Will GAI authenticate just about anything? This is getting pathetic..

StanTheManMusial · May 13, 2008 2:16PM

This is just a sample from online.

Sure looks like someone had a field day signing these pics. They look alot like the Marino forgeries on the Ted Williams and Mantle. Is it possible that this much of the Marino stuff is still out there, or is someone filtering more of it back into the hobby?

Even a bigger question is that how can GAI call themselves professional authenticators, yet, they cannot spot this obvious garbage? This is ridiculous, and all are poorly done forgeries at that.

Ironmanfan · May 13, 2008 9:48PM

It actually looks like the last Williams/DiMaggio picture was authenticated by the fine boys @ STAT (what a joke!)

StanTheManMusial · May 13, 2008 10:04PM

<< It actually looks like the last Williams/DiMaggio picture was authenticated by the fine boys @ STAT (what a joke!) >>

Yes, it sure is authenticated by Stat, and it also has a GAI COA with it as well. I just posted the scans of the fake sigs, not the GAI COA.

CDsNuts · May 13, 2008 10:41PM

Ugh. A friend of a friend owned a card shop in Miami and was buying Marino signed pics for $10 a pop knowing full well that they were fake. He would sell them by the bundle at $50 each (This was in the mid 90s). Whoever it was that was manufacturing them dropped a ton of fake Marino sigs on the market. I can't even imagine how many fake Mantle and Williams autos there are out there.

StanTheManMusial · May 13, 2008 11:02PM

<< Ugh. A friend of a friend owned a card shop in Miami and was buying Marino signed pics for $10 a pop knowing full well that they were fake. He would sell them by the bundle at $50 each (This was in the mid 90s). Whoever it was that was manufacturing them dropped a ton of fake Marino sigs on the market. I can't even imagine how many fake Mantle and Williams autos there are out there. >>

Wow.... that's sickening.

RonBurgundy · May 14, 2008 12:21AM

Germans bomb Pearl Harbor!

Ron

summerof68 · May 14, 2008 2:40AM

With respect to unopened material Gai is still authenticating "homemade" Topps baseball cello paks from the late '50's and early 60's. At the last Robert Edward Auctions they had two "bad" gai graded '58 Topps baseball cellos in their auction catalogue. It was soon brought to their attention and the two auctions were withdrawn. Cheers to Robert Edward Auctions for placing integrity over profit.

I used to really respect Gai for their advances in pak collecting however I now feel at this stage in the game they are doing more damage to the hobby than they are helping.

envoy98 · May 14, 2008 3:17AM

<< It actually looks like the last Williams/DiMaggio picture was authenticated by the fine boys @ STAT (what a joke!) >>

I actually own that same pic, "signed" by both of them. Justin Priddy was the authenticator at the time and when I showed it to him his exact words were "wow, their getting pretty good. I hate to tell you this though, that pic was printed after they were both dead. Those autographs on that photo come from the same guy in Florida" He obviously didn't authenticate it.

I'm presuming it was the Marino clan.

I find it interesting that 4 years later, that same pic with the same sigs is authenticated. I "won" the pic in a drawing at a local card show. I was pretty happy when I won it. Then I heard about several other autos bought from this same guy getting rejected. Soon after, the douchebag quite showing up at the local shows. I guess when the Marino crew was busted, his supply was gone. He had some terrible Lebron and Carmelo autos, MJ, Mantle, you name it. Sad to see GAI authenticated that quite honestly. But they are not the same company they were 5 years ago either.

Mickey71 · May 14, 2008 4:15AM

Honestly,
We need the Baker and Dully character to come out and defend this company's issues. This crap has got to stop. Is anyone else sick of this crap? What makes me even more sick than all of this is that many people defend some of these jokers. I know, I know- Baker has authenticated some of the finest cards in the industry, but obviously something has gone wrong for him and GAI. If I was him I would defend myself. First, I would get out of GAI. As for this Dully guy, he obviously made a horrible investment getting involved with this company. It has no chance at this point of surviving. If the company is around another year I would be surprised.
Mickey71

jrinck · May 14, 2008 4:44AM

<< I "won" the pic in a drawing at a local card show. . >>

This is why I NEVER bid on autographed material at fundraising events (such as for my kids' schools). This upsets my wife to no end. "But has a certificate of authenticity!", to which I tell her that even the signature on the COA is probably not legit, much less the actual item.

This worked pretty well until the time she focused her energy on a puppy, and ended up getting in a bidding war, "winning" it for $700. Her Aunt get the dog two days later, and is now done for life as far as birthdays and Christmas' go.

earlycalguy · May 14, 2008 4:49AM

Ebay has recently been flooded with GAI Mantle, Williams, Koufax and DiMaggio signed items. Mantle and DiMaggio dual signed photos from GAI are listed at buy it nows for $300 or so. same photo with psa/dna is $800 for those two.

