← Collector Nation
Loading summary
Transcript125 lines
- [00:00]
A
I think even the card manufacturers are starting to realize that people demand to really know with 100% certainty that it was game used and when it was game used. The industry demands photo matching.
- [00:13]
B
That makes a lot of sense. People kind of have their doubts, let's just say that. And certain bad players have unfortunately made it that way. But at the same time, they say, I mean, proof is good to have. Welcome to the Trading Cards and Collectibles podcast, our the Radcast Network. From chasing grails to calling bluffs and going inside the hobby, are you ready to collect? Let's get at it. Here is your host, Ryan Alford. Hello and welcome to Trading Cards and Collectibles here on the Radcast Network. Want to thank you for making us a top five sports show on Apple podcasts. Coming for you, Kelsey Brothers. We're nudging right up against you. You know you can swift this. Oh, I'm kidding. But all good. We appreciate you for listening. If you're watching, listen. If you listen, watch. Check us out on YouTube. We got all our highlight clips, the full episode. And hey, a lot of what we're talking about today is visual. You know, when it comes back to it, we're talking to the founder of Resolution Photo Matching. What's up, John?
- [01:16]
A
Hey, Ryan. Great to be with you here.
- [01:18]
B
Hey, man, my pleasure. Appreciate you joining us here. Talking all things collectibles, the hobby services, products, technology. I know yours is a very technical services. I think now that I'm getting my head wrapped around, I think I knew and understood it. But what we're going to do today is unlock it for me and everyone else, John.
- [01:38]
A
Absolutely. I can tell you the stories and you can be working on behalf of the listener there. So.
- [01:45]
B
Yeah, so specializing in authenticating game used sports memorabilia. You know, I'm surrounded by my. Some of my favorites. They're coming out. We just moved into a new studio, John. So I made. I made. Yeah, it's coming. It's every week the piles are getting lower. You know, it looks good, you know, here, this little section, but we're in like 3,000 square feet. It was like boxes and stuff behind me and it was like starting to attack me while I was on the show. Now it's suddenly, oh, starting to look like a space here. We're starting having guests in studio here. So I call it my man cave. It's starting to look like a man cave. Bella, would you agree?
- [02:29]
A
Oh, yeah, I got the thumbs up.
- [02:31]
B
Hey, John, talk to me, man. In Seattle. Is it always raining in Seattle?
- [02:36]
A
Or no, hey, it's a sunny day today. Yeah, I'm looking out the window here and we've got some blue sky, which is sometimes a rarity. But yeah, we're coming across the country here. You guys are over there in the Carolinas. So. But yeah, happy to be with you.
- [02:52]
B
Well, you know, the only thing that keeps me sleepless is when I buy memorabilia and I don't know if it's the legit stuff. So talk to me about what you guys are up to, John.
- [03:04]
A
Absolutely. So, yeah, at Resolution Photo Matching, we're authenticating game use memorabilia and we've been doing it since 2016 when we started. At the time that Resolution launched and was founded, photo matching was not the standard for authenticating game use memorabilia. Grading was a lot more popular at that time, but it really frankly was not as accurate as photo matching. But at the time there wasn't a dedicated photo matching professional photo matching service that that's, you know, all they did was photo match memorabilia. And so when we came out, I'm really proud of the fact that I think we led to a shift in how game news memorabilia was authenticated. We quickly became the top authenticator for game news memorabilia with a lot of the auction houses, the top individual collectors and, and within probably two or three years of our founding photo matching and Resolution photo matching had kind of become the industry standard and I think it's still there today. Now there's.
- [04:20]
Some different factors in the market and things like that, but I'm still really proud of the fact that I think resolution photo matching is still the standard for authentication when it comes specifically to game used.
- [04:32]
B
Yeah, I mean, talk to me. It's interesting. I've got some memorabilia, a lot of trading cards and you know, in trading cards, you know, they cut up the memorabilia into a million pieces. Yeah, the you guys get involved with any of that stuff.
