yep I got the same, he said for authentication it would be an extra $500, and I was thinking BS! No one is going to charge you $500 to authenticate their cue, I bet barry wouldn't tell you that if you had one that gus made...he would be excited as anyone to see it.
I live in Vegas and spoke to this guy he told me 3,500.00 with the certificate, he also said it would take two weeks to get the authentification from SW, I know Laurie quite well and never heard of a certificate costing 500.00.