How did Topps authenticate the DNA relic cards?

TonyC

I was wondering if anyone had any articles or anything on how Topps authenticated the DNA relic cards for 2007 and 2008 Allen and Ginter. I mean, short of cracking his tomb open and looking around for a hair, how can you prove a bit of hair belonged to George Washington or John Adams or any of the people they have hairs from? I am assuming they acquired they woolly mammoth hair from one of the mammoths they found encased in ice and the dinasour bone from an authentic fossil.

thenavarro

My understanding is that they purchased the hair from John Reznikoff of University Archives who is a PSA/DNA historical authenticator as well as one of the pre-eminent hair collectors in the country. I do a lot of business with John and he's a great trustworthy guy. I've even put my money where my mouth is and bought some Washington hair from him in the past. Here's an article from the New York Times on John and his hair collection.

Article about John in NY Times

Mike

brianwintersfan

I see John's name scattered on certain websites along with others that work at ***/DNA for some pretty big screw-ups. I don't trust any of them but that's just me.

storm888

Reznikoff is certainly a reliable/famous fellow, but I still have no idea how he would KNOW
that the hair he was looking at was "legitimate."