The Michael Strahan Super Bowl jersey has been sacked…for now.
Goldin Auctions announced Friday morning that it was pulling the jersey from an auction set to close this weekend despite what it called “overwhelming photographic evidence and positive matches in regards to hole patterns and even markings on the jersey.” It had been expected to sell for $100,000 or more.
In a radio interview earlier this week, Strahan claimed he still has his jersey from Super Bowl XLII. However, two photo matches—one by MeiGray and the other by Resolution Photomatching—appeared to indicate the jersey in the auction was the real deal.
“Goldin Auctions has decided to remove Michael Strahan’s Super Bowl XLII Jersey from auction until the consigner of the jersey and Strahan can settle their dispute,” the company stated. “At this time, it is unfair to the potential buyers and the seller of the jersey to continue with the sale due to the recent claims made.”
In the past, however, the company has taken in items on consignment directly from Strahan. Ken Goldin, CEO of Goldin Auctions, says he met personally with Strahan in 2017. The Super Bowl jersey, however, wasn’t part of that consignment. Goldin had received it from a collector.
“Based on our personal experience and the experience of others in the industry there are many times that an athlete believes, on a good faith basis, they have an item from a specific event, or was given an item and told it was an item they used for a specific event, and actual photographic and/or video evidence conclusively proves this is not the case,” Goldin stated. “This jersey has been photo matched by two leading photo match experts, Mei Gray and Resolution Photo Matching service. Both reached the same conclusion. Mei Gray in particular is the official authentication company of the NBA and NHL and is the only service that offers a lifetime guarantee of authenticity and a money back guarantee on the purchaser’s purchase price of the item. We are 100% confident the Strahan jersey in the auction is authentic and the photo matching services letters and images speak for themselves.”
The company provided photos that it says show the photographic match compared to the jersey Strahan says he has hanging on his wall.
“You can see in many locations’ spots in the jersey in a photo of Strahan are consistent with the one being offered, and inconsistent with the one on Strahan’s wall,” Goldin stated.
“With respect to the jersey authentication, one third party photomatching company did an analysis on the jersey hanging on Strahan’s wall and gave us the following report, “We are unable to make conclusive matches from both halves of Super Bowl XLIII (to the framed jersey). The unique characteristics used to make the non-matches were the alignment of the mesh holes with the custom stitched numbers on the front of the jersey and the stains that appeared in different locations and shapes than on the jersey. Different mesh hole alignment and stains were seen in images in both halves of the games, which led us to making conclusive non-matches to images from both halves.”
Goldin says if the dispute between its consigner and Strahan will be settled, the jersey will be re-listed in a future auction.
The company’s Elite Auction, which includes 300 high-end items, is scheduled to close Saturday night.
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