- [04:50]
A
Like, you know, it's funny you mentioned that we've actually even been contacted by a couple of of card manufacturers about doing photo matching for a jersey before it goes into the cards is eventually when they're going to cut up and put into cards. And so it's not something that they've jumped into a whole lot yet. But I think even the card manufacturers are starting to realize that, you know, people demand if to really know with 100% certainty that it was game used and when it was game used. The industry demands photo matching. And so I think even we're starting to see card manufacturers start to get that and start to reach out to us.
- [05:34]
B
Talk to me. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And they're right because, I mean, people, you know, people kind of have their doubts, right? Let's just say that. And you know, the not certain bad players have unfortunately made it that way. But at the same time, they say, I mean, proof is good to have and especially when you have something of value and increasing that value. Walk me through generally speaking, John, with resolution, photo matching. I was talking with Bill about this before the episode. I was going, okay, do I buy this or do I. Do I go. I go to the service like this before I buy, I'm buying something of value, expensive, or if I've got a collection on the wall, and I'm like, I want to increase its value and increase my confidence level. Is it. Is it both or one or the other?
- [06:27]
A
It's really all the above. So we'll have clients coming to us right before they're going to sell. We'll have clients coming to us right before they're going to buy.
- [06:38]
It really depends. We can even at times work on items that are currently at auction if we get enough turnaround time before the auction's over. The auction house will always have the first auction if they want us to work on their item. But yeah, it's all different degrees. Maybe if you're working on it right before you're going to buy something that doesn't currently have a resolution photo match, maybe you can get a little better price on it when you buy it and then you can add some value after the purchase.
- [07:11]
You know, you definitely want to have it. If you're about to sell, you want to have resolution on there because it's going to add a lot more value to the piece if we're able to make a res match. But, you know, as far as what I encourage, I always encourage people to do it early, try and get the res match early. Because then it's not just the added value financially when you sell it, but you get to enjoy it too, because it's kind of fun. It's something you really can. It's a visual medium where it can really, even if you're displaying, you know, your jerseys or your bats or your shoes, you can put the res match photo with the item on display. You know, we'll put them in frames and stuff like that. And not only is it authentication, but it's also kind of a addition to the collectible, you know, on the wall.
- [08:03]
B
Yeah, that's cool. I. I didn't think about that. The. Or you can have like a Video playing like the game or something. Like you've got like a sweet setup.
- [08:12]
A
Like a. Yeah, if you have the right screen set up. Yeah, absolutely.
- [08:15]
B
Oh, we have to get some of those in here, John. We got to get some authentication going, you know, I mean, I got more screens in this place than you even know. I like.
- [08:23]
A
Hey, anytime you get game used, you gotta, you gotta send it our way. Absolutely, I know.
- [08:29]
B
So where are you seeing the most growth? Like is it people like before they buy something. Okay, hey, John, we call the team, they want to get it validated or is it like you said early on?
- [08:45]
A
Yeah, I mean, I think it's again, it's all the above. You know, as far as growth within the markets, we've always. Our bread and butter has always been baseball, basketball, football. Those have always been the three biggest. Probably the biggest growth sport we've seen in the last two, three years is actually soccer. There's a lot more soccer. Soccer collectors coming out still probably not to the level of those big three, the baseball, basketball, football, but we've seen a lot of increases there. Hockey as well, you know, various other sports. And then we can actually also authenticate non sports items. So we'll do photo matching for stuff that's used in concerts. You know, whether it be a guitar, you know, used by.
- [09:37]
We had one of the Rolling Stones guitars we were able to res match.
- [09:43]
And you know, we've done shirts from like major musicians and then also screen worn. So stuff that's used in TV shows, stuff that's used in movies. We did a way back, this was a few years ago, but one of my favorites, because it was one of my favorite movies back in the day was we did a Jonah Hill shirt from Superbad.
- [10:04]
B
Oh yeah.
- [10:05]
A
So that was a fun one. We did one of Kate Winslet's dresses from Titanic, so various ones like that. We did a Mark Wahlberg piece, so it can even be non sports as well.
- [10:20]
B
How did you guys get good at this? So like I. Not to give away trade secrets or anything, but like I'm still fascinated like at this process, like exactly what is happening here.
- [10:30]
A
Yeah, I love that question. And it's funny you mentioned that the trade secrets. We talk about this with our team in the early days of Resolution, you know, when we were basically the big player in the industry and we still are, but there's others out there now.
