Heritage Auction and their Amazing Yankee Rings

[sports-rings]

Originally Posted by 1952boyntoncollector

Thanks I planned on making a competitive bid but why risk it with that kind of money when there is a potential issue..ill wait for something with no issues..

Whether you bid on any of these rings or other rings in other auctions you need to arm yourself with as much information as possible and look at as many examples of real rings as possible.

Some of the rings in the Heritage auction has the classic "D&C" engraving we have seen over and over. Some do not.

I am not saying that these rings are not authentic, but clearly a few of them have unusual markings I have not seen at auction before.

Yet they come with paperwork from the family. Like so many other rings, could the rings have been repaired or resized at Dieges and Clust? Why were some of these rings engraved with the commissioner of baseball mentioned?

Also, the Mattingly ring is clearly not an original ring. The engraving inside is found on rings made much later (if the engraving is authentic at all) and the details on the side of the ring are very poor quality. I blew up pictures of my player 1996 ring and saw the differences. Boy, someone will be disappointed with that ring.

[sports-rings]

Tons of rings last night.

Anyone win anything?

I won the '27 Yankee ring. A few other Yankee rings went low, perhaps I should have bid on a couple more.

[sports-rings]

Originally Posted by sports-rings

Whether you bid on any of these rings or other rings in other auctions you need to arm yourself with as much information as possible and look at as many examples of real rings as possible.

Some of the rings in the Heritage auction has the classic "D&C" engraving we have seen over and over. Some do not.

I am not saying that these rings are not authentic, but clearly a few of them have unusual markings I have not seen at auction before.

Yet they come with paperwork from the family. Like so many other rings, could the rings have been repaired or resized at Dieges and Clust? Why were some of these rings engraved with the commissioner of baseball mentioned?

Also, the Mattingly ring is clearly not an original ring. The engraving inside is found on rings made much later (if the engraving is authentic at all) and the details on the side of the ring are very poor quality. I blew up pictures of my player 1996 ring and saw the differences. Boy, someone will be disappointed with that ring.

With the juice, the ring went for $33,40.00. I feel sorry for the buyer!

[Runscott]

Michael, what sort of person do you think bids the big bucks on a ring like this, clearly lacking the knowledge that most of us require as collectors?

Given the price, there must be two such people out there. I don't use the term 'collector' to describe them, as it can't possibly be a collector…can it?

[sports-rings]

Originally Posted by Runscott

Michael, what sort of person do you think bids the big bucks on a ring like this, clearly lacking the knowledge that most of us require as collectors?

Given the price, there must be two such people out there. I don't use the term 'collector' to describe them, as it can't possibly be a collector…can it?

Great question - I have often asked myself the same question! I think something like a "Platinum Night" is an event that gets more foot traffic from non collectors than say an auction at the National. Perhaps these novices don't realize how questionable some items can be in these auctions.

Seemed a lot was written about the Joe Jackson autograph and many speculated in the hobby that autograph did not look good either - yet it went for a lot of money (I believe both JSA and PSA had authenticated it).

Heritage is having a vintage guitar auction this weekend, and I would love to try to win a couple of items. Unfortunately having very little knowledge of vintage guitars, when I think back to some of the items I have seen and argued with Heritage about of the last few years, I realize I can't bid in that auction as I could get "eaten alive".

Anyone else have any thoughts on who bids on these items?

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by sports-rings

Heritage is having a vintage guitar auction this weekend, and I would love to try to win a couple of items. Unfortunately having very little knowledge of vintage guitars, when I think back to some of the items I have seen and argued with Heritage about of the last few years, I realize I can't bid in that auction as I could get "eaten alive".

I think you hit the nail on the head - it is probably people who do not reach the conclusion you came to regarding guitars.

[sports-rings]

Originally Posted by Runscott

I think you hit the nail on the head - it is probably people who do not reach the conclusion you came to regarding guitars.

And that's a shame some auction houses do things like this. When was the last time you read a post on net54 where REA, Goldin Auctions or a select few other auction houses were criticized for grossly misrepresenting an item?

And in cases where something was discovered and brought to their attention, they quickly adjusted the description.

I would much rather take a gamble on a piece that I don't have a ton of knowledge about from auction houses that are known to be fair then from others who just bury their head in the sand, do little research, and refuse to modify their listings?

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by sports-rings

And that's a shame some auction houses do things like this. When was the last time you read a post on net54 where REA, Goldin Auctions or a select few other auction houses were criticized for grossly misrepresenting an item?

And in cases where something was discovered and brought to their attention, they quickly adjusted the description.

I would much rather take a gamble on a piece that I don't have a ton of knowledge about from auction houses that are known to be fair then from others who just bury their head in the sand, do little research, and refuse to modify their listings?

I don't know how the various auction houses compare on this - I buy most of my 'non comfort zone' items from Heritage, mainly because they auction such a broad variety of items other than sports. I don't feel comfortable buying rings from ANY auction house without consulting with someone like you first, simply because of the anomalies you've mentioned on our forum that would never otherwise have crossed my mind. The re-cast Green Bay ring comes to mind, and now this Mattingly.

An exception might be Lelands, simply because I know if I didn't feel comfortable with an item's authenticity once it was in hand, Josh would almost certainly take care of it. I'm not totally certain about other AH's, as I've told several of them about autograph forgeries they were auctioning, and they auctioned them anyway, which had a strong affect on my trust. In addition, I once received some forgeries that I wasn't able to identify as such until they were in hand, and the AH basically told me I was shlt out of luck. I sold them stating that while they were cert'd, I didn't like them - honesty cost me a 75% loss, which is expected.