Wenn Sie hier auf Links zu eBay klicken und einen Kauf tätigen, kann dies dazu führen, dass diese Website eine Provision erhält.
In the six weeks after Muhammad Alis death, thousands of autographed items flooded the market, with sellers hoping to capitalize on the demand.But the quantity of items, and, in some cases, the cheap prices associated with them, has ignited one of the more hotly contested battles over whats real and whats fake. The debate also includes who is supplying the autographs, who is authenticating them and who is selling them.For years, Alis signature has not only been among the most expensive, but also among the most forged. (Autographs thought to be legitimate on 8-by-10s even before his death were hard to find under $150, with his autograph on a boxing glove in the $2,000 range.)There are thousands and thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, of fake Ali signatures out there, some are fresh and some are from the [FBI bust] Operation Bullpen days in the late 90s, said Harlan Werner, who managed Alis marketing exclusively for 19 years, ending in 2006. You couldnt buy a real Ali signed glove for less than $1,000 over the past decade, and you certainly cant buy one for that now. Yet real fans are buying them every day for these insanely low prices.Werner, who had a huge stash of legitimate Ali signatures, said he began liquidating years ago when he realized the fake Ali market was compromising those who had real signatures.Scott Mahlum of Mill Creek Sports, who has an exclusive deal with Russell Wilson, among others, has been investing in pre-1990 signed Ali autographs for years.So many of these autographs we are seeing now are all great, in the perfect spot, and theyre on photos that no one had access to when Ali had a signature that even looked close to this, Mahlum said.Alis might be the most complex signature of all time. Each year, it seemed to decline in clarity, beginning in the mid-90s, when the effects of Parkinsons disease began to take hold. Because Ali signed many of his photos with a date, its possible to piece together what Alis autograph looked like over time.Thats exactly what Shawn Anderson did when he found out he was duped with a fake Ali signed photograph more than 10 years ago. He started buying up dated Ali signed items and strung them together on a website to show Alis autograph from the 1960 through 2003. Over time, he became an expert in Ali signatures.In the last 10 years of his life, Alis autograph was not good because of what he was going through, Anderson said. People today are looking for a good clean autograph. You can get one, but if its cheap, its more likely than not that its a fake.Anderson, Mahlum and Werner all say that, in their opinion, one of the companies that has been authenticating Ali signatures sold after his death has been authenticating fakes.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, hell buy it back from them. Hes 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 doesnt let politics get in the way of authenticating pieces.We dont 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 dont have deals with auction companies like the other guys do, and we dont know dealers. Its 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 Alis death, Rocchi said thats because our competition will fail anything with our sticker.Rocchis competition also includes industry leader PSA/DNA, a company Rocchi was the president of in 1999 when it essentially invented autograph certification for the industry. Rocchi asserts that its in PSAs and JSAs best interest to hold down populations of what they deem to be real Ali autographs so values stay up and their higher authentication fees can be justified.PSA, for example, says it authenticates more than 500,000 autographs a year. Rocchi says GFA does fewer than 20,000.Rocchi also says he will put his lead authenticator, John Gorajcyzk, who worked for nearly two decades as a forensic scientist for the Phoenix Police Department, up against those at JSA and PSA.When told of Rocchis comments, PSAs lead authenticator, Steve Grad, dismissed claims that competition and clientele lead to authentication bias.GFAs Ali signatures, which weve a lot of recently, are failed by us for one simple reason -- they dont match any exemplars of any previous Ali signature, Grad said. They are a created hybrid of many things Ali did, but the flow and the pressure in them is all wrong.Grad said, in his opinion, it looks like the GFA-certified Ali autographs were signed by a woman.I watched more of Ali sign over the last decade than any authenticator, Grad said. These are just not close.The battle between the authenticators over Ali got even nastier when Authentic Brands Group, which bought Alis licensing rights in 2013, entered the fray.ABG has formally objected to hundreds of postings on eBays auction pages since Alis death asking that they be pulled, ABG attorney Bridgette Fitzpatrick confirmed.She said that the company, with the help of an unnamed reputable authenticator, goes through the postings every day and alerts eBay to stop auctions with Ali signatures that they believe are frauds.Outside the Lines found that at least 200 of those pulled included GFA-certified Ali signatures.