- [10:46]
I was always really careful about really trying to keep our process behind closed doors. Really not give much out because I didn't want any competitors to kind of get an inside edge on our process. But with that, sometimes I think our clients didn't fully understand what we do and everything that we do behind the scenes. So now we're actually starting to flip it. We're starting to say, hey, we want to talk more about the process and make sure all of our clients and potential clients know all of the painstaking research that goes on to make the res matches. So yeah, I can absolutely talk a little bit about it. We have a three round research process for every item we're researching. So in the first round we're looking at every possible image from the span of use. So let's say it's a Shohei Ohtani game use bat, and all we know is it's from 2025. So we're going to look at thousands of images, potentially tens of thousands of images of Ohtani to try and track down the potential period of use. We have a team of researchers that will be involved in that. And we also have, I definitely believe, by far the most thorough span of image databases. So we actually have over 35 photo and video image databases that we're going through to do that process.
- [12:14]
We have licensing contracts or using the images legally, which is a really important part. But yeah, we have a team going through and analyzing those images to try and find the potential matching characteristics. So anyway, with the three rounds of the research, the first round is going through analyzing every potential image and then flagging the ones that are promising. And then in the second round of our research, we have kind of the checks on those promising images to see, hey, is this the potential to be a res match? And the other really important part in our second round is what we call our comparison analysis process. And this is really what keeps our standards at the level they are. Which is one of the things that I think really sets resolution apart is that level of standard we take before we'll call something a res match before we call it a photo match.
- [13:13]
And in the comparison analysis, let's say it's again, let's take a jersey. So we'll say it's a Tom Brady jersey. We'll look at 10 other Tom Brady jerseys or other New England's Patriots jerseys. If it's from his Patriots years, from that same year, the same make manufacturer to figure out, okay, which characteristics are unique to this jersey and which characteristics are not. You know, maybe there's some sort of placement of the lettering, but it's essentially identical on every jersey. Then we can't rely on that as a potentially unique res matching characteristic. So that's what we're figuring out in our comparison analysis. That's on the second round. And then our third round of research is we have a senior most researcher and they're doing final checks and making the final determinations. So they're, you know, we've already done all this research, all this comparison analysis. There's also dating research that's involved. If an image is undated, we've got to track down, okay, when was it, when is this image from? There's a whole research process involved in that.
- [14:21]
But once we get to that third round, they're doing the final checks and balances, they're making the final determinations. This image, this date is a res match based on these different characteristics. That date maybe isn't a res match, maybe it's a possible or probable match, but it doesn't make that level of res match.
- [14:42]
And then we get into making the graphics, making our certification and sending all those out to the client. But. But yeah, as far as the research process goes, that gives you kind of an idea of some of the stuff that goes on behind the scenes.
- [14:55]
B
Well, it sounds like kind of like painting a house. You can know how to do it, but you don't want to do it.
- [15:01]
A
It's time intensive. It's time intensive for sure to do it right. You know, I always say photo matching isn't that hard to do potentially. But to do it at the professional level and do it at the level that we're doing it, that's where it gets difficult.
- [15:16]
B
Yeah, that is detailed. And what percent doesn't get validated? And if it doesn't, I mean, I guess you're paying the research cost because the research took place whether you got it or not. How does that work as far as you know what you're paying for? What percent gets validated versus does it?
- [15:36]
A
Yeah, yeah, that's a great question. And it's an important thing for clients to know coming in. Not every item is going to res match. Sometimes it could mean the item is not good, but a lot of times it doesn't mean that. A lot of times it just means the right images weren't out there, the characteristics were more difficult, and it just didn't have the right things to lead to a res match. As far as the pricing goes, you brought that up. There is actually a big discount in price if we're not able to make a res match. So, and it's depending on the level of item, it can be anywhere from about 30 to 60% refunded back to the client. So they do get some money back at least if we're not able to make a raise match, obviously we're spending a very similar amount of time either way. But we don't want the clients to feel like they spent all this money and got nothing. So they're at least getting a good chunk of money back. As far as, you know, the quantity of items that res match versus don't, it's difficult to say. There's so many criteria that go into it. You know, some items are, you know, have a higher chance, some items have a lower chance. Sometimes if an item's like a really high value, even if there's a lower chance of success, it's gonna be worth it for the client because, you know, they can be risking, let's say it's a thousand dollar fee. Well, if a res match is going to add $50,000 in value to that piece, yeah, you want to, you want to give it a shot and see what happens. But broadly speaking, probably a little bit over half of items that are submitted to us were able to res match. And you know, the other chunk, you know, for one reason or another, a res match can't be made.
