The Mister Mancave Mystery: Is the Louisiana Memorabilia Market Filled with Fakes?
Passionate sports fans across Louisiana are still trying to wrap their heads around the giant counterfeit autograph bust. Brett Lemieux admitted to having filled the collectors market with millions of dollars worth of fakes, including counterfeits of LSU and Saints autographs, you might've been tricked by. If you're like most of us, you're already thinking about how much value your collection just lost, so let's explain what happened.
The Man Behind Mister Mancave
Brett Lemieux was a sports memorabilia seller and the owner of Mister Mancave LLC in Westfield, Indiana. He had, allegedly, mastered the art of creating fake JSA and Fanatics Code of Authenticity stickers and cards. With a perfected way of creating bogus COAs, Lemieux claimed that he was filling the memorabilia market with hundreds, if not thousands, of fakes. Police in Indiana had launched an investigation into Lemieux in February. When the Westfield Police carried out a search warrant on one of his properties, they found Lemieux dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Lemieux and Mister Mancave sold a significant number of counterfeits as genuine, though the exact quantity they circulated is still debated. If Lemieux's word can be trusted, the detail in his fakes was so accurate that there's no way to tell if it's authentic or not.
The Ongoing Investigation Should Scare Collectors
The FBI and police in Indiana are still investigating the forgery ring, so many details are up in the air as to how extensive the damage will be for collectors in the Bayou State. The Mister Mancave website is still running, but it's probably not a good idea to order anything from them at the moment. Using the website, we can start to get an idea of how many fakes could be out there.
Skimming through the website, you can find items like an "authentic" Joe Burrow signed LSU helmet, selling for $219. That listing is odd because if you look around for authentic Joe Burrow signed helmets on sites like eBay, you'll find these helmets going for well above that price.
Until more details become public through the FBI's investigation, the only thing collectors can do is wait for news. If you've never bought from Mister Mancave, there should still be some concern that your autos originated through this counterfeit ring, so take time to double-check the Code of Authenticity on each of your items.