience with Frank was a bit shady but it taught me a lot about collecting and I left Piedmont a Satisfied customer. This forum is obviously discussing a much bigger issue but I figured I'de share my 2 cents.
P.S. I sold the antique Football Jersey on ebay for over $300 so I'm really happy he gave it back.