- [17:26]
B
So that makes sense. So talking with John Robinson, he is the founder of resolution photo Matching, John, so.
- [17:36]
I send it in and you guys are doing your research, it would be my assumption that if it's modern, like game worn from the last 10 to 15 years, higher percent chance of matching versus 15 plus 20 plus. Good assumption.
- [17:57]
A
Yeah.
- [17:59]
It'S interesting. It's a little bit more complicated than that. In general, there's going to be way more images from recent items. So in that regard there's a higher chance of a res match. But with that said, pretty much across all major sports.
- [18:18]
Well, there's, there's a quantity issue. So these days players will most of the time wear a jersey for like one or two games or wear a pair of shoes maybe for one game. Whereas back in the, you know, 80s, 70s, 60s, 20s, they wear like two jerseys all year. So there's going to be a lot fewer images from the 1920s, the 1950s, but there's a, they probably used the item for a lot longer period of time. So in that way it kind of almost evens out.
- [18:56]
But, but yeah, I mean, in general, yeah, there's absolutely going to be way more images from more modern pieces.
- [19:03]
You know, there are also a lot of times, especially if you're talking last 10 years or so, a lot more pieces are league authenticated, meaning that they Already have. You know, MLB authentication I think is great, where they will put a sticker on it and say, hey, it was used on this date. But even then it's great to submit it to resolution because sometimes they'll only include the date that it was pulled from use, but we're able to photo match it to six or seven other dates. So again, it probably won't be the whole season. Occasionally a player will wear it for an extended period, but probably not a whole season. But we're oftentimes able to do a lot more beyond what the league authentication has.
- [19:47]
B
That's cool. So that makes sense to me and it's interesting like you said that the, the wear the modern times more pictures, but they wear them fewer.
- [19:58]
A
So yeah, that's kind of a, kind of a balance.
- [20:01]
B
Yeah, it does. So I've got now my mind's like spitting. John. I'm a curious creature.
- [20:08]
A
So there's so many different ways you can go with it. Yeah, I know.
- [20:11]
B
I love this. So do I have to send anything to you?
- [20:16]
A
It's a great question. Yeah. So we don't need physical items shipped for our process. And we discovered this early on, you know, back from the time we started, we've never acquired physical shipping of items. And that was another thing that really was able to make it easier for our clients with past authentication. You know, pre2015, they always required shipping. And you know, we kind of realized they were a little bit maybe behind the times. You know, when you didn't have iPhone cameras in 2005.
- [20:51]
You know, that didn't work. But now with the everyone has this high def camera in their pocket. All we need are physical or specific photos of each item. So we need very specific angles, basically the front, the back, the manufacturer tags to where we can see everything we need to see. But then it actually saves the client the unnecessary hassle of having to ship the physical item and all the liability that goes into that.
- [21:21]
B
So no, that's big. I mean, because you don't have to, you don't have the liability or the insurance or whatever shipping a valuable item. I mean, unlike grading with cards, you know, you have to send them off to get graded. I mean there's a process. You don't have to definitely worry about it at this point. You got insurance, but it's still nerve wracking and pain in the ass. Let's just call it spade a spade. You know, have to wait that four months to get your card back. Like I've had to do it talking to you psa.
- [21:51]
And I like you guys, but I'm just saying it takes too long. Sometimes the value changes, sometimes it goes up, but a lot of times it goes down. It's like, oh, I got psa, Tim. It took five months to get the card back. Yeah. How long is the process, John? How long we need to validate this stuff?
- [22:08]
A
Yeah, yeah. And that's another great thing about the not having to ship is it does make the turnaround time a little bit quicker. But, yeah, the standard turnaround time is around a week and a half, sometimes two weeks. But there's also, you know, there are times if there's a certain deadline that needs to be met, we can work to do that. So.
