depressing, my rant [Archive] - Net54baseball.com Forums

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01-16-2005, 03:25 PM

Posted By: Tim Mayerwow, must say I am pretty unhappy with the state of our industry. I have been fooled so many times, and stepped on so many times, I am amazed I still keep coming back. I read the posts from Richard Simon and Robert P, and shake my head....( thanks by the way) I stopped collecting autographs when I i realized that half the stuff on my wall was fake,,,too bad the money I spent on them wasn't fake... then I went back to cards,,this year alone I have bought two fakes, a half dozen touched up and remarked cards, etc. I bought a large lot of soaked cards from another dealer who claimed he was my friend( No one here, in fact you guys have been great, always great to deal with, with no exceptions) ugh ugh ugh.... A 8 by 10 signed photo of a major Yankee star that I bought from Mastronet with a cert by Steve G was rejected by PSA as fake, what a nutty profession...when I buy it is good, but when I want to sell it , it is bad, but the same guys name is on both letters....it really burns me. I started going to shows the past couple of years to sell some extra cards and to fund my habit so to speak,, I will no longer do shows as I can no longer face peole anymore. Either it's other dealers selling me my stuff is junk and offering nothing to me,( finding later they knew I had something rare) or customers beating me down to pennies, or getting burned on fake and touched up stuff... enough is enough... I am still collecting, but gosh, half the guys who claim to be my friends I wouldn't leave alone in my house for 10 minutes. I am really hurting right now and wish the reality of my hobby wasn't so. As usual greed has ruined another great thing in my life...I love baseball cards because they remind me of being a kid, and my dreams, etc. Tainted again for me.

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01-16-2005, 03:46 PM

Posted By: warshawlawI feel the same way from time to time, especially when I have a blow-up with someone over cards. I think then that I'm going to chuck it all and be done. I keep coming back because of all the things that brought me to collecting to start: a love of the game, a desire to hold something from history in my hands, an appreciation for the sheer art of the cards, an admiration for some of the people whose cards I collect, etc. My advice to you (which is worth exactly what you are paying for it <img src="/images/happy.gif" height=14 width=14> } is to take a break, not sell off your collection in anger or disgust, and come back to it in a month or a year when you feel better about it. When you do come back, confine your dealings to the people you trust and to items you can verify. It sounds to me like you are into high end cards--because no one would retouch a vg card--so I'd go with the presentable lower end stuff. Not only is it cheaper, it has more character. A vintage card is like a vintage woman; if she hasn't picked up a few marks here and there to show where she's been, she's probably not been anywhere worth going.

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01-16-2005, 04:38 PM

Posted By: tbobI, too, have been depressed about having been "taken" on a card deal when I later (too late) find out about a card alteration, etc, but you have to just step back, take a little time off and reassess and get back in to what gives you pleasure, the hobby of collecting vintage cards. As far as cards having been soaked, I have never had a seller tell me that a card I was purchasing had been previously soaked. In fact, some of the nicest and toughest cards I have purchased have come from sellers (some on this board) who I consider honest and fair but who know exactly the best procedure from removing paper and glue from cards. I don't let that bother me. I don't consider that card alteration and if it improves the cards eye appeal and also value, I look at it as a plus. There is just no way I know of for the average collector to detect if a card has been soaked...

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01-16-2005, 04:50 PM

Posted By: Julieif a card has been soaked? When I got this Scrapps Comiskey, I swear it was 1/8th thick. I was bemoaning the fact, when a dealer said, "wet a cue-tip swab, and wet the back of the card with it. Then take a toothpick and start scratching. Repeat, until you get down to card" I did, and it worked. For about 6 months after, the card was dark on the back, as if covered with wood glue, but now it's creamy. Just some vague signs that it was once in an album, like almost all Scrapps have. Was this illegal, immoral or fattening? <img src="http://www.network54.com/Realm/jphotos/Bscrapcm004.jpg">

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01-16-2005, 08:03 PM

Posted By: Tim Mayerwow, nice card Julie, I should clarify that by saying soaking I meant something else....this particular lot was soaked with a touch of bleach, I can smell it, and the colors are slightly off. I would never had know if I didn't have someone point it out to me, I am not quiting, but I am definately not too pleased now, and appreciate the advice, maybe I should not get a card divorce, but a trial separation, anyway...thanks

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01-17-2005, 11:11 AM

Posted By: Darren J. DuetI agree with Adam. I've been taken a number of times. My collection has cost a fortune and unfortunately not all the money spent went to cards. I've had my identity stolen (through ebay dealings)and have lost $$$ to sellers who didn't deliver. But I love baseball and the cards of legends and heroes.

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01-17-2005, 12:22 PM

Posted By: Scott ElkinsI got out of vintage cards a couple years ago. After a while I wanted back - started back Nov. 2003. Believe me - don't take too much time away, as I did or sell everything before you leave! When you come back, it will take much more $$$ to acquire the items you sold if you want them back! I can say now that it did turn out for the best however. I did collect type cards and rare backs before I left. When I came back, I realized that it would take almost double, in some cases more than that, to buy back the cards I once owned (as the market had went up that much in a little less than two years). I did want back in however and thanks to Pete C.'s caramel website and BCD, I now collect caramels and LOVE it!!!! I will state it again, if you think you might want to collect the same cards you have in your collection - DON'T sell them before you take a break - it will cost you more in the long run. Also, you seem like a great guy and I do hate to see you (or anyone) leave OUR Hobby. Another consideration, especially if you have been cheated on some cards, would be to take a few months off from buying cards, educate yourself by reading all the books, catalogs, magazines etc. you can about the Hobby, then come back in a few months with more insight and better protection.

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01-17-2005, 12:30 PM

Posted By: JulieAfrer the smell stops lingering, the card starts FLAKING OFF. Besides which, the whites of the card are so dead-white (my bleached one is a Crcaker Jack), unlike the "white" borders of so many old cards. Some bleaching is done so skillfully that none of the other colors are affected. But yuk...