Issues with a Heritage National Auction Item.

[sports-rings]

Heritage is auctioning off a Superbowl II ring at their National Platinum Auction. The ring and the story have been in the news lately as player Frederick "Fuzzy" Thurston was a player on the superbowl I and II teams. The IRS seized the ring as Mr. Thurston owed back taxes to the IRS.

The ring came from Mr. Thurston and the auction is already up to $35,000 ($41,825 with the buyers premium).

Heritage states in the description "Presented is the very ring he earned for his participation in the very last game of his career..."

While I am sure the ring was Mr. Thurston's ring, and I am sure it was made by Jostens, this is not the original ring presented to him.

The original rings were all made of 14K gold, and inside the ring, the company Jostens, who made the rings engraved "(C)JOSTEN 14K". Back in the 60's Jostens engraved "JOSTEN" and later on, in the 1970's started to engrave "JOSTENS".

Heritageg describes the ring they are auctioning as 10K and engraved with "JOSTENS 10K". I emailed them that this could not be the original ring as I have an original ring and have seen other original rings and they are all 14K and have the origianl engraving of "JOSTEN".

Lengendary last summer had a player ring belonging to Dave Dunaway and they had to change the auction description after it was brought to their attention that the ring was made years after superbowl II. Mr Dunaway, who received the ring years later because he was traded late in the year and did not play in superbowl II. The ring he received was also was made of 10K and had the newer "JOSTENS" engraved inside the ring.

I emailed Heritage last week and mentioned these facts and invited them to contact me or other ring collectors for conformation. So far I have not heard from Heritage and they have not updated their auction on this matter.

[Leon]

Word back this morning is that Heritage is currently working on this issue....

[sports-rings]

this must be some big and complex issue if they are still working on it. The description has not been updated.

I remember about a year or two ago Heritage had a trophy that I had concerns over. I wanted to post an entry at Net54 about my concerns and I was told I could be in leagal trouble if I did.

Funny thing was I asked them if they "went the extra mile" and contacted the trophy manufacturer to validate the trophy (another words if they were proactive) and I was told that they had no plans to reach out to the manufacturer.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by sports-rings

this must be some big and complex issue if they are still working on it. The description has not been updated.

I remember about a year or two ago Heritage had a trophy that I had concerns over. I wanted to post an entry at Net54 about my concerns and I was told I could be in leagal trouble if I did.

Funny thing was I asked them if they "went the extra mile" and contacted the trophy manufacturer to validate the trophy (another words if they were proactive) and I was told that they had no plans to reach out to the manufacturer.

Really, legal trouble for expressing a concern? I guess I am always in trouble so I don't really know the difference. I think the best thing about this board is that we can all express concerns about anything. That being said, it bears repeating, everyone is legally liable for what they say on the board (or any place for that matter). best regards

[sports-rings]

Word back this morning is that Heritage is currently working on this issue....

Well here we are a few days later and the description has not been updated.

Leon, this is not a difficult research assignment. Any knowledable ring collector would come to the same conclusion I did. The team received 14K rings (not 10K rings like the one offered in this auction) and the original rings were engraved "JOSTEN" not "JOSTENS".

Who could fault any collector monitoring this auction and error from thinking Heritage would rather get the highest price than get the listing correct?

[ss]

I wonder why the guy from Heritage, who always makes sure to tell everyone that he's a lot smarter than the rest of us, hasn't chimed in yet. His silence is almost as amusing as his arrogance.