WOW! Fake Memorabilia ... whoda thunk it?

[Frayed Knot]

Barry Halper, self-proclaimed collector and king of baseball artifacts (and part NYY owner) = mostly a fraud and con-artist

[Guest Edgy DC]

Let's go, Feds! Let's go, Feds!

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

I think he was more of a sucker than an scam artist. Seems like he believed what he was told -- always -- and obviously never had anything checked before buying. And, sounds like he exaggerated a lot.

[Frayed Knot]

metsguyinmichigan wrote: I think he was more of a sucker than an scam artist.

Really?
Selling the story that he got up a Shoeless Joe uni directly from Mrs. Shoeless when it turned out to have been made of post-WWII era synthetics makes him the source of the lie not the victim.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Yeah, I mean...

He allegedly paid people to back his lies about how he acquired some pieces, and he's the primary suspect in a notorious heist of the New York Public Library's Fifth Avenue branch, where $1 million worth of letters to baseball pioneer Harry Wright and other scrapbook entries vanished in the 1970s.

I remember that cover. It was my senior year in high school and I spent my empty periods in the library digging through The Baseball Encyclopedia. I dicovered Pud Galvin and thought that was the best name in baseball and was shocked to see a player wearing his uniform.

[stevejrogers]

Isn't this why we have the MFYLDB thread? =

[stevejrogers]

metsguyinmichigan wrote: I think he was more of a sucker than an scam artist. Seems like he believed what he was told -- always -- and obviously never had anything checked before buying. And, sounds like he exaggerated a lot.

I would tend to agree (assuming you are being serious), but there are several examples listed in the articles, both in the Post article and the website I linked to in the MFYLDB thread, of his stories changing through the years. It's one thing to be a full out huckster, but it does seem that Halper was an outright fraud.

[Frayed Knot]

SteveJRogers wrote: Isn't this why we have the MFYLDB thread? =

Yeah sorry, I never saw that one (which is why I hate putting things in 'All-Purpose' threads - but that's another topic).



On the memorabilia/collectables biz in general, I've always operated under the assumption that the majority of it was either fraudulent or consisted of pieces created specifically to form a 'buzz' and therefore a temporary bubble where the sellers could cash in before the prices collapsed under the inevitable market saturation and/or cheaper knock-offs. And the notion of a 'Certificate of Authenticity' always cracked me up. As if a question about whether an item was fake could be solved by a certificate which is even easier to fake. Not too surprising then to see that Halper invented (or claims to) the term in the first place.

Halper, between his image of operating at the top end of the market, some high-rent friends, and his association with the MFYs, sounds like he was able to escape scrutiny for far longer than he ever deserved to.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I hope he gets the chair.

[Frayed Knot]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I hope he gets the chair.

If we can figure out how to give a dead man the chair I'm with you.

[ashie62]

Halper would say he is buried in a Babe Ruth personally certified caskey. Yeah, thats the ticket.