An Open Letter to Global, Mike Baker and Steve Rocchi

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Posted By: shelly jaffe

An open letter to Global, Mike Baker and Steve Rocchi: Are you going to re-emburse these people who have lost money buying bad autographs with your certs?

You can tolerate GAI just so much. This jersey is the straw that broke the camel's back!
(see the pictures of this horror at the bottom of this post).

This jersey with Global Authentication just sold for $7,000 on eBay. Just look at it. I am sure that many of the members of this board can see it for what it is. Total crap.

Global has had a revolving door of "so-called" authenticators, beginning at first with Justin Priddy, then Mike Baker took over for many months and now Rick "Gizmo" Giddings.

Who are these so-called "experts"?

This thread will revolve around the bogus items passed by Global with certification that include Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams, whose items show up most often on eBay with their certs. There are now probably a couple of hundred Global certified pieces on ebay.

There are currently 227 Mickey Mantle signed pieces on eBay. 20% of all Mantle signatures on ebay are authenticated by Global, including these pieces which were originally distributed by a well known East Coast distributor of bogus material who also distributed to Shop At Home, B&J, Howard's and Madison Sports.

Just look at these bad ebay items:

GAI MICKEY MANTLE Autographed photo Global Cert. - eBay (item 290227396698 end time
May-04-08 18:29:54 PDT)

GAI JOE DIMAGGIO Autographed photo Global Cert. - eBay (item 290227395814 end time
May-04-08 18:24:32 PDT)

GAI TED WILLIAMS Autographed B&W 8x10 GLOBAL CERT - eBay (item 300221568250 end time
May-04-08 10:02:56 PDT)

Mickey Mantle & Joe Dimaggio 8 x 10 photo GAI Certified - eBay (item 380021023601
end time
May-03-08 15:47:55 PDT)

When did Mike Baker become an autograph expert exactly? Maybe his appearance on TV as a card expert was justified, but autographs?
And according to a conversation I had with Global, Mike Baker did not even look at the items which he allegedly examined. Yet his signature is on all these certs.

Since Global is an "approved" eBay authenticator it's difficult to have these bogus items removed. Global isn't allowed to authenticate David Wright's signature due to David's complaint of them passing bogus pieces. Shouldn't that tell you something?

Again I ask, what makes any of these Global people "experts"? How has eBay continued to allow themselves to have a relationship with this company? They have the consistency of a Frangipani, probably getting an eventual one correct by accident, but how do they continue to have a following of any sort with this shabby work and these so-called "experts" at the helm?

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Posted By: JimB

Doesn't this belong on the memorbilia side of the forum?
JimB

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Posted By: leon

I am ok with this being here....it's important....and a judgement call. Also, since we all know Gizmo from posting on this main forum it has a little bit of on topic to it.....Most autograph stuff really should be on the other side though....750 posts here we come. regards

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Posted By: Dave Haas

I don't undestand the point. Are you saying these signatures are not authentic or are you just bashing GAI for authenticating them???

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Posted By: davidcycleback

Go Vassar!

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Posted By: Alan

I agree with Leon - this thread will be a long one.
BTW - Shelly, how was your Pesach ?

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Posted By: Steve

I am in for one.


Steve

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Posted By: barrysloate

How about locking the Stats thread since I think it's up to 4,000 posts, and let the discussion continue here.

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Posted By: Jason L

Ernie Banks or the Eddie Matthews...

but I love how it appears as though Yogi Berra then signed Mickey's name right underneath his!
This is a special piece!!!

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Posted By: shelly jaffe

answer to Dave - the signatures are awful, that is the point.
And by the way Pesach was fine, thanks for asking.

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Posted By: boxingcardman

I didn't know he was a chick...

Sic Gorgiamus Allos Subjectatos Nunc

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Posted By: Richard S. Simon

That is one of the worst pieces I have ever seen.
Whoever examined it and authenticated it should be ashamed of themselves.
--

I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent.
Unknown author
--
We made a promise. We swore we'd always remember.
No retreat baby, no surrender.
The Boss

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Posted By: Scott Mt. Joy

One thing to note and that is many ebay scammers will steal a picture of a valid coa from say GAI or PSA/NDA and paste it up with a totaly different item.

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Posted By: shelly jaffe

There are so many bad items with Global certs from many different sellers.
I could believe it happening with one or two, but not this many.
These are not stolen certs, this is Global not doing the job right.
They are failing miserably.

