AU101 cert? One player quoting another?

[mighty bombjack]

This is a new one for me. Never seen anything like this, and I think I know why...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/CHIEF-BENDER...c#ht_500wt_922

[Scott Garner]

Originally Posted by mighty bombjack

This is a new one for me. Never seen anything like this, and I think I know why...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/CHIEF-BENDER...c#ht_500wt_922

This one's got me scratching my head too....

[sylbry]

Originally Posted by mighty bombjack

This is a new one for me. Never seen anything like this, and I think I know why...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/CHIEF-BENDER...c#ht_500wt_922

And why might that be?

[danc]

Can someone please tell me what this was?

DanC

[mighty bombjack]

Originally Posted by danc

Can someone please tell me what this was?

DanC

It was a hand-written quote of frank chance that was slabbed by AU101 as being written by chief bender. Bender's name was nowhere to be seen.

Sylbry- I have never seen anything by au101, nor have I seen a note with no signature slabbed. I personally have no desire to own either, which is what I meant by my OP.

[danc]

Let me explain what it is.

In 2003, SCGaynor was consigned items from the estate of Chief Bender and I worked a deal and purchased eight ledger books (smaller monogrammed pads) that were all filled out by Chief Bender's own hand.

They were mostly addresses, boxscores (after his playing career ended), expense reports, random notes, Clothing business cards and a few maps he drew that helped him get to places.

Of the 500+ pages, this was the only one noting a specific player of note in Frank Chance. He had some addresses in his book of players (like Bob Shawkey), but most of it was as noted above. Just samples of his handwriting.

There were no signatures in the collection, outside of one small pad which had a few rubber stamp signatures.

DanC

[drc]

I don't know much about them, but my impression was Autographs 101 was a legitimate outfit. They mostly were an autograph education website, articles for beginners and such, but also sold autographs.

[ss]

Originally Posted by drc

I don't know much about them, but my impression was Autographs 101 was a legitimate outfit. They mostly were an autograph education website, articles for beginners and such, but also sold autographs.

I believe the site AU101 belonged to DanC. I can tell you from personal experience that he was extremely helpful, very honest, and sold authentic items.

[sylbry]

Originally Posted by mighty bombjack

It was a hand-written quote of frank chance that was slabbed by AU101 as being written by chief bender. Bender's name was nowhere to be seen.

Sylbry- I have never seen anything by au101, nor have I seen a note with no signature slabbed. I personally have no desire to own either, which is what I meant by my OP.

Your comment certainly came off as questioning it's authencity. And shortly after ebay removed it and I received their nice, threatening email. If you have never seen one, here it is.


You recently listed the following listing:

170692301324 - CHIEF BENDER HANDWRITTEN SIGNED QUOTE FRANK CHANCE


Your listing has been removed.

We received a report that concerns the authenticity of an item in your listing. We regularly receive such reports from rights owners, law enforcement officials, and member of the eBay community. The report received was not the determining reason for why your listing was removed, but it was taken into consideration when eBay took down your listing. Please do not relist the item. Not only may it be removed again, but further actions against your listing(s) may further jeopardize or impact your eBay account status.

Other concerns we had were:
- For autograph items, we recommend you have a Certificate of Authenticity (COA), and in the listing include a picture of the COA and the name of the issuing authentication company. Should have it authenticated by an approved authenticator under our autographs policy.
- Insufficient description of the item


Buyers have high expectations when they purchase items on eBay. If you aren't meeting these expectations as a seller, your buyers may leave low detailed seller ratings, which can negatively affect your selling privileges.

Due to the concerns stated above, please don't relist these items. If you do, your listings will be removed and you may be subject to range of actions, including buying and selling limits or suspension of your account. This helps protect you from receiving negative Feedback or low detailed seller ratings and also prevents eBay buyers from potentially bad shopping experiences.

To help you avoid having future listings removed, learn more about ways to improve your selling:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/rules.html

You may need to take a tutorial. If it's required, you may be asked to take it the next time you sell. Once you've completed the tutorial successfully, please review your account status for any other possible concerns. If there are no other issues, you should be able to sell again.

To take the intellectual property tutorial, please visit:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/tutorial/...ial/intro.html

Please be aware that any additional violations of this policy may result in the suspension of your account. We understand that you may be concerned about this situation.





For more information on why eBay may remove a listing, please visit:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/ques...ing-ended.html

Please be assured that your listings have not been targeted in any way. We review all listings that are reported to us by eBay members or Verified Rights Owner (VeRO) program participants. If you have additional questions, contact our policy experts. Get started by clicking the link below:
http://contact.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI...EOA&From=53860

We appreciate your understanding.

Thanks,

eBay

Please don't reply to this message. It was sent from an address that doesn't accept incoming email.


