Significance of Wealth Podcast | Episode 6
Authentication Matters: The $30 Million Babe Ruth Jersey
In this episode of the Significance of Wealth podcast, host Tom Ruggie interviews Barry Meisel, President and COO of MeiGray Group. Tom and Barry share a discussion on sports memorabilia authentication, focusing on the meticulous process of photo matching and the story behind a potentially record-breaking $30 million Babe Ruth jersey that is anticipated to go up for auction in August 2024.
(Editor’s Note: This podcast was recorded prior to the auction. The jersey ultimately sold for $24.1 million, surpassing the prior record for any game-worn item by $14 million! The MeiGray Group also authenticated the Michael Jordan rookie jersey that recently sold at Sotheby’s for $4.2 million)
Meet Barry Meisel: A Pioneer in Sports Memorabilia Authentication
Barry Meisel is a renowned figure in the sports memorabilia industry, known for his pioneering work in photo matching. From game-worn jersey collector to establishing MeiGray in 1997, Barry has revolutionized how collectors authenticate valuable sports artifacts, ensuring that each item is genuine and accurately represented.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
- The Art of Photo Matching: Barry explains how photo matching works and why it’s crucial for authenticating sports memorabilia. Learn how unique characteristics of an item are compared with historical photos to verify authenticity.
- The Story of the $30 Million Babe Ruth Jersey: Discover the incredible history and significance of the Babe Ruth jersey, which is expected to fetch upwards of $30 million at auction. Barry shares the meticulous research process that authenticated this iconic piece.
- Evolution of Sports Memorabilia Authentication: Understand how technology has transformed the sports memorabilia industry, making it possible to authenticate items with unprecedented accuracy.
- Collectibles Industry Insights: Barry and Tom discuss the growth of the sports collectibles market, the increasing value of authenticated relics, and what the future holds for collectors.
Why This Episode Matters
Sports memorabilia collectors and enthusiasts will find this episode particularly insightful. Barry Meisel’s expertise sheds light on the importance of authentication, providing valuable knowledge for anyone interested in collecting or investing in sports artifacts. The story of the Babe Ruth jersey serves as a compelling example of how meticulous research and advanced techniques can uncover the true value of historical items.
Key Takeaways
The conversation between these two sharp and tenured members of the collecting community is a must-listen for collectors and industry professionals alike. Throughout their discussion, Tom and Barry surface key insights on the evolution of authentication, its importance in a growing sports memorabilia market, and where that growth might lead.
Photo-matching grew from a need for visual evidence of authenticity.
In the earlier days of game-worn sports memorabilia collecting, Meisel asserts that authentication was based predominantly on chain of custody, provenance, and storytelling. While collectors can construct a highly credible case for authenticity using those criteria, they lack a visually apparent element that eliminates any need for suspension of disbelief.
Meisel and his partner knew there was a gap in the market as a result.
“We believed there was a lot of money on the sidelines that wanted to collect but wasn’t going to accept, ‘My brother knew a guy who knew somebody’s brother-in-law’s sister, and that’s how I know this jersey is real.’ That was not acceptable. We used to chuckle at that.”
What is photo-matching authentication?
Per Meisel’s definition, photo-matching is the process of “matching an exact item, due to its properties, to a photo of the player using that item.” The goal? “Conclusively proving that the relic being offered is the exact item” that it’s purported to be. MeiGray begins with the premise that no two jerseys are alike–that each is like a fingerprint–so each one has unique properties that can be identified through comprehensive research of photographs or video from the period.
These properties might include loose threads, placement of names and numbers, and imperfections or damage. Even with more sophisticated manufacturing, embroidering, and printing processes, jerseys still have unique properties; consider how many reference points you could examine on any given jersey, right down to where the minuscule holes in the mesh meet the numbers or tags. “You’re getting swatches of fabric coming off a loom as they’re manufactured, and no two swatches of fabric were showing the mesh holes in the garment exactly alike.”
When you examine jerseys to that degree of detail, it’s easy to see how any individual jersey can be compared to a fingerprint in its uniqueness.
When and how did photo-matching become popular?
