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Friday, September 03, 2010

PSA Says Fake; Nicholas Burczyk COA Says Authentic

Who do you believe?

PSA Quick Opinion:

Your Request for Item "Autograph Mickey Mantle w/Bat Signed Auto Photo w/COA", eBay Lot No. "160472342260", opinion was rendered at "8/26/2010 10:16:39 AM" and the result was:

Response: "Likely Not Genuine"

Here are the details of your Request:
Request ID: 73185
Request By: 08/27/2010


Here is the signed Mantle photo in question. The seller was k-statewildcat. Upon the "likely fake" opinion, PSA automatically reported the auction and it was shut down shortly thereafter.

The seller, k-statewildcat, apparently has a seemingly endless supply of Mantles, as well as others such as Sandy Koufax -- all "authenticated" by Nicholas Burczyk


23 comments:

David Comora said...

I've bought several of the autographs and have sent them to an independent authenticator for analysis. My understanding is that Burczyk was hired by a Sports Memorabilia company named Score Bpard and he authenticated tens of thousands of items for them. I just sent my autographs to evaluated by an independent authenticator. I'll let you know what they say.

Steve said...

I have a bad feeling you are in for some bad news. Every Burczyk COA I've seen has been on a questionable item. BTW, ScoreBoard was a very reputable company at one time that did private signings. I bought several items from them and they are as good as gold. They had a very simple COA printed on parchment like paper. In later years, it appears that people began photocopying their COAs. So now, many fake Scoreboard COAs pollute the hobby.

Christopher said...

Steve, when you refer to Scoreboard you write "They are as good as gold." Are you serious?

terry said...

this seller k-statewildcat is one of the biggest scammmers on ebay

Anonymous said...

this seller k-statewildcat is one of the biggest scammmers on ebay

Anonymous said...

check out alwaysatauction.com all burczyk all the time with tons of stuff selling for high $ everyday...

Steve said...

Hi Christopher - It was my understanding that Scoreboard was reputable in the early days and the stuff they sold through the home shopping networks was good. They had private signings with many big names such as Mantle, Mays, Aaron, etc. I know there were some questionable things in later years and their COA has been replicated and attached to many fakes since then. If you have solid information that they sold forges through the home shopping networks or in their early years, please email me directly at through my gmail account (zipper68). I'd really like to know. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

If Scoreboard used Mr Burczyk, then why did they keep him a secret all these years. They never offered his COA and when Ken Goldin, President of Scoreboard, hawked his stuff on Home Shopping on TV, why did he never once mention Mr Burczyk?

Anonymous said...

In reference to the above comment
"check out alwaysatauction.com all burczyk all the time with tons of stuff selling for high $ everyday..." if you check that site and other sites like it, you will see the Burczyk stuff selling for $1, $6, $16, $19.
High $ for Mantle, Williams???
I think not.

Christopher said...

Hi Steve. Are you aware that back in the 1990's "Shop At Home" TV shows purchased approximately $750,000 in forgeries that were in turn sold to their viewers. Much of that garbage was Mantle forgeries and "500 Homerun Club" signed baseballs.

Anonymous said...

Sorry its taken so long to repost here. Sent my 6 Burczyk pieces to Authentic Autographs Unlimited. They issued new COAs for 5 of the 6 pieces. The sixth, a Stan Musial autograph, they did not render their judgement on as they said they did not have exemplars on file for Musial. So...Now I have Burczyk COAs and AAUnlimited COAs for these pieces. Any chance we can pick up some Mantle/Dimaggio/Koufax fingerprints off of these photos?

Steve said...

I'd love to see scans of what AAU approved. Frankly, I have not yet seen a Burczyk COA on an item I thought was good. The Mantles are 100% fake in my view. BTW, AAU is Drew Max who is often featured on Pawn Stars rendering his opinion.

Anonymous said...

I've got a few examples of bad AAU authentications. I've yet to see proof that they reject anything.

Also on AAU's website they state is is unethical to render an opinion on an item that has been previously looked at.

Interesting.

Anonymous said...

That's funny when Mr. Anonymous wrote that AAU didn't have an exemplar for Stan Musial. AAU is a joke.

Anonymous said...

AAU is a joke too. They are also being used by the same company selling the Burcyzck junk. Company also uses STAT and TTA. All garbage. Send any of it to PSA, JSA or even GAI. None will pass.

Anonymous said...

it seems to me that when psa(hunt) gets a hold of an item they are evaluating that it came from burczyk, and render it a fake. seems to me if is not a hunt piece they shoot it down, maybe for spite???

Steve said...

There seems to be a lot of confusion and misinformation regarding Scoreboard. In Joe DiMaggio's biography, it clearly details the signing agreement he had with the Goldins and Scoreboard. I believe the same held true for Mantle and many others. Scoreboard was legit at one point and much of what they sold was authentic.

Anonymous said...

All auctions never purchased a warehouse full of old Scoreboard signatures. Thats a rumor the auction company started. There are 10 others claiming the same thing. Burczyck, STAT and AAU authenticate everything they get. Auction company has an employee that sits on the internet posing as a customer. Not the first site they've done this on.

Steve said...

I agree that the story about a warehouse of authentic Scoreboard items being sold and attached to Burczyk COAs is utter rubbish and a fairy tale.

Also, in regard to legitimate authenticators rejecting Burczyk items out of hand -- I don't blame them. An authenticator must look at the WHOLE picture of an item... and provenance is a big factor. If an item comes from a known source of fraudulent material, that should weigh heavily on the evaluation.

Rick said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Rick said...

AlwaysatAuction has a customer service guy with the last name Williams. He surfs the net with boneheaded stories about buying warehouses of stuff from Scoreboard. Company has no proof. They buy old stock that slipped through the cracks of Operation Bullpen. They buy from B & J Collectibles and such and resale it. They have no proof Burczyk authenticated the junk They were not even established as an auction company. They float rumors about the gret PSA/JSA conspiracy against others to fool new collectors and Soldiers. Guy has no clue. Just spreading what the boss tells him to.

4U2NV said...

Unfortunately, I purchased three separate autographed baseballs from Shop at Home in the late 90s. A Mantle, a Ted Williams, and a Joe DiMaggio. Is there any repercussions at this point in time? I highly doubt it, but thought I would ask to see if anyone knew anything.

freetopnotch said...

hi, drew maxx has more qualifications than anyone at psa/dna or jsa. he will go to court to stand behind his authentications.