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Gridiron Authentics, Post your take on them

http://www.ebay.com/itm/380488670562?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&...

Paid for the PSA quick peek and it came back "Likely not authentic" but they don't say why they think that.

http://www.psacard.com/quickopinion/viewopinion.aspx?id=lgoiZ5Xa%2bWoA

Also looking at

http://www.ebay.com/itm/380489739268?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/380488671667?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_...

and another seller that I noticed does events in my local area (including a huge one next month)

http://www.sureshotpromotions.com/memorabilia.aspx?&a=Rob%20Gro...

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Permalink Reply by JXE on January 18, 2013 at 7:24pm

I thought the PSA quick opinions were failing on pictured items in the auctions, and that those were bad too. I can scan things I've gotten from them if people have serious reason to believe this is what's happening. But like I said, I am 100% confident in them, as they have the same characteristics as their pictured stock and other confirmed in person examples. Maybe the CA side of the business is 100% on the up and up; but like I said, this certainly doesn't help their reputation at all...

One thing i was surprised about is the poor overall quality of the Gridiron site as opposed to the CA site. They're leagues apart. I don't know what that says exactly, but it does seem like these two companies are running separately to some extent. How about their staff? Is it the same? I know  from prior communication that one of the main CS reps for CA is named Abbie.  

Permalink Reply by Steve on January 18, 2013 at 8:11pm

The only person I know at Gridiron, besides the owner Joe, is Ro.  Remember, they have more than two outlets: CA, Gridiron Authentics, Gridiron Legends, and Gridiron Direct.

Permalink Reply by Steve on January 18, 2013 at 5:55pm

I'm starting to think the new way to go on this is to contact the agents for the major athletes involved.  I would think that the agents as well as the players would want to seek a legal remedy to a company not only selling fake signatures of their clients, but also using photo's of them supposedly signing for Gridiron.

Permalink Reply by JXE on January 18, 2013 at 6:17pm

This is an interesting thought. With the Harry Ford photo I mentioned, I know it's because he's really tough about photos and stuff and they could only get one shot. That still doesn't give them permission to do what they did, though. That signing was supposedly arranged through Coolwaters Productions. All of their other celebrity signings have been in house as far as I remember seeing. If that's true, and the theory about some being real and some being fake is true, these celebrities would be very interested in putting a stop to it because they're being contracted to sign a certain amount. 

Let's suppose for a second that CA has no problems whatsoever (as there have been no reports of issues with their product)... wouldn't it still kill them because of this sister company that is clearly not legit? Their reputation is on the line, and they're currently getting big names. I know Bale and Craig haven't happened yet, but they've done a round with Downey already,and they did end up doing the Ruffalo signing that was discussed up top (and they look fine to me).

Permalink Reply by James McKnight on January 19, 2013 at 6:31am

GA DOES A GOOD JOB OF MIXING THE GOOD WITH THE BAD, ITS TRADECRAFT. 

Permalink Reply by James McKnight on January 19, 2013 at 6:33am

I WONDER WHAT THE RATIO IS OF GOOD TO BAD 50/50?????

Permalink Reply by B Martin on January 19, 2013 at 7:39am

Steve is right on in his previous post. Many times they have pics of good items in their listings. I have been watching these guys for years and keep an eye on their feedback. Many people post that the item they received it is not the same item as pictured. I believe this is because they are sending forgeries.

I can not speak as to the celebrity autographs because my knowledge is in sports, but knowing what I know about what people charge, peoples signing habits and the pure volume of stuff they are selling of the same people over and over, the % of fakes on the sports side is high, very high. Not even close to 50%. I actually believe just about everything they send out may be fake. Again I am only speaking on the sports side.

With that said, I wouldn't trust them for celebrity autographs. If you deal with crooks, you are just asking to get burned. Besides that, I have never wanted something badly enough to give my money to a crook. I have thought about going the agent route myself and contacting them.

Sadly I am seeing tons of GA stuff on the secondary market. They flooding the market with garbage. Whenever I see a Joe Namath or Bart Starr helmet for sale, I can tell it is a GA special as soon as I see it.  They make some very obvious mistakes with those two.

I know of one player that charges for his autograph, that GA is constantly selling bad fakes, I am going to write to him and send a photo of one of the bad autographs. Maybe we could go through Peyton Manning's foundation as well since they seem to have a never ending supply of Mannings.

Permalink Reply by Steve on January 19, 2013 at 9:46am

I totally agree with you.  There are so many GA item listed from others and I can spot the right away without seeing the cert or who it it originally from.  Their celebrity items may be a lot closer to the real deal because they are mostly signed on flats.  Signing on a helmet or a ball is much more difficult than a flat.  Whoever is signing the sports itms for GA is pretty good, but they always seem to have one area where they are off, and they are very consistent with their mistakes which is why they are easy to spot if you know what to look for.  For example: the m in Namath is always off, the bottom of the B in Bart and the bottom of the S in Starr.   For Staubach, the Roger is always written too low, for Bradshaw, the erry in Terry is always too high and the B in Bradshaw has a line in the wrong spot.  For Jim Brown, the B in Brown is angled a little to the left where Jim Brown always angles his B to the right.

I really think the agent route will get the quickest results.  Finding out who the agent is can be difficult.  I may start contacting the teams they played for and try to get the agents name that way.  It will only take one aggressive agent to put an end to this as the other players agents will quickly follow.

Permalink Reply by JXE on January 19, 2013 at 10:04am

I agree that this is where the quickest action would come from. If they signed a contact for so many, they won't be happy to hear more are being sold than that, without their real signatures, their approval, or their compensation.

I plan on posting the CA stuff when I get a chance. Maybe it needs its own thread because there's no evidence that any of it is bad right now? I will say I'm 100% confident in my items. The ones with personaliztion/inscriptions also match confirmed handwriting samples as well. 

With that said, they share a fax number with Gridiron, which certainly creates concern. I'd still like to know for sure if the same saffs are running each enterprise.

Steve Cyrkin,Celebrity Authentics quotes Autograph Magazine in support of their company. Do you thinkthey'd respond to your request for clarification about the connection between the different groups?

Permalink Reply by B Martin on January 19, 2013 at 3:10pm

Here is contact infor for The Peyback foundation (Peyton Manning)

(877) 873-9225  or email PeyBack@PeytonManning.com

Postal Mailing Address
Elizabeth Ellis, Executive Director
The PeyBack Foundation
6325 N. Guilford
Suite 201
Indianapolis, IN 46220

Might be worth a start.

Permalink Reply by B Martin on January 19, 2013 at 3:17pm

Some other possible people to contact, some of the players they sell over and over have exclusive autograph contracts with companies. Maybe those companies would help. For Example, Mounted Memories has exclusive deals with John Elway and Dan Marino. Tri- Star has an exclusive deal with Bart Starr, maybe they would be interested in seeing those bad Starr helmets and could possibly help.

Permalink Reply by James McKnight on January 22, 2013 at 8:39pm

I have been following this blog and have done my research and it seems Gridiron Authentics is selling fake autographs in large quantities. I am also convinced that AAA (Absoluteauthentics.com) is moving in the same direction if not already there. I would stay clear of anything authenticated by AAA or Gridiron, we should move to get their items banned from eBay like ACE. Protect the Hobby.

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