- [22:30]
B
So you'll have, like, expedited services if.
- [22:32]
A
Exactly.
- [22:33]
B
Pay an extra fee or whatever. Time. Time's money. Money's time. And get it rushed. You guys do custom services.
- [22:41]
A
Exactly. Yeah, we can, you know, if there's a deadline of, you know, a week, six days, a lot of times with. With an expedited service, we can make that happen.
- [22:52]
So.
- [22:53]
B
Yeah, it's 2016, so we've been. We're almost 10 years in. John.
- [23:01]
A
What'S.
- [23:01]
B
Tell me some stories. Like what. What's some of the coolest things you've Rez. Matched and, you know, tell me something in the audience that would be interesting or kind of cool that, I mean, you've been doing it.
- [23:13]
A
Absolutely.
- [23:14]
B
I'm sure you've seen some amazing.
- [23:15]
A
Yo. Yeah, we've seen, you know, every sport, every historical item you can think of. You know, we've seen. Yeah. As far as. As far as the types of pieces, I mean, we've done, you know, multiple Michael Jordan finals jerseys from his last dance years. We did a Magic Johnson.
- [23:37]
Finals jersey from the Dream Team years. We've done Tom Brady. We've done.
- [23:48]
B
Any Jordans.
- [23:50]
A
Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, we've done a number. A number of Jordan pieces. NBA Finals, playoffs.
- [23:59]
You know, both Bulls and even Wizards as well. Um, but. And then on the baseball side, you know, we've done. We did a Ty Cob bat. That was always one of my favorites because it was a really cool discovery in our early days. It was probably 2017. Did you match it? Yeah, yeah, we were able to match it to this. This photo that we discovered of this obscure photo that was miss dated and. But we were able to find it through the process and get the dating figured out.
- [24:30]
And so that was really cool. You know, we've done Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth.
- [24:36]
Bats, jerseys. We've done, you know, More modern. We've done a number of Shohei Ohtani pieces. We actually just announced our rez match of the month which was a Shohei Ohtani walk off home run back from beginning of 2025.
- [24:56]
So, you know, so many different pieces.
- [25:00]
And then, you know, another one that was really cool was on the non sports side. We did a Amelia Earhart cap that she wore on. It was the first female transatlantic flight. So she went from across the Atlantic. It had never been done by a woman before. And we photomatched, we res matched the cap that she wore during that flight. And it was a big, you know, the New York Times ran a big story on it and it got a bunch of coverage because it was this cap that this guy had had passed down. The story goes. And obviously, you know, that's not our area, but according to the legend, Amelia Earhart took off this cap and gave it to, I think it was a kid right after the flight. And then it'd been sitting in someone's attic for 75 years. Then they decided, hey, this might be worth some money. They sent it to us, we got it res matched. It ended up selling for I think close to a million dollars.
- [26:02]
But on the non sports side, that was a really cool one.
- [26:06]
B
That's amazing. I mean, piece of history right there. And the fact that there was actually a photo that you were able to do that. It's crazy that you have to make sure we validate this microphone here. Ryan Alford on the podcast, you know.
- [26:25]
A
With the way your guys show's taken off here, I mean that's going to be worth a lot of money in some years ahead.
- [26:30]
B
Yeah, this is the over my rookie year one day.
- [26:37]
It's fun though because I joke a little bit. It's like the. But your mind starts to kind of go down that I was just sitting here thinking like all the things and especially with like you mentioned like movie stars and actors and TV and entertainment, like, good grief. So many different things. And I'm sure you guys have seen everything. I feel like at one time I was telling Bella this before the show. I was like, I swear there's like on E. Or something, a segment where someone and it. Maybe it's just a company that does similar things or something. They were talking about like a Britney Spears blouse or something that she wore. And I mean that. But that's. We're getting in the territory. Cause I imagine you guys do stuff like that, right?
- [27:21]
A
Yeah, yeah. And it's funny you mentioned that, you know, we have one of the Big clients. We work for Golden Auctions. They have a TV show, and they often will talk about some of the photo match pieces. And at one point a couple years ago, we were actually contacted by a production company about doing a TV show, and it never took off. We'll see if it comes back around. But, but, but, yeah, it's. It's. It's very interesting. You know, the. The stuff that most people don't even think about. So.
