barry halper forgeries

[stone193]

I read the article and want to believe that he obtained these items and thought they were genuine?

Perhaps I'm an eternal optimist.

However, the evidence is mounting and the Halper name may be getting as bad as some of the items he sold to ML BB and at auction in 1999.

[HRBAKER]

The question then becomes did he still think they were genuine when they were sold?

[packs]

Don't auction houses have a responsibility to authenticate their items before they are sold? How did Barry Halper become such an authority on memorabilia that because he said he bought something it was considered authentic?

[barrysloate]

Sotheby's hired independent experts to authenticate the uniforms and autographs for the sale.

[Hankphenom]

It would be interesting to know who did "authenticate" the proven bogus items sold or auctioned from the Halper collection, and if anything at all got bounced by the experts and consultants (wasn't Rob Lifson the main guy?) retained for the project? In other words, did any of the hobby heavyweights getting paid for their participation raise any red flags about the apparently vast number of questionable items they must have seen coming out of the collection?

[benjulmag]

Putting aside the hypocrisy of the person alleging the improprieties, as to the letter press copy (not the original but the era's "carbon copy") with the Hawaiian archives stamp that was purportedly stolen from the Archives, if memory serves me correctly, I think it should be mentioned that the letter was sold by Anne Cartwright, widow of William Cartwright, Alexander Cartwright's great-grandson, to the auction house that auctioned it to the person who later transacted it to Halper. Assuming this is true, then if I had to choose between the letter being stolen, or deaccessioned and returned to its original owner, I would say the latter is more likely. As to the original Knickerbocker baseball referred to in the article, from the perspective of one who was discussing same with Anne Cartwright at the time Halper purchased it, while I had questions whether it was a Knickerbocker baseball, I had no doubt Halper thought it was at the time he purchased it.

[RichardSimon]

Originally Posted by Hankphenom

It would be interesting to know who did "authenticate" the proven bogus items sold or auctioned from the Halper collection, and if anything at all got bounced by the experts and consultants (wasn't Rob Lifson the main guy?) retained for the project? In other words, did any of the hobby heavyweights getting paid for their participation raise any red flags about the apparently vast number of questionable items they must have seen coming out of the collection?

I looked briefly at The Halper catalog and it only lists the authenticator for uniforms.
That authenticator is Grey Flannel.
No authenticator is listed for autographs, no grader for cards, unless I missed that listing somewhere.

[Piedmont Sport]

Real concerns are much larger then just a few items passed thru auction houses ,,,,,,,,,,,,, I have owned and sold autographs and baseballs from the Halper estate all certed by PSA and JSA ---- My guess is that if it came from Halper ,,,, major companies would assume it's good. That was then ,,, now the reverse is true - it must be bad - for all the right reasons. Our hobby is smeared by BAD Auction Houses ,,, and no accountability ,,,,,,,,, It's now down to 2 companies PSA and JSA which becomes a HUGE issue because customers are buying the cert and not the autograph. You can disagree but i do so many conventions dealer and client are saying the same thing. We are now in a pissing contest between both companies - and as a seller i'm sick of it all ,, so you can imagine how the buyer must feel. Marketing has made us all accept PSA and JSA along with any other company ,,,, making us think it's REAL. Yet everyday another story uncovers more fraud and mistakes ,,,, Our hobby would be served by regulations and certifactions along with education. MAKE THE COMPANY ISSUING THE CERT RESPONSABLE FOR ERRORS AND WE MAY SEE LESS OF THEM.

[Hankphenom]

Wow--nobody vouching for this stuff, other than the reputations of the names associated with the auction (Sothebys, Lifson, anybody else?)? Except for the uniforms (Grey Flannel), which seems to be the most problematic area of the collection. How's that for irony? And who passed the unis for Grey Flannel? This was the dawn of the "authentication era," I guess, and everybody was lulled by the Halper name and legend. There must be a lot of second looks being taken now.