H53860

Someone felt the need to report the item as fake, which it clearly isn't. Now what am I left to do? Can't re-list it.

I get that you might not care for it, many wouldn't. But for those who want something from Bender, perhaps they would. The price was cheap enough.

For those of you who didn't see it, I have attached a picture below. I have also included handwritten letters of Bender for comparison.

[thecatspajamas]

I would say re-list it noting the provenance that danc gave, include your photos of other handwriting samples, etc. Basically, put as much effort into the item description as you have in defending it here. Just don't his "re-list" in Turbolister and revise, because it will associate your new listing with the old one and possibly automatically flag it to be yanked. If you describe it accurately and fairly, and someone from this board still reports it, then you're dealing with mean-spirited crank rather than an overzealous do-gooder. And if that's the case, they can pester you by reporting anything you list, not just this one item.

Bottom line, eBay won't pull your account over one item. If they did, there would be far fewer repeat offenders pointed out here on the boards.

[tinkereversandme]

Au101 ran auctions for a couple years in the early 2000's and was a reputable outfit. I think this was their brief answer to the slab craze. I have bought from them (I have a Carter Au101Certified) and were a legitimate outfit.

Regards,

Larry

[drc]

I guess it's no longer up, but if you ever visited the old autographs101 website, it was obvious the site owner knew a lot about autographs. Had many helpful articles and guides for collectors, especially beginners, and the overall point of the site was to educate collectors on safe autograph collecting. It was one of the best web sites on the subject.

[jt39]

When you take it out of the context of the absurdity of the authentication description (why not just "Chief Bender handwritten document"?) and hear the backstory, it is actually just a pretty neat item. If you can't re-list it on ebay, let me know your price -- I'd be interested.

[sylbry]

It appears somebody at ebay is reading this board.

We have restored the following listing:

170692301324 - CHIEF BENDER HANDWRITTEN SIGNED QUOTE FRANK CHANCE


It now appears as an ended item.

To relist your item, click the "Relist" link in the listing. The listing will restart automatically.

If there were any bidders for your item, we emailed them to let them know the listing for Item number 170692301324 - CHIEF BENDER HANDWRITTEN SIGNED QUOTE FRANK CHANCE
was removed in error. We've also explained how they can find your item again if you relist it.

We're sorry for the inconvenience this has caused you.

Sincerely,

eBay Customer Support


H571

[thecatspajamas]

Wow! Still annoying for you I'm sure, but that is the first time I have EVER heard of eBay "restoring" a listing and sending e-mails to the bidders admitting they were wrong! Very unusual.

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by thecatspajamas

Wow! Still annoying for you I'm sure, but that is the first time I have EVER heard of eBay "restoring" a listing and sending e-mails to the bidders admitting they were wrong! Very unusual.

I'm as surprised as you.

They must have realized they didn't collect their "shipping fee" yet.

[sylbry]

It is what it is.

If someone at ebay is using this board for insight I certainly won't be upset about that. And it was decent of them to restore (unremove may be the more appropriate term) the listing without me even needing to contact them.

[mighty bombjack]

Originally Posted by sylbry

Your comment certainly came off as questioning it's authencity. And shortly after ebay removed it and I received their nice, threatening email. If you have never seen one, here it is.

Well, honestly I did question its authenticity. That is largely because I had never heard of AU101, and will wonder aloud why the slab says "autograph." There are countless companies out there that will slab anything, and one calling this an autograph doesn't scream "upstanding" to me. Frank Chance's name was written in Cheif Bender's hand. Interesting.

It seems that many here find this company to have been legit, so I can stand corrected, but my OP stated my gut feeling. (I further wonder why your title says "signed," which is why this came up in my search, but that is a matter of semantics and not ethics-I don't personally consider this signed at all).

I don't have a problem with anyone selling this and wish ebay wouldn't take stuff down like this. Glad they restored it for you. They gonna charge you to relist?

[sylbry]

I took "signed" out of the title. No fee for the relist. However ebay doesn't charge a listing fee any longer.

[Mr. Zipper]

Originally Posted by sylbry

It appears somebody at ebay is reading this board.

I doubt it... otherwise they may have done something about the thousands and thousands of Mantle/Williams/Dimaggio/etc. forgeries hidden behind GAI COAs that have been highlighted here hundreds of times.

[thecatspajamas]

More likely that somebody who reads this board knows how to report items effectively. Personally, I've never been able to find just the right form buried in their help pages to get any more of a response than their generic "we're looking into it but can't tell you what we're doing" e-mail response. I can't think of a single time that they've ended an item I reported prior to the auction ending.

[sylbry]

Maybe. But how did ebay reverse the the listing removal without me asking? Would an individual contact whatever ebay department that handles removals and say that they were mistaken?