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. The site does however have a program called the Verified Rights Owner program VeRO, where established rights holders can apply to have the authority to, with cause, work with eBay to pull infringing items.Julien Dudouit, eBays global intellectual property manager, confirmed to Outside the Lines that the site was working with ABG on Ali and that items are being taken down quickly.EBay maintains that less than .025 percent of its listings in 2014 were identified as being potentially counterfeit, but in the case a counterfeit claim is justified, Dudouit said the site offers a money back guarantee.Outside the Lines traced the movement of some of the Ali-signed photographs that were posted on eBay.Many of the Ali autographs, which were then authenticated by eBay sellers by GFA, come from South Florida dealer Tony Podsada, who runs a company called SCM.At one point, I had about 18,000 Ali autographs, Podsada said. I have about 3,000 left, mostly on 4-by-6 and 5-by-7 photos.Podsada said he obtained the Ali signatures from 1988 to 1993, when his business, My Favorite Players, was one of the heavyweights in the industry.Podsadas items do not come with a certificate of authenticity. Disenchanted with the authentication business, Podsada said he merely offers buyers the assurance that its a decorative item only.I believe what I have is real, but I dont guarantee anything because I know too much, Podsada said.Podsada will sell a 5-by-7 plaque with an Ali signature for $19.99 because he says that the leading authenticators, PSA/DNA and JSA, will fail his items simply because of the quantity he has. That makes it harder, he says, to make a greater margin.Technically, Podsada is losing money on the deal. He said most of the signatures he obtained came when Ali was charging $7 each. Factor in inflation and the cost to store them in what he says were vacuum-sealed bags in a dark storage facility and its almost a wash.I sell it cheap because I have to eat like everybody else, Podsada said.What Podsada said he can guarantee is that PSA and JSA have failed some of his Ali autographs which he says he personally witnessed. He also said that he talked with ABG when they first bought the business and they told him that the d was off in Muhammad in the Ali signatures he had.They might have known only one type of d, Podsada said, there were six to eight different ds that he made.One of the buyers of Podsadas Ali signatures has been Rod Iman of RBI Sports Inc. in North Carolina. He has sold more than 9,800 items on eBay and estimates that 2,500 a year are autographs which he then gets authenticated by GFA, by far the largest seller of GFA certified items on the site.Iman had some of his best days in business on eBay in the days following Alis death. But it came to a halt on June 10, the day of Alis funeral. Thats when Iman said his eBay account was frozen and he wasnt allowed to post new Ali items for a week, after eBay informed him that ABG had asserted its rights as a rights holder and alleged trademark infringement.All 21 of Imans active listings were taken down, and he hasnt sold an Ali item since.I called eBay and asked them, What case did the Ali people make? Iman said. They couldnt give me good answers.Iman says he believes all the Ali items he has sold are authentic. If you were going to forge Ali, why would you forge when he had a good signature? Iman asks. Wouldnt it make more sense to forge the scribble?Even so, Iman, like Rocchi and Podsada, said he will give back money to someone who contests the signature, which he has done in recent weeks.Those who claim that certain Ali signatures are fake often bring up the prices that these autographs have sold for after his death, a time where the value should jump.