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GFA/Tony Podsada in the news...

Here is an article on ESPN about Muhammad Ali signatures & forgeries.

http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/17101800/debate-muhammad-ali...

Surprisingly, GFA's Steven Rocchi answered some questions for this article, which I found hilarious. Check out some of his quotes:

"That company is GFA. Stephen Rocchi, who founded and runs the company, says he stands by every signature that GFA authenticates, and if someone claims what they bought was fake, he'll buy it back from them. He's only had to do that once since 2011, he says, with a Mickey Mantle autograph that he still believes was authentic.

Rocchi says his company gets bashed because, unlike the leaders in the industry, he said he doesn't let politics get in the way of authenticating pieces.

"We don't pay attention to how many autographs someone brings to us or who they are," Rocchi said. "We make it only about the autograph. We have exemplars, we match the autograph in front of us to the exemplars and have 15 points of authentication and if it matches, we call it real. We don't have deals with auction companies like the other guys do, and we don't know dealers. It's better that way."

When told that competitor JSA failed a GFA-certified Ali signature at a recent show, a signature that had been bought on eBay after Ali's death, Rocchi said that's because "our competition will fail anything with our sticker."

Check out these quotes from Tony Podsada:

"Podsada's items do not come with a certificate of authenticity. Disenchanted with the authentication business, Podsada said he merely offers buyers the assurance that it's a "decorative item only."

"I believe what I have is real, but I don't guarantee anything because I know too much," Podsada said."

LMAO!

Here are a few other interesting tidbits from the article:

"EBay does not pull auctions itself, as certain legal rulings have established that the marketplace does not have any legal liability if a person buys a fake on the site"

"EBay maintains that less than .025 percent of its listings in 2014 were identified as being "potentially counterfeit,"

"In the past month, 55 GFA-certified items have sold on eBay. Those items have sold for an average of $106.41 Include the GFA price of $25 for authentication, $20 to Podsada and eBay's 10 percent take and a seller's margin on Ali items, before shipping, is less than $46 per autograph.

Rocchi said he's proud of the low cost that is being delivered to the consumer, saying this is the way it's supposed to be."

Tags: GFA, ali, muhammad, rocchi, stephen

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Permalink Reply by Barry S on August 1, 2016 at 6:43am

Very funny TradeGeek. That is the pattern.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Zarelli on August 4, 2016 at 12:01pm

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Permalink Reply by CJCollector on August 6, 2016 at 8:22pm

That's hilarious, Steve!!!

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Permalink Reply by David S on August 6, 2016 at 7:51pm

Thought you guys might find this interesting. Tony/SCM is at The National selling forgeries!!! Not sure why he isn't banned from the place. $10 a piece. Buy 5 get 1 free!!!

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Permalink Reply by Steve Zarelli on August 6, 2016 at 7:56pm

"Decorative items." Sounds like someone is setting the stage for a defense.

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Permalink Reply by CJCollector on August 6, 2016 at 8:03pm

Spence told me on Thursday that he was there, but I didn't find him.

Maybe he just set-up today?

I was there Thursday and Friday.

Decorative items?

All of a sudden they're decorative items?

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Permalink Reply by David S on August 6, 2016 at 8:22pm

i think he was there the whole time. i saw him on Thursday, but just took the pics today. he's setup in the back towards the autograph pavilion.

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Permalink Reply by CJCollector on August 6, 2016 at 8:24pm

I never looked back there. I was so concentrated on the athletes signing.

Damn!!!

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Permalink Reply by terrier8HOF on August 7, 2016 at 4:45am

he mentioned in the ESPN article. he was selling items as "decorative" because of the "unsure" nature of the signature and authenticator. I think they should all be confiscated and burned.