ajtilley72 nailed it. Nearly every auction house will still call an A5 "Game Used" and link the letter from Mears as "proof". Its very misleading. You see them touting a Game Used Jersey and you see a COA from Mears and assume you are good.
Even the Mears COA can be misleading since they will usually say "some" in regards to use or wear for a game issued. That wear is just age in reality.
I had to educate myself as a Walter Payton collector. Turns out that Wilson (Who made Bears jersey during Payton's era) made game model jerseys for every Sportmart and sporting goods type store to display. Plus a ton of Salesman samples and even Game Model jerseys that were sold by catalog during the 84 & 85 seasons.
So a size 44 Walter Payton "Game Issued" jersey is nothing rare. It was never issued to him, but it is the type of jerseys that would have been issued to him. You will see most of these with a Mears COA as an A5.
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