Allen · May 14, 2008 4:56AM

So I guess GAI had a meeting and figured they could get a ton of buisnes from scammers if they authenticate some of the better forgeries?

jrinck · May 14, 2008 4:59AM

<< So I guess GAI had a meeting and figured they could get a ton of buisnes from scammers if they authenticate some of the better forgeries? >>

The abandonment of ethics signifies a course for destruction that cannot be reversed.

Allen · May 14, 2008 5:04AM

I am going to blame my spelling of the word "business" on my hands still trembling from chopping logs for the past few hours.

jrinck · May 14, 2008 5:22AM

<< I am going to blame my spelling of the word "business" on my hands still trembling from chopping logs for the past few hours. >>

So how was the nap?

Ironmanfan · May 14, 2008 6:19AM

<< 

<< I "won" the pic in a drawing at a local card show. . >>

This is why I NEVER bid on autographed material at fundraising events (such as for my kids' schools). This upsets my wife to no end. "But has a certificate of authenticity!", to which I tell her that even the signature on the COA is probably not legit, much less the actual item.

This worked pretty well until the time she focused her energy on a puppy, and ended up getting in a bidding war, "winning" it for $700. Her Aunt get the dog two days later, and is now done for life as far as birthdays and Christmas' go.

>>

Actually, a lot of scammers dump their bad material on charitable auctions because it not only gives them a "charitable donation" deduction and generally the people who run these things don't know autographs and are snookered by the while "COA" business. Also, the scammers are no longer visible as they now have a legit front.....

There is a LOT of BS out there and the GAI's, the STAT's & Morales' of the world don't make it any better............

OAKESY25 · May 14, 2008 6:23AM

those look legit to me.. I would have no clue.. it seems to be agreed here that those are all fakes though???
I bid on a ted williams, mantle and dimaggio signed photo the other day.. but lost out...
seemed like it sold too cheap to me... even though I didn't win it

StanTheManMusial · May 14, 2008 6:27AM

<< those look legit to me.. I would have no clue.. it seems to be agreed here that those are all fakes though???
I bid on a ted williams, mantle and dimaggio signed photo the other day.. but lost out...
seemed like it sold too cheap to me... even though I didn't win it >>

Yes, all the scans I posted are examples of fakes. Poorly done forgeries at that. Not a one of them would ever pass JSA or PSA/DNA. If they did ever authenticate one of the examples I presented in this thread, I would start to say the sky is falling with autograph authentication at JSA and PSA/DNA.

Lothar52 · May 14, 2008 6:54AM

<< Germans bomb Pearl Harbor!

Ron >>

SWEEP THE LEG!!!

spazzy · May 14, 2008 7:03AM

spazzy · May 14, 2008 7:05AM

I do not buy anything I did not see signed. Read Operation Bullpen...Do not waste your money

goraiders · May 14, 2008 7:27AM

wow.i think i was bidding on one of those the other day myself,glad i didnt win.
i think the mantle/williams went for around 220$.

jrinck · May 14, 2008 7:31AM

It's pretty pathetic in that I could joke about the need for an authentication company to authenticate the authenticators, but I realize that it's not a joke and that there probably IS a market for such a service.

jad22 · May 14, 2008 8:43AM

I have seen this one on EBAY and everywhere else. Does the LOA mean that this is a legit?

GAI Dimaggio

StanTheManMusial · May 14, 2008 9:33AM

<< I do not buy anything I did not see signed. Read Operation Bullpen...Do not waste your money >>

If that is the case, you must not have a very extensive HOF autograph collection. Guys like Ruth, Cobb, Walter Jonson, Gehrig, ect... are guys you can't just sit down and watch them sign for you, so you have to know exactly what an authentic example of their sig looks like.

It's not all that hard to spot the fakes, if you truly get deep into autograph collecting. I have been in the autograph part of the hobby for more than 25 years, and if I even question one in the slightest, I will pass. This method will keep you from getting burned.

Mere signature knowledge will keep you safe, and that Operation Bullpen book has alot of info, but guys like Marino were never truly good enough to get much if any of their stuff past guys in the hobby who truly know genuine autographs examples of each player. Marino could get Mantle close, but never dead on. Mantle was probably one of the ones he did best, but he never got it 100% correct/dead on. Just like Ted Williams' son could do a decent Ted Williams forgery, but it was never spot on either.

These forgers were and are just good enough to get stuff past alot of amateur casual collectors, but that is the mains one they were preying on to begin with.

earlycalguy · May 14, 2008 11:15AM

closed GAI Mantle, Williams, Koufax, Joe D autos

here are the prices these items are going for...many are not selling at all for very, very low prices....if they were authentic. many have been sold from the dugout...located in Florida. maybe they had a connection with Marino

Ironmanfan · May 14, 2008 1:11PM

<< closed GAI Mantle, Williams, Koufax, Joe D autos

here are the prices these items are going for...many are not selling at all for very, very low prices....if they were authentic. many have been sold from the dugout...located in Florida. maybe they had a connection with Marino >>

Angelo/Greg Marino were based in California; I think you're confusing them with Dan Marino

Will GAI authenticate just about anything? This is getting pathetic..

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