Pot of Gold Estate Liquidators AZfirearms Estate Liquidation Sold a fraudulent Babe Ruth/Lou Gehrig ball to me. I sent it to Richard Simon for his opinion and he flatly states it's not only fake, it was done just prior to the auction. He claims the ink is not azfirearms.auctionflex.com, Internet

On 5/19/12 I got an email from Pot of Gold Estate Liquidators promoting their auctions.  I had never dealt with them before but thought I would check it out.  To my dismay, I saw that they had at least one Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig autographed baseball.  I collect baseball memorabillia and thought that although this was going to be a very expensive purchase,  I would take a stab at it and threw in a $5,000 bid.  Usually items of this caliber sell in the $55,000+ range.  I left it at that and occasionally was sent a note saying I was the current top bidder.  That seemed very odd.

To my surprise, I was notified that I had won the item and my total was $5,594.45.  I was astonished and suddenly very curious.  I have bought various items over the years, mostly from David Hunt Auctions.  He started his sports memorabillia auctions about the same time I started my antique bottle business, American Bottle Auctions, and we've kind of watched each other grow to the pinnacle of the hobby so to speak.  So I emailed a copy of the ball to David and he immediately said they were both fakes.  I called up Cheryl Todd, one of the principals of the company and explained that I didn't think it was right.  She said I had agreed to pay for anything I bid on and there was no return policy.  She said if I didn't like it she was willing to take it back and sell it for me for a 30% commission.  I told her to send it out and I would have a real authenticator make the decision.  

I went online to find the most reputable sports autograph authenticators I could and found Richard Simon Sports, Inc. Reading other articles and comments by experts in the hobby, he seemed to have the final word on real and fake.  He received the ball within a few days and his report came back the next week with these comments; Letters in both signatures are misshapen and do not conform to known examplars.  The Ink shows no signs of aging for ink that is allegedly at least 75 years old.  He also said that the ink flouresces under ultraviolet light, indicating the presence of modern ink.  I was surprised but relieved.  I had paid for the ball with a credit card and informed them that I was filing a dispute.  I supplied them with the appraisal from Richard Simon and my explination that a ball of that magnitude was worth many times what it sold for.  The dispute is being decided as I write this.

I agreed to pay for anything I bid on if it was what they said it was.  You can't sell someone an apple online and send them an orange.  I just looked at their website today and see they have more Ruth signed balls, including a Ruth, Cobb and Wagner signed ball, virtually impossible to come by.  All signatures are perfect.    They are fighting the credit card company and continue to say I agreed to pay for the ball.  Their house authenticator is Drew V. Max.  The ball came with authentication by him.  Now I'm hearing he doesn't have the experience to know what is right or not.  I'm also hearing anything coming out of Arizona is a fake.  These are comments by people from throughout the hobby, some named, others simply stating their opinion.