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Part 2 Howard Thompson (Help Me Howard) Pix11 Reveals True Story About The Forgeries Sold By Bergen County NJ’s Baseball Memorabilia Auction Drew Max COA AAU

Following my original thread (link below) on the forgeries sold by the Bergen County Prosecutor (and Caspert Auctioneers & Appraisers), Howard Thompson (Help Me Howard) of Pix11 Channel 11 here in New York produced a two-part follow-up on the forgeries and how they were made available to the public.

First, the link to my original thread:

http://live.autographmagazine.com/profiles/blogs/forged-autographs-...

Two, links to Parts 1 & 2 of the Investigative Report produced by Howard Thompson of Pix11:

http://pix11.com/2014/11/19/prosecutor-auctions-off-bogus-sports-me...

http://pix11.com/2014/11/20/nj-prosecutor-used-false-document-to-se...

The forgeries sold by the Bergen County Prosecutor and Caspert Auctioneers & Appraisers were authenticated by Authentic Autographs Unlimited (Drew Max).

The Bergen County Prosecutor paid Drew Max and Marc Goldman (Authentic Autographs Unlimited) $10,000 to examine the confiscated memorabilia.

Unfortunately, the Bergen County Prosecutor did not reveal that the majority of the autographs were "deemed not authentic" years before.

Mr. Howard Thompson does a great job revealing the true story behind the autographs being "deemed not authentic" with true documentation.

The  majority of the autographs that were sold at the auction obvious are forgeries.

These are forgeries that we see on Ebay being sold (and exposed by the autograph collectors here on AML) every day.

One of the winners of some of the forgeries were Mary Byrne and John Slokovitz.  When you watch Parts 1 & 2 you will see the ugly and poorly-executed Mickey Mantle forgery they purchased.

Below is a photo of the Advertising Poster for the Bergen County Auction.  It is a typical Joe DiMaggio "Operation Bullpen" era forgery.  An obvious forgery.

http://www.bidspotter.com/en-us/auction-catalogues/bsccasp/catalogu...

Part 2 of the Investigative Report done by Howard Thompson is very revealing.

The people who purchased that garbage are people who have no knowledge of autographs.  They based their purchases on the confidence that the Bergen County Prosecutor was selling authentic autographs.

http://pix11.com/2014/11/20/nj-prosecutor-used-false-document-to-se...

The sad and disappointing aspect of all of this is that we have a difficult time enough fighting the sellers of forgeries and phoney authenticators and now this.

It is also interesting to note that according to the Investigative Report by Howard Thompson, PSA would have examined the autographs for half the amount ($5,000) that the Bergen County Prosecutor paid Drew Max ($10,000) and those forgeries would have never made it to auction.

I have yet to see a Mickey Mantle, Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio autograph authenticated by Drew Max that is authentic.  Not one.

Think about that.

Views: 1041

Comment by CEE GEE on November 21, 2014 at 4:42am

Great work brother !!! this is awesome...

Comment by Rick Meyer on November 21, 2014 at 5:45am
Makes you wonder if the prosecutor figured spending $10K and having items to sell was a better deal than spending $5K without the chance if recouping the money when PSA failed the items.

I actually think this DA did his homework on authentications. He selected the guy who would rubber stamp the stuff. It is obvious the selection was intentional by submitting false paperwork regarding other authenticators. They claim Drew Max only hacked off on 25% of the stuff. I don't believe that for a second. I'd sure like to see the things they claim he failed or know what happened to it. I'm betting there isn't anything that wasn't passed.

Dying to see what the fallout from all this is. Everybody has a boss somewhere.....except Fudd of course.
Comment by Chad B on November 21, 2014 at 7:02am

I love the story. Now if someone will shut down Coaches Corner.

Comment by Null on November 21, 2014 at 7:06am

Thank you for posting this Christopher, I saw a small article this morning on it and was hoping you would keep AML updated which you have.

All they had to do was Google "Drew Max COA" and they would've been taken to countless threads here showing his rubber stamps on pitiful forgeries. I'm honestly surprised he was dumb enough to do this deal. Funny how he doesn't comment on stuff to the media, isn't it? 

"Authentication isn't an exact science" LOL. The excuses these clowns make never cease to amaze me. My girlfriend can tell the difference between a real Mantle and a "Banana Mantle", and this "Forensics Expert" can't. 

Comment by Fuddjcal on November 21, 2014 at 9:14am

of course...LOL Rick. As is well documented.

Fudd could not be more exuberant seeing this nimrod John Molinelli caught in a WEB of lies. He should be held accountable for the blatant lies to his constituents. I think he should prosecute himself.

I must commend Howard Thompson on a well researched and accurate story. You don't see that much anymore from the media. He exposed John Hotandsmeeli for the lying, cheating, jerk off he is. This dude Howard Thompson should win an Emmy. What a great reporter. Almost as good as CW.

Comment by Dom Vito Castiglione on November 21, 2014 at 11:43am

Exactly right. Everyone involved in this scam knew they were forgeries. John Molinelli and Drew Max should be in federal prison.

Comment by Sidney Fields on November 21, 2014 at 10:10pm
Comment by CJCollector on November 22, 2014 at 1:45pm

Below is a link to Part 3 of Howard Thompson's Investigative Report.

Once again, kudos to Howard Thompson.

http://pix11.com/2014/11/21/couple-ripped-off-by-prosecutor-cant-be...

Comment by Rick Meyer on November 22, 2014 at 9:06pm
Hope they stay on this DA. Guy is a joke.
Comment by Dom Vito Castiglione on November 23, 2014 at 12:48pm

I like how this clown keeps repeating what most scammers do, "This is not an exact science. How do you know for sure it's fake, where you there when it was signed?"

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