- [27:51]
B
No, I know. And that people put value on. Like, I mean, I. I was like a Michael Jackson piece or something, which I can understand. He's the king of Klopp, means freaking, you know, the greatest musicians of all time. No matter how you feel about him, he is. It's. And so thus, like the most random thing, like a plant, like a vase that was in his house or something, you know, like, that could be validated and the tens of, you know, thousands of dollars people put value on, you know, and it's back to, you know, the premise of this show, which is collectible, you know, trading cards and collectibles. We're, as a society, we collect things and, you know, when it's. It's just something that's in the foundation of our culture and we put, obviously, the celebrity and anyone's name, image, likeness, that's famous for whatever reason, good, bad, or indifferent, or entertainment or sports or whatever it might be, we put value in that. And this kind of validation and service gives it that much more credibility in the collectibles, in a collector's mine and in someone buying it.
- [29:00]
A
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I mean, that's where the hobby is at its best is like, at its core of just like, finding cool stuff and then coming up with an idea for, like, okay, I want to collect, you know, this team from this year, because that was, you know, the year that I was, you know, a kid and I, you know, was on that ride with them and, you know, any different thing you can think of to put a collection together, I think, you know, that's what the hobby's all about. And, you know, unfortunately, there's times where, you know, there's things that go on in the hobby that aren't what you want to see in terms of people, you know, putting the money first and putting the ethics second, which drives us nuts. But like you say, at its core, it's. It's that. That's what's great about the hobby. You know, finding those fun, unique collections and just going down a rabbit hole. But, yeah, absolutely. You know, we want to do everything we can to add to that. So that's what I love about your search.
- [30:03]
B
Becoming more and more timely. It's like just because of reality, of AI and all these other things of what's real, what's not, and when you have something physical that, you know, has this sentimental and real value, these services, I feel like, become more and more valuable.
- [30:21]
A
Yeah, well, and it just, it tells a story. You know, when you're able to make a res match to something, it can go from a bat that was used in 2010 or a jersey that was worn in 1985, to a jersey that was worn on July 12, 1985, when this guy hit a home run or this guy hit the game winning shot. And it really creates that much more of a story. You know, you learn the story of the piece. So, yeah, it adds another level to the. To the collectible.
- [30:52]
B
Yeah. And that's what I love. You know, I'll, you know, start to sort of wind down where we started a bit, like with the imagery or video, like something that kind of goes along with it to tell that story for how you display it and, you know, bringing to life not only the piece, but the entire game or framing it in a lot of. I mean, it can help you kind of build out that whole story of what happened during game Worn, right?
- [31:17]
A
Yeah, yeah, exactly. You know, it tells the story and then, you know, on the investment side, it adds a huge amount of value. You know, we're oftentimes seeing pieces go for, you know, four times what they sold for without a res match when we're able to make that res match. But the reason it adds so much value financially is because it does tell that story and makes the piece that much cooler. So, yeah, it's a lot of fun.
- [31:43]
B
Where everything going like, are you still doing these services yourself, John, or do.
- [31:48]
A
You, you know, are you a question? Yeah. Yeah. So we have a whole team. And so when it started out in 2016, maybe early 2017, it was all me. That's where the company started. And then, you know, I started to build out this research process. And so I really, you know, had to figure out we had so many items coming in that I was like, oh, wait, I can't just keep doing every aspect of the company myself. You know, I'm not up for 50 hours a day. But yeah, so we brought the team in and it kind of grew steadily. You know, we made our first hire, I think, in early 2017, and then it kind of just grew and grew, and now we're at eight A team of eight right now. But yeah, so now we have a whole team of researchers that do this stuff and I was able to, you know, build the process and that's what I think sets us apart. Is that extremely protocol process that those researchers use? I think frankly there isn't anyone else in the industry that has it to that level of refinement that we do in terms of that specific process that we use for research.
- [33:04]
But yeah, so now it's the team, it goes through multiple rounds of research and they follow that process to a T. And that's where it leads to us finding those matches that no one else can find.
- [33:15]
B
What's the hardest thing to match like amongst gay more and like sports stuff, huh?
