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<[email hidden]>,
Quoted message said:Jan said:Quoted message said:Well, I just got into Austin, TX, today and haven't seen Lance, but
did see a phoney yellow jersey signed by him. The expensive restaurant
Ruth's Chris steak house has a waiting room with a wall of honor of
sports memorabilia and ther is exposed a yellow jersey signed by Lance
Armstrong and on this jersey is written: "1999 Tour de France winner".
I wonder how many people are impressed by this (and that a French race
organization would supposedly write down the winner's credentials in
English). Yet another one of my illusions shattered.....
Quoted message said:-ilan
Are you saying its not a "real" yellow jersey ? Or it isn't Armstrongs
signature?
Jan
Well, I've never seen a "real" yellow jersey with "xxxx Tour de France
winner" written on it. I'm not familiar with Armstrong's signature,
but I suspect that the one I saw was real.
-ilan
Well, welcome to the wonderful world of collectible jerseys, which must
remind art dealers of the wonderful world of Dali prints.
There's whole hierarchies of important jerseys, at the top of which
would be race-worn jerseys, what normal people might think of as the
only "real" ones. To add to the confusion, there are normally jersey and
skinsuit versions of the shirt produced, and probably a few extras, so
there should be a fair number of authentic-kit jerseys that weren't
actually worn in anger. Who knows what value those have, or to what
extent they are distinguishable from the real thing. If you've seen the
movie "Hollentour" (aka "Hell on Wheels" the Telekom film that covers
the TdF from a few years back), you can see Rolf Aldag playing with the
various bits of issued kit (jersey, skinsuit, ?) in his hotel room after
he takes control of the polka dot jersey (he wasn't in the
classification lead; he was in second, but leader Virenque wore the
yellow jersey that day).
Next comes the presentation jersey, that fun oversized one with the
back-zip that only gets used in the podium ceremony.
Then, in some grey area are the stacks and stacks of "official" (or
whatever they are called) jerseys, which the stage leaders can
occasionally be seen signing after stages.
And beyond that, I'm sure there's all manner of commemorative,
limited-edition, reproduction, and other tat that is yellow and can be
worn on the top half of your body. Lance has probably signed a fair bit
of that stuff.
This is all made more complex by the fact that, as far as I know, there
is no serious process for authenticating most of this stuff. Lance
himself probably neither knows nor cares, except for what he has hanging
on his wall or in his garage. And like most other sports these days,
there are probably "authentics" repro jerseys that are virtually
indistinguishable from the original race-worn stuff.
I'm just saying that it's a minor folly to get worked up about the
"authenticity" of a ridiculous reproduction, which has about as much
merit as a Lance Armstrong relic as anything else he's signed or worn.
I'm sure that Lance had hundreds, if not thousands of people and
organizations who he felt obligated to give a "yellow jersey" to after
his wins.
And then there's stuff like this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Lance-Armstrong-signed-Tour-de-France-jersey-FRAMED_W
0QQitemZ120201483694QQihZ002QQcategoryZ50122QQcmdZViewItem
A small section (1 sq. in?) cut from a race-worn Lance yellow jersey
from the 2000 TdF. Mounted in a frame with a photo of Lance and an
explanatory note and complete documentation (because otherwise it's just
a ridiculous fabric swatch).
As a bomb-throwing capitalist, I fully support the right of the sellers
to cut up jerseys, and the right of buyers to buy little fragments of a
shirt that touched Armstrong while he rode. I'd have fewer doubts about
the authenticity of this ridiculous swatch than I would of most other
cycling artifacts.
But as an aesthete and a fan of cycling, I have to say: what a piece of
[censored]! It's a lousy memento in a lousy presentation, and its only merit
is that it democratizes the routinely gruesome memorabilia market.
That said, I'm sure someone in Ilan's life loves him enough to buy this
for him. Of course, if they really loved him, they'd seek out one of the
swatch bits that had a fragment of the Nike logos.
--
Ryan Cousineau [email hidden] http://www.wiredcola.com/
"My scenarios may give the impression I could be an excellent crook.
Not true - I am a talented lawyer." - Sandy in rec.bicycles.racing
