It's fairly common for the larger auction houses to miss important details on smaller pieces. These houses are listing a ton of items, and, many times, even the consignor doesn't fully know what they have.
Earlier this month, a perfect storm occurred.
Heritage Auctions was selling a 1993 University of Miami team-signed football jersey that was given by then-coach Dennis Erickson to a charity in December 1993.
The Heritage description spelled out that while many of the signatures are faded, the most valuable one belonging to Dwayne Johnson, who became "The Rock," is luckily one of the ones that are visible.
The description reads: "Orange mesh jersey sports "94" on the front back and shoulders, all screened-on in white and forest green heat transfers. White and green striping accentuates the sleeves, while "The Big East Conference" is screened on the left sleeve in red/blue/white. Tail displays "Rawlings 48" label.
"The front of the jersey is signed by approximately twenty Hurricanes, however most of the black Sharpie autographs have faded or are obscured. Fortunately, the two most important remain legible. The experts at Beckett Authentication Services have deemed the autographs of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and head coach Dennis Erickson to be authentic but have no opinion on the other autographs."
The best part of this all? The signatures are actually immaterial, including that of "The Rock."
Why?
Because the auction house, and presumably the consignor, had no idea that what was being auctioned off wasn't a random jersey.
It was somehow the only team-issued Dwayne Johnson jersey that has ever surfaced.
That's right. The jersey number is No. 94.
The only person who wore No. 94 for the University of Miami from 1990-1993 is Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. This connection was never made in the lot description.
The strange part about this is few fans would really want a No. 94 jersey in 1993. Johnson was a backup to Warren Sapp and was really just a bit player for the Hurricanes. There certainly weren't any jerseys of his at retail, because college jerseys featuring player numbers didn't take off until around 1996.
The fact Erickson had the guys sign a No. 94 jersey is pretty much just coincidence, unless of course, it was made or sent in December 1993 with eyes on ‘94 — the year.
Even still, it's Johnson's team-issue jersey.
Knowing the painted mesh had many unique attributes, I sent the jersey pictures to Resolution Photomatching. The idea was, Miami wore its home orange for the last game that year against Memphis State and then wore away whites against Arizona in the Fiesta Bowl, which was Johnson's final college game.
Maybe this was a shirt off his back kind of thing and was, fortuitously, his last home orange used.
Resolution found no match, which, while disappointing, wasn't the end of the world. I got my hands on "The Rock" team issued jersey.
Described merely as a 1993 Miami jersey with faded signatures, I purchased it for $660.
Darren Rovell is the founder of cllct.com and one of the country's leading reporters on the collectible market. He previously worked for ESPN, CNBC and The Action Network.