THere are some things more devastating than thinking you’ve stumbled upon something incredibly valuable, only to have an expert tell you you haven’t. Most of the time, however, skepticism remains. “How does this 30-year-old jerk supposed to know what an Abraham Lincoln signature looks like? He wasn’t alive then!” Now imagine Abraham Lincoln just walking up to you and saying, “Yes, I didn’t sign that.” After the initial shock of speaking to a dead person has worn off, you would probably finally succumbing to the fact that what you own isn’t right. After all, the man knows himself better than anyone else. Well, that wasn’t the case with Twitter user @gray_silk.
Our story begins as simply as any other, with our protagonist attempting to sell some nifty Ravens merchandise via Twitter.
There is nothing to see here. As for why he hashtagged the Indianapolis Colts and the Dallas Cowboys I have no idea, but otherwise everything is fine. His fatal mistake? He tagged Lamar Jackson. The former MVP is no stranger to targeting people on Twitter. He has regularly called Ravens fans who have speculated that Jackson might be considering leaving the team. He’s not just one of those athletes who don’t pay attention to his mentions and notifications. He’ll come after you if you attack him or his image, and that’s exactly what happened in this case.
That’s all he had to say to shake @gray_silk. “I didn’t sign that.” @gray_silk couldn’t believe it. It has been authenticated. This surely has to be a case of a superstar who doesn’t remember every memorabilia he wrote his name on. @gray_silk didn’t budge.
JSA stands for James Spence Authentication. It is one of the leading authentication companies in the world. They’re highly regarded and generally can’t go wrong…generally. They are vulnerable to counterfeiters although. When you’re so highly praised in your field, it’s not uncommon for people to try to take advantage of that appreciation. This has reportedly happened enough times that JSA’s reputation has suffered badly in recent years. Nevertheless, @gray_silk gave hope. Jackson completed it.
Now @gray_silks’ head is starting to shudder. “What did I get myself into?” he thinks to himself. “Am I really arguing with Lamar Jackson about a Lamar Jackson signature?” he screams in fear. “Have I been royally cheated?” The answer to the last question…yes. Yes he has. However, Jackson signs memorabilia with his patented “LJ 8”, he never, and I mean never, makes loops with his Ls. He’s always drawing the down stroke and then coming straight back to the right like he’s making a sharp angle in math class. This is not the case with @gray_silk’s signature.
As more and more people confirmed the idea that @gray_silk didn’t have a legitimately signed jersey, he started freaking out. He has dozens of other “autographed” Ravens memorabilia in his possession. Thankfully, many of the other signatures appear to be more legitimate. I’m not saying they all are or not, but many of the others he’s posted on his twitter seem to match Jackson’s real signatures.
You can’t help but feel sorry for the guy. If this were happening in private it wouldn’t be anything, but if he’s being dragged online by the man he’s clearly a huge fan of… ugh, that must hurt. But it’s not his fault. He has no reason to believe that the autograph is fake, it is even “authenticated”. However, let this be a lesson. If you are making a large purchase, you should make sure that it is genuine.
How could @gray_silk have done that in this situation? I have no idea. In any case, I probably would have done the same. I think the lesson should be this: if you’re trying to sell a memorabilia, don’t tag the person who claims to have signed it. They might end up calling you because you have a fake. Lesson learned, let’s hope it doesn’t happen again.