Meisel started MeiGray in 1997, and the company’s photo-matching services initially drew skepticism…until those services started proving items’ authenticity. Those services began in football and hockey, where frequent damage and wear to garments made the evidence visually incontrovertible. “It took time for people first to understand what we were doing, then to say, ‘Hey, you’re right! There’s a picture of Wayne Gretzky wearing a jersey, there’s the jersey, and I see that there’s a rip by the number 9.’”
That lightbulb moment brings down the barriers to entry caused by more opaque authentication standards. When consumers can visually understand the case for an item’s credibility, those consumers can more confidently become collectors.
In the 2000s, the company began league deals with the NHL and the NBA. Those league programs significantly bolstered the credibility of the authentication process and its acceptance as a key standard. Meisel jokes that the company is an overnight success 25 years in the making. Over time, several factors cemented the status of the photo-matching method: these league deals, the performance of the authenticated items at auction, and the elevated prices relative to items lacking the same standard of authentication.
Does the absence of a photo-match mean that an item is inauthentic?
Meisel notes that there are often instances when MeiGray cannot conclusively photo-match an item to period photos, and he emphasizes that a photo-match must be conclusive. Their inability to issue a match may not be the result of an inauthentic item, though. Rather, the media used for comparison may not be of high enough quality to conclusively identify match points. Put differently, the absence of a “slam dunk photo,” as Meisel puts it, might mean that a conclusive photo-match is impossible to issue.
While a company’s inability to photo-match an item does not necessarily mean it’s inauthentic or mislabeled, it also means that conclusive proof via photographic evidence is not achievable. That could prove detrimental to an item’s value, at least relative to what it might be worth with that conclusive evidence.
How did MeiGray authenticate the Babe Ruth jersey to the famous “Called Shot” World Series game?
Meisel emphasizes the importance of obtaining an abundance of photographic reference material from Getty Images and a museum in Chicago, noting that the media was of very good quality for photographs from the 1930s.
“We took all of this media and went through the 1932 season with all available video and photographic evidence to see that Ruth did wear several jerseys that season.”
With that knowledge, the next steps involved rigorous analysis of the garment in comparison to the wealth of period-specific photos to ascertain if and when Ruth wore it. Meisel and the MeiGray team believe you need a jersey in hand to examine the properties identified via photo and video evidence. In this case, that meant scrutinizing the nuances– the grain of the fabric, the button placement relative to other buttons and letters, how letters rest in relation to each other–and comparing them to the available reference material.
Can photo-matching add value to a piece of memorabilia?
While Meisel notes that you can’t necessarily apply a formula because every item and situation is different, he asserts that there’s a significant increase in value for a photo-matched item, both because of the photo-match itself and because of the increase in interested parties as a result of it. The supply of conclusively photo-matched relics is also generally far lower than the supply of relics in total, particularly for vintage items.
Using Muhammad Ali fight-worn trunks as an example, Meisel notes, “There are many, many Muhammad Ali collectors. There are very, very few properly authenticated, photo-matched Ali relics.” He adds, “If you sold them as is [without photo-matching authentication], I would say you’ll get far less–maybe 20-50% less–than if they were conclusively photo-matched. Some of these Ali collectors would not want them without the photo-matching authentication and would not have complete confidence to spend the dollars it would take, because Ali is one of the most coveted and collectible athletes in the sports world. Depending upon the exact item, if it’s from a championship fight or a famous fight, the multiple becomes even greater.”
Is photo-matching authentication still important for contemporary memorabilia given the establishment of more stringent, on-site authentication?
While nobody has a crystal ball to see the future of the collecting hobby, Meisel contends that when today’s everyday item might become tomorrow’s relic, twenty years down the road, collectors will want photographic evidence that an item was used.
There’s so much to learn from this engaging discussion, and we encourage you to listen to the full episode for more of the valuable insights shared above. Among the subjects we haven’t covered here:
- Whether varying “degrees” of photo-matches pass muster or if photo-matching produces totally only outcomes
- The parallels between sports memorabilia and the art world, and how authenticity confidence in the latter might be falling
- The most exciting–and disheartening–parts of the photo-matching process
- An interesting special request that MeiGray made of the New York Giants (hint: keep those Tide Pods away!)
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