- [33:22]
A
Yeah, that's a great question.
- [33:23]
B
I was just looking at my list, I was going, yeah, jerseys, bats, helmets, it of balls, I guess could be part of that maybe. Yeah, that would probably be difficult, but I'm sure you can do it. But what is it usually is like is our jersey easier than a bat or by, you know, like things like that?
- [33:45]
A
Yeah, it's a great question. And really every item is different, you know, so it just comes down to.
- [33:50]
B
Look at the pictures, what's available exactly?
- [33:53]
A
Well, yeah, and it's just like understanding like not all jerseys are the same, not all bats are the same in terms of like it comes down to what characteristics are on the item. So like if it's a bat that has like zero marks on it, that's going to be really difficult. Jerseys can have varying degrees. Certain characteristics make it really easy and certain times they're more difficult. But if there's one type.
- [34:23]
Bats are really interesting because I think if you do follow the research process the way that we do, there's a lot that can be discovered and a lot of times it's on these really minute characteristics that change over time as they're using the item. So we can actually oftentimes dig in and find use across a number of dates. But as far as, you know, sometimes they can be kind of a pain in the ass. You know, it can be a really laborious process. But so I guess in terms of difficult, you could maybe put bats in that category, but.
- [35:04]
That doesn't mean we can't make the matches. You know, we oftentimes can find a lot of stuff. It's just that much more labor intensive to find it. But. But it can depend all types. You can have all different levels.
- [35:16]
B
I imagine like the people that do this, you have to be a really detailed person. I would think I mean, you have a process, but I feel like it's like an investigator beats a scientist or something, you know, like.
- [35:29]
A
Yeah, yeah, when we're doing our hiring and we have about a, at least two months, two and a half month training process before they're even touching real items in the real research process. But yeah, when we do our hiring, that's one of the big things we're looking for. One, someone who's passionate about sports and collectibles and loves that world and is gonna always find joy in doing that. But two, someone who's super detail oriented, you know, can really just hone in on small details and just kind of get in that zone. So, yeah, yeah, the small details is what our company is all about.
- [36:11]
B
Yeah, 100%. John, what's the future hold? What mean anything? You know, getting more entertainment stuff, it sounds like, and expansion. But anything else on the horizon for resolution, photo matching?
- [36:25]
A
We'll see. The announcement we just made actually last week was an advisory board that we put together and I'm really excited about that. We have a team of six and is headed by Marshall Fogel and Mike Hefner, who I would say are two of, if not the two.
- [36:49]
Most respected and top collectors of game used in the industry. So we were really proud that they're joining us in those advisory capacities.
- [37:03]
You know, volunteer. They're all, all six of the members are doing it as volunteers, which, you know, shows us they care about, you know, us and about the industry. They're not doing it for any compensation, but so we're really proud of that. The goal of the advisory board is to have kind of independent advocates for what's best for the hobby. So when we make decisions, obviously we have to think about our financials and what's going to be good for us financially. But we want that to be consideration number two. After consideration number one is. All right, is this new area we're looking at, is this going to be good for the hobby? Is this going to be in the best interest of the hobby? And that's what those advisors are there for.
- [37:47]
So we'll see. It could be. Right now our focus is solely on photo matching. We'll see if we expand in any way in the future. Nothing to announce there yet.
- [38:01]
But yeah, we're always looking for ways we can do more for the hobby that's good for us. Good for the hobby, and.
- [38:11]
We'Ll see what that entails. But I mean, as far as the industry at large, I think we've seen so much growth in collecting in the last five years, you know, really since, you know, 2020, 2021, it's continued on at that rate. So I think that's great for everyone. I think the hobby is in a great place.
- [38:34]
You know, I think integrity and ethics in the hobby are so important and we try and do our best with that. We try and be a leader there and we hope to see.
- [38:46]
All different parts of the hobby taking that seriously as well. But as long as that happens, I think the hobby is in a really good place going forward.
- [38:56]
B
Yeah, 100%. And I mean, look, a safer, more secure hobby is a better hobby. And that's why I love what you guys are doing, John, at Resolution Photomatching, because, you know, yes, it's a business and you know, it's about financial, like you said, being transparent there. But it doesn't mean that your business is also a service to the industry.
