They may all look alike. But in the world of sports memorabilia,not all footballs are created equal. And now the most precious amongthem are getting a DNA stamp as proof of their having been used ingame-day heroics.
In an effort to thwart counterfeiters, the 120 footballs expectedto see action in Sunday's Super Bowl game will be tagged as they comeoff the field with a strand of synthetic DNA that is permanent,unique, and invisible to the naked eye.
The DNA stamp is part of a four-tier security system used byCalifornia's PSA/DNA Authentication Services to fight what has becomea rampant problem in the $3 billion sports memorabilia andcollectibles industry.
By FBI estimates, a staggering 70 percent to 80 percent of thememorabilia is fake. The fraud has become so common that dealers suchas Ellen Weber, owner of Weber's Sports Collectibles in Watertown,won't buy memorabilia from individual sellers.
And industry insiders joke that no one would even recognize a realautograph from a celebrity such as Michael Jordan because the fakeversion of his signature is much better known.
Even the certificates and tamper-proof labels once used toauthenticate signed balls, game-worn jerseys, and autographed batsare often faked by crooks eager to make a quick buck.
'We wanted something covert, something that would force acounterfeiter to go to extremes to get around our authenticationefforts,' said Dave Gioia, the vice president of marketing forCollectors Universe Inc., the parent company of PSA/DNAAuthentication Services.
In fact, the DNA adds a virtually impregnable layer of protection.Each mark contains a tagging of chemically synthesized DNA thatincludes four codes unique to the company, then a sequence of markersso complex that a counterfeiter would have a 1 in 33 trillion chanceof reproducing it, Gioia said.
The method is licensed from a Los Angeles company called DNATechnologies Inc., which has tagged everything from clothing labelsto artwork. Last summer, the company marked T-shirts, mugs, pins, andother official Olympics merchandise with DNA from an unidentifiedAustralian athlete.
The company's technology can be used to tag items with a strand ofsynthetic DNA - a random string of genetic code - or with DNA from areal person. For artist Thomas Kinkade, for example, the company putscopies of Kinkade's DNA into the ink he uses to sign his artwork.
'Every time an athlete signs something they are creating a form ofmoney,' said Chris Outwater, president of DNA Technologies. 'There'sgreat demand to own a piece of whatever a person like Mark McGwiretouches.'
A game-used Super Bowl football would likely be worth thousands ofdollars, perhaps even tens of thousands of dollars, Outwater said.But the value of sports memorabilia has been known to climb to evenloftier heights - if its authenticity can be assured.
A basketball used in 1962 by Wilt Chamberlain to score a record100 points in a game was sold at auction last year for more than ahalf-million dollars before the sale was nullified because of doubtsabout the ball's authenticity. Once the auction house was satisfiedthat the ball was the original, it was sold again, but this time for$67,791.
Some of the footballs to come off the field at Raymond JamesStadium in Tampa will be donated by the NFL to various charities.Others will be sold on the NFL auction site on eBay.
This year's championship between the New York Giants and theBaltimore Ravens is the second time the NFL has used PSA/DNAAuthentication Services to specially tag Super Bowl footballs. TheCalifornia company also tags and registers merchandise sold on theNFL auction site.
In addition to the DNA tag, the company sends a certifiedauthenticator to the Super Bowl to ensure that the ball being markedwas used in the championship game. The company also applies aninvisible solution containing the DNA to the ball; the solutionfluoresces under a special laser light. And it assigns the ball aserial number, which is recorded on a tamper-proof label and anaccompanying certificate of authentication.
'We offer the system for authentication to protect consumers,'Gioia said.
Naomi Aoki can be reached by e-mail at naoki@globe.com.
