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Is Everything From GA/GAI Fake! Part 2

In the past few weeks, I have noticed a huge amount of fake Bobby Orr and Gordie Howe items certified by Global Authentics. Let's be honest with ourselves, there is no way that all of these items are coming from collectors in general who are sending in pieces that they think are real and want certified. The sheer amount of items suggests that it is a couple of dealers who are sending in large amounts knowing full well that they will be passed regardless of what the signatures look like or there were/are people at GA/GAI who are doing the signatures themselves. You also tend to see signed photo's that are not regularly seen, different photo's that have never been available previously. These Gordie Howe's that showed up today are not even close and are signed in the same hand, as are the Bobby Orr's. If people are becoming educated on the Mantle, Dimaggio, Williams, etc. fiasco, then it must be time for them to move on so they can continue to make money. They know the items need to be certified to make higher sales on Ebay (buyers still believing that all authentication companies are legit), so they send in to the company that they know will look the other way. Some signatures are very, very consistent and cannot be mistaken 50 times over. Let's get this crap cleaned up already!

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Permalink Reply by Steve on July 29, 2012 at 11:15pm

Here is the worst Gordie

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Permalink Reply by Steve on July 29, 2012 at 11:16pm

Here is a good one

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on July 30, 2012 at 1:11am

These are GA, Global Authentics, not GAI. You may want to edit your title and story accordingly.

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Permalink Reply by Mike Shepherd on July 30, 2012 at 12:54pm

I'm not sure why it is necessary to post the same question twice but i suppose I can answer it again.

I fully understand that GAI has damaged the industry tremendously. I can, however, tell you that at least one GAI authenticated item is legitimate. I was at a sports memorabilia convention in Long Island quite a few years ago where Monte Irvin was signing. I didn’t even know what GAI was at the time but after people had their memorabilia signed GAI were there with a sticker and COA authenticating the items for free. The name on the COA was Justin Priddy.

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Permalink Reply by Steve on July 30, 2012 at 1:22pm

Mike, it is necessary, in my opinion, because supposedly GAi was the culprit. When it became GA (Global Authenticated, Steve Sipe said he was cleaning it up. Doesn't appear so to me. You can only kill so many chickens before there are none left, then you have to move on to another source. So it appears that it takes two to tango. One person is signing these items, and it takes another to authenticate them. If GA didn't authenticate them, then the seller would have zero chance at selling them. Whenever something like this happens, whether it is in this hobby or another realm of life, the question you have to ask is: who stands to make money!

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Permalink Reply by terrier8HOF on July 30, 2012 at 4:25pm

GA, GAI it doesn't matter, the perception is they are one and the same, and for most part, do not instill any confidence with regards to items that carry either sticker.