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Posted By: Rich Klein

This has been pulled from EBay and GAI has stepped up to buy this jersey. Bob Brill, an old friend of mine, is a long-time respected hobby journalist and I would put credence into his report

Regards
Rich

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Posted By: Richard S. Simon

I did an ebay search and in the last 14 days there have been 56 Mantle items sold with a GAI cert.
I looked at some of them and I could not agree with the GAI authentications that I saw.
Here are a few examples:

http://cgi.ebay.com/MICKEY-MANTLE-TED-WILLIAMS-SIGNED-8X10-FRAMED-GAI-COA_W0QQitemZ150239136364QQihZ005QQcategoryZ27265Q QssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


http://cgi.ebay.com/GAI-MICKEY-MANTLE-Autographed-photo-Global-Cert_W0QQitemZ290227396698QQihZ019QQcategoryZ27265 QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/Mickey-Mantle-Joe-DiMaggio-DUAL-AUTOGRAPH-PHOTO-GAI-CER_W0QQitemZ160233019197QQihZ006QQcategoryZ27265Q QssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


BTW - Jodi we could use your input on this, the items that Shelly posted and these three.
--


I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent.
Unknown author
--
We made a promise. We swore we'd always remember.
No retreat baby, no surrender.
The Boss

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Posted By: shelly jaffe

Congratulations to Global for doing the right thing on the horrendous jersey.
I still don't understand how anyone could have authenticated it.
Now what will Global be doing about the rest of the items that have sold on ebay in the last few weeks that were bad. Many of them as I said before, came from that famous East Coast distributor.

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Posted By: shelly jaffe

My concern is that Ebay was contacted about the Jersey as well as all the other garbage that GAI has authenticated. They refuse to pull these items because of there dealings with GAI. I sent the picture to Bob and to Steve. I am happy that they did what all of you could see needed to be done. I just want the other three hundred or more items that where sold and that are being sold to be taken care of. That also includes Jordan, and Ali two of the hardest autographs to authenticate in the hobby. If you doubt the numbers just go to ebay and look at completed auctions. Jodi and any other authenticator worth his salt will verify what I am saying.

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Posted By: Pscolgrafs

My favorite part of that jersey is that all the names were Hall Of Famers, collected over what appears to be a twenty year time, and Roger Maris happens to find himself in a signed jersey that was done over a period of time in two different sharpies!

This is a big deal to be honest with you because Global is associated with eBay and there is trust there, as there is trust between the loyal SCD readers and their advertisers. If GAI can get this so wrong, how can they manage other names that often show up in infrequently in suspicous forms (James, Ali, Woods, Jordan etc.), as well as asking the important questions. Who authenticates for Global and how does one get the job?

There are varying degress of forgeries. The ones above are nicely done, but also somewhat famous and if Shelly can decipher them (as as well as many experts), maybe you have the wrong authenticators in place if you in fact want to call yourself a reputable authenticating house.

I would just once like to hear someone who frequently makes mistakes to admit it. Will that happen in this hobby during my lifetime?

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Posted By: Hagar Henderson

I'm not sure why people are surprised by this. You can read the same stories about any authenticating service. Does anyone else remember when James Spence got busted by Fox News for authenticating a forged Sal Bando autograph? (this seems to be Sal Bando's biggest claim to fame, LOL). There's a whole website here bashing PSA and some of the big auction houses:

http://www.autographalert.com/2005-3-6.html

Think reasonably about the task at hand. These companies will authenticate anything from Babe Ruth to former Presidents and Playboy Bunnies. How can you assemble a team of 5 or 6 authenticators that are "experts" on everyone's autograph? I have a good collection of Mantle signatures, 75% of them I received in person. I've spent countless hours looking at real Mantle signatures and I've seen some alleged forgeries that would have passed right by me as authentic. I don't feel qualified to authenticate The Mick's signature despite my experience with his autographs. Now, with that said, how can these companies be so educated on every athlete or celebrity? The answer of course is that they cannot. Authentication companies are doing nothing but guessing. People should be smart enough to realize this. These companies charge high fees and deal in high volume and they accept signatures from anyone. I could submit a Hagar Henderson autograph and they would put a COA on it. It's all a racket.

Since they are all just guessing, I don't think any company is better than any other. A forensic handwriting expert could easily spend 10 hours validating one piece of handwriting for a court case. These authentication companies couldn't spend more than 15 or 20 minutes each. The best way to get an authentic signature is to do your own research on each item you are considering purchasing.

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Posted By: dan mckee

When was Mike Baker considered a card expert???

Not in my lifetime.

Dan Mckee

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Posted By: Steve

According to Judge Judy he is.


Steve

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Posted By: shelly jaffe

First of all once again thank you Leon for allowing this thread on the main board.
I would like to ask you to lock it now (temporarily only if that is allowed) because I am meeting with Steve Rocchi on Friday at 10 30 am.
Steve has challenged me to "prove" that the items in question, which were authenticated by Global, are not authentic.
I will post the results of this meeting and the thread can then continue here or I will continue this story on a new thread.

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Posted By: Alan

Just get Dee Snider to judge autographs from now on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyu7nN3kBnw&feature=related