The Sneaker Savant

What exactly is ‘authentic’?

In sneakers, it seems that ‘authentic’ boils down brand-sanctioned. Meaning one can use the same (leftover) materials at the same factories and if Nike (or whichever brand) didn’t ‘approve’ it, then it’s not actually considered ‘authentic’. No way to prove this, really, but that’s the generally accepted definition.

But what about in other markets?

This Luka card that I posted the other day - the one that ended for $230k, had gained a bit of recognition from @darrenrovell when he tweeted that the signature doesn’t match his others, nor does his jersey number have the lines the patch showed.

Digging a bit into the RTs - you see that the general consensus amongst collectors is that his mom used to sign a lot of his cards and Panini has players wear jerseys with the number 88 for a few minutes so they can claim ‘player worn’ and can maximize the amount of patches they can re-create and sell. Huh?

Tell me - if this Luka card is signed by his mother and it’s actually just a random jersey without his actual jersey number - what is actually ‘authentic’ about this card? I mean, it’s BRAND-SANCTIONED. And somebody spent $230k + $125 shipping + another $15k in sales taxes (LOL) for this not-authentic piece of ‘authentic’ memorabilia…And from what I understand, this is actually pretty common in the card market.

TL; DR: In shoes - ‘authentic’ means brand-sanctioned. In cards...it seems ‘authentic’ means brand-sanctioned...but...it’s...still...fake. How, sway?

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