Sports memorabilia is big business in America, generating an estimated $1 billion in annual sales. But for every authentic Mickey Mantle-signed bat or ball, there are many more for sale on eBay and other sites that are counterfeit, experts say.
Charles Kerr jumped at any chance to buy a special piece of sports memorabilia.
Sullivan had no way of knowing at the outset, but Kerr had been drawn into the web of a dealer who was at one time a well-known player in the industry. But for every authentic Mickey Mantle-signed bat or ball, there are many more for sale on eBay and other sites that are counterfeit, experts say. The industry took off in the early 1980s after a trio of baseball legends — Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio — signed deals to do paid signings with a company called Scoreboard. Scoreboard sold the autographed items along with a letter of authenticity.
But forgers are still churning out the more lucrative signed balls and bats and photographs from sports greats of yore.Charles Kerr, it seems, was one of them.Jennifer Sullivan's foray into the world of sports memorabilia began with a phone call. "He would always bring the kids baseballs or pictures or something from the New York Yankees or the Giants," Sullivan recalled."So we definitely started catching on that he was buying more and more."
"Not knowing anything about sports memorabilia, I quickly told Mr. Ingber that I would talk to my husband and call him back," Sullivan said. Then the intimidation started. Ingber began calling Jennifer Sullivan and leaving threatening messages. The Sullivans had no idea how Kerr had become a client of Ingber's. They knew little about him other than that he was based outside Minneapolis and seemed to be in business with a Ralph Perullo from North Carolina.
"This will adversely impact your credit score," the email said."I do not want to go forward, however you leave me no choice. I am not going to go away." Within seconds, Spence spotted issues with the signatures. The D's were too big. The g's were mirror images instead of mismatched as DiMaggio composed them. And the placement of the signatures was off: DiMaggio typically signed along the"sweet spot" in the center, Spence said, but these signatures sat higher on the ball.The other items didn't fare any better.
And so it went for the rest of the 11 items. Spence and his team determined all of them to be inauthentic. Perullo was reported to have snapped up thousands of bats, balls, jerseys and photographs — all autographed by the legendary slugger. The multi-million dollar deal was orchestrated by DiMaggio's longtime attorney and friend, Morris Engelberg.
Perullo agreed to offer his assessment of two balls purchased by NBC News, unaware that he had sold them. It took Perullo less than five seconds to declare that the Willie Mays signature was fake.It was an extraordinary moment: a sports memorabilia dealer admitting that an item he sold was a fake. "I used to sell memorabilia," the man said."I knew to stay away from people like this, but I got suckered in by the Joe DiMaggio name."
She said customers often called to complained about the items they had purchased."His m.o. was, 'They don't know. What do they know? They can't prove anything.'"
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