Auction company stands by Hank Aaron memorabilia authenticity

ATLANTA — The dispute over whether Hank Aaron memorabilia items listed in an upcoming auction are authentic or not took another turn on Monday.

Despite a cease-and-desist letter sent by the Braves, a representative for Heritage Auctions told Channel 2 Action News it is moving forward with this week’s auction.

“The Braves did not have all the facts concerning the Braves material in the upcoming auction. Heritage Auctions is currently sharing that information with the Braves’ counsel, and we hope to have this expediently and amicably resolved.”

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Heritage Auctions claim to have the bases and home plate from the April 8, 1974 Braves game where Aaron hit his 715th home run, as well as Aaron’s jerseys from 1954 and 1974.

On Friday night, the Braves legal team sent a cease-and-desist letter questioning the items’ authenticity and gave the Texas-based company until 5 p.m. Tuesday to respond.

The letter specifically called into question how Heritage Auction described receiving the bases from the family of a former Braves employee.

The Braves claim that the third base from the 1974 game had been gifted to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown and that another auction company sold the second base in 2002.

“This description from Heritage and other credible information learned over the course of our investigation, corroborates the Atlanta Braves’ belief that some of the Disputed Items may have been illegally removed by the unnamed employee, constituting theft and conversion. The Atlanta Braves did not transfer ownership of the first base, second base, third base or home plate. Therefore, Heritage is either: (i) actively auctioning off items that were obtained by improper or illegal means; or (ii) auctioning off knowingly unauthenticated items.”

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