- [39:18]
A
That.
- [39:21]
B
Needs this kind of additional scrutiny and security and validation when you have more and more people and more and more money in it. So hats off to you guys for everything you're contributing to it.
- [39:36]
A
Yeah, I appreciate it. And one more thing I'll mention you're talking about the future of resolution and what we're doing. I'll give you guys a little sneak peek here. We're going to make our official announcement on this and in another week or two here. But we're in the works. We have a subscription service that we're going to roll out that's going to include, you know, discounted rates, some expedited turnaround times and things like that that we're going to be launching here in a couple of weeks. So that's a way for, you know.
- [40:07]
B
I mean, because collectors collect and so you're adding stuff. So to have a consistent source to know that, hey, I've got the subscription, it's gonna protect everything that I had or add more value to what I have by knowing if we get a match and all those things. So that's great.
- [40:23]
A
Yeah, yeah. So, yeah, we're excited about what we have coming up.
- [40:28]
B
Hey, first announcement here on trading cards and collectibles Sneak peek. John, I really appreciate it. Let's drop the website, the social media, all the stuff where people can learn more about what you guys are up and inquire about your services.
- [40:44]
A
Absolutely. Yeah. Our website is resolutionphotomatching.com you can shoot us an email@infoezphotomatching.com you'll find that on the contact page of the website. That's the best way to get knightm Going in the submission process, shoot us an email, tell us a little bit about the piece that you have or the collection of pieces that you have and then our communications person, our director of ops, will reach back out to you, get the submission process going and then we can hopefully make some discoveries for you.
- [41:19]
B
Hey, it's a high value service. I'll say that after hearing everything, this is, you know, like a premium. I'm not speaking for your pricing, but just a premium service. Like this is. This is, I don't know, the exact opposite of automation. It is. Yeah, high touch, high premium service.
- [41:40]
A
Yeah, I appreciate you saying that. And it's funny, we've actually done a little bit of research and development into implementing AI and things like that. And what we found is unfortunately, artificial recognition software can sometimes miss some stuff. Yeah. And as of now, we're still fully with the real human researchers just to make sure nothing is ever missed in our process. So yeah, it is definitely an intense process. But I appreciate you saying it's a premium. Yeah, yeah, it is.
- [42:19]
B
I hear it now that I understand it. I mean I'll say that.
- [42:25]
We'Ll call it HTI Human like or something like Human Touch Intelligence.
- [42:35]
But John coming on. Hope we do it regularly and appreciate all you're doing for the hobby man.
- [42:41]
A
Thank you. Appreciate it, Ryan and congrats on getting this show going. It sounds like it's about to hit the next level and really be launching here in a big way.
- [42:51]
B
We're excited and appreciate guys like you and companies like you that come on and validate, know what we're doing and hey, one big hobby family here and appreciate you and hey guys, you know to find us. Collectibles show is where you'll find today's full video, highlight clips, links to resolution, photo matching, all the stuff John mentioned. Go check out that subscription service. If you're a regular hobbyist with game worn, Game used or if you just like all those concert worn stuff, whatever it is, they got you covered. Increase your value, you increase your knowledge and trust and story. And that's what this show is all about, bringing those stories to life in the hobby. We appreciate it, John and we'll talk soon. Collectibles show is where you'll find all of the channels and learn more about what we're doing and ultimately, hey, we want to hear from you. You do case hits at Collectibles Show. I want you to see send in your favorite pulls of the week. And here's the difference. This isn't about just value. Hey, we want to see some $10,000 hits. Had a couple of those myself a few months back. But it's not just about the value. It's about what you're collecting, what means something to you. Share a story, share a video of you holding up the card that you hit last week that was your favorite player and you nailed it. So case hitsollectables show, send in those videos. I want to know the stories. We're going to bring them to life here on the show. We're going to do a segment each week once we get rolling and get some videos in we're to going where we share that on the show with us. We want to feature you on Collectibles Show.
- [44:26]
Thanks for tuning in to the show. Don't forget to follow us on your favorite podcast platform and don't miss the full video version on YouTube. You can find us at www.collectibles.show or follow Ryan on Instagram at ryanolford. Now get out there and collect yours.