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 eBays 10 percent take and a sellers margin on Ali items, before shipping, is less than $46 per autograph.Rocchi said hes proud of the low cost that is being delivered to the consumer, saying this is the way its supposed to be. Steve Bartkowski Womens Jersey . Westbrook has missed 27 games since having a procedure on Dec. 27 to deal with swelling in his injured right knee — the third operation on the knee in nine months. Kaleb McGary Youth Jersey . Two pressure cooker bombs exploded near the finish line of the April 15 race in an area packed with fans cheering the passing runners. Three people were killed and more than 260 injured, including at least 16 who lost limbs. http://www.falconsrookiestore.com/Falcons-Brett-Favre-Jersey/ . Here are his mid-season NBA awards. MVP: (KEVIN DURANT-Thunder) - Has been sensational this season and more importantly, the most consistent player in the league. Considering that his team has been without star guard Russell Westbrook and with the free agent departure of sharpshooter Kevin Martin, hes had to carry the majority of the load to not only keep his team afloat but more importantly, at an elite level. John Cominsky Falcons Jersey . Robredo, ranked No. 16, bounced back from an upset loss to Leonardo Mayer in the second round of the Royal Guard Open in Chile last week to down Carreno Busta in 1 hour, 25 minutes. On a day filled mostly with qualifying matches, fifth-seeded Marcel Granollers of Spain also entered the second with a 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 win over Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia, while Guido Pella of Argentina defeated Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 7-6 (6), 6-4 to advance. Brett Favre Falcons Jersey . Jay Feely kicked a 41-yard field goal in overtime, and the Cardinals edged the Tennessee Titans 37-34 in overtime after blowing a 17-point lead late in the fourth quarter. OKLAHOMA CITY -- The biggest addition in the offseason for the Boston Celtics was Al Horford. When they swiped him from the Atlanta Hawks, the Celtics quickly gained the high expectations of competing with the top teams in the East.However, whenever the Celtics take on squads considered to be potential title contenders this season, they came up short in games against the likes of Golden State, Cleveland, San Antonio and Houston.That steak was extended to 0-6 on Friday after a 101-94 loss to the Toronto Raptors.While the Celtics (13-10) refuse to make excuses for the defeats, except pointing fingers at their own play, there are reasons why they havent been at their best against the best. Injuries to key players early in the season played a role.Horford missed games against the Cavaliers and Warriors. Jae Crowder was on the bench in street clothes right next to him. Against the Raptors, guard Isiah Thomas sat out as he nurses a groin pull.Publicly, Boston coach Brad Stevens is trying to convey the positives of having his best players miss games in that it gives role players an opportunity to play big minutes.Its always tough because youre kind of always managing a curveball here or there, Stevens told reporters. But I look at it as a good thing in the long run with regard to more people are getting opportunities. And maybe this expedites Jaylen Browns learning curve, expedites Terry Roziers learning curve. Theyre getting to see things and go through things and do things that maybe they dont get as much when were fully healthy. It is what it is. You prepare with who you have available and you move forward.Thomas has already been ruled out of Bostons game with the Oklahoma City Thunder (14-9) on Sunday night at the Chesapeake Energy Arena. But, while the Thunder may not be considered one of the best teams in the NBA, they have a player who is makking a claim to be considered the best in the league in Russell Westbrook.ddddddddddddWestbrook has a streak of seven consecutive triples-doubles, which ties him with the modern record of Michael Jordan in the 1988-89 season.However, with his last triple-double coming in a loss, Westbrook had no interest in talking about tying Jordan. His opponents had no problem discussing the feat.You could just make a whole documentary about him, Rockets coach Mike DAntoni said. With his energy level and the way hes playing and what hes doing for this team, its remarkable. When Im not coaching against him, its fun to watch, but it wasnt much fun tonight.The Celtics lay claim to having the longest streak in the NBA of not allowing a triple-double. The last player to earn a triple-double against Boston was John Wall in 2014.Hes an animal. Everybody in this league knows Russ is an animal, Bostons Marcus Smart told ESPN.com. He deserves the respect he gets. He earns it. With a guy like that, you just have to go out and play your best and hope to contain him. You know hes going to get his. You just have to stop those other guys.If Boston is able to slow down Westbrook, the Thunder needs to see more of the Steven Adams that they saw Friday. He set a career high with 24 points, yet didnt play down the stretch because coach Billy Donovan wanted to use Jerami Grant.Adams said a lot of his points were due to the attention given to Westbrook.They always do send two guys. They always try and put two guys on Russ, three guys, whatever, Adams said. The reason I got open was that their weakside wasnt actually pulling across like other teams would do. That allowed me to roll down the lane without being touched at all. I was getting free runs. ' ' '