The Bill Mastro Collection (as auctioned by Legendary, 2010)
 

At the Net54 dinner at the National last Friday, one of the speakers was an FBI agent who worked on the Bill Mastro fraud case, and who has also worked on similar cases involving collectibles. It was a really interesting talk, and not surprisingly the Net54 audience had a lot of questions afterwards, which he patiently answered. One of the questions was, "What happened to Mastro's personal collection?", and the answer was that it was sold through Legendary in the course of the FBI investigation. Afterwards I mentioned to Leon that I have the catalogue for that auction from December 2010, and how it's full of language making Mastro sound like a saint, giving the impression that he had just decided to get out of the auction business in order to do charity work in the inner city. Leon thought that sounded hilarious.

So, here it is. Not the whole catalogue, which is 388 pages long, but I've scanned the introduction (with its description of saintly Mastro's religious awakening), the auction rules, and the introductions to most of the sections, especially those that mention Mastro and how he built his collection. I have to admit it was a pretty impressive collection, even though most of his cards were not included in this auction.

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Wow...that is quite comical...quite the write up too! A man of god!

The American Greed episode can't get here fast enough.

I have the catalog too from Legendary, and it is amazing stuff in there.

Just a note:

I have had dealers I trust and who were not part of Mastro/Legendary in any way tell me that outside the sports collecting hobby, Mr. Mastro is a good man.

Now, inside the hobby, that was another story.

Rich

John Wayne Gacey was a good man outside of killing people. You can't separate the two.

I saved the catalog as well. Commenting purely on the items in the catalog...the collection was incredible, truly amazing pieces.

Right its that 1% bad part of us is what defines us. There are a lot of good men/women that dont rip people off. A LOT of them, at least enough of them that you dont have to make friends with those types of people if you dont want too.

I learned at the National that Bad Bill is out of prison on parole. Presume he can be found at the Salvation Army serving soup to those less fortunate. As for Doug Allen, he will still be avoiding the shower room at his facility for sometime.

Mark T (can not spell his last name) was quietly walking around the show.

Here's some of the items sold at the auction.

• A 1927 Barnstorming Advertising Poster – the Only Known Example – sold for $78,000;

• A Babe Ruth 1916-1922 H & B Game Used Bat went for $75,000;

• A Boston Red Sox World Champions 1915 Panorama Featuring Babe Ruth – PSA DNA Authentic Type 1 – commanded $57,000;

• A Babe Ruth 1927 Signed Yankees Payroll Check Issued and Cashed the day of His 60th Home Run – PSA DNA Mint 9 – went for $51,000;

• A “Tour of Japan” 1934 Team Signed Ball – PSA DNA NM-MT 8 – with Original Tamazawa Box sold for $42,000;

• A Bustin’ Babes and Larrupin Lous 1927 Barnstorming Panorama – PSA DNA Authentic Type 1 – went for $33,000;

• An Unused 1890s Spalding Fingerless Fielder’s Glove – the Finest Example Known – commanded $33,000;

• A Babe Ruth “Home Run Special” 1920s Single Signed Ball – PSA DNA NM-MT 8 – sold for $33,000;

• A Babe Ruth 1920s “Sporting News” Die-Cut Advertising Sign went for $28,800;

• A Classic Ted Williams Rookie 1939 Charles Conlon Photograph – PSA DNA Authentic Type 1 – commanded $25,500;

• A 1914 Philadelphia Athletics World Series Pin sold for $21,600;

• A Babe Ruth “Starting His Mighty Swing” Paul Thompson Photograph – PSA DNA Authentic Type 1 – went for $18,000;

• A Babe Ruth “Finishing His Mighty Swing” Paul Thompson Photograph – PSA DNA Authentic Type 1 – went for $12,000;

• An Iconic 1971 “Joe Sofa” by Poltronova went for $15,600;

• A Ted Williams Rookie-Era Signed Burke Studio Photograph – PSA DNA Gem Mint 10 went for $10,800.

Were all those proven to be unaltered/pure before they went to auction?
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/i-...icle-1.1482098
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/i-...icle-1.2332680

What was the tip-off, Rich, the felony conviction?

any chance there is video or a transcript of the FBI talk? i would be interested to hear what he had to say.

Yeah -- the felony conviction was a pretty good clue as to the hobby behavior.

Now, as I said, I did hear from people in the hobby who DID NOT do business with him and whose opinion I trust, that outside the hobby he did good things,

There can be a difference

Rich

Shouldn't "did not do business with him" raise red flags?

No -- I know plenty of people who were not part of the Alan Rosen circle and did not do business with him. Sometimes, people work in different worlds -- not every dealer works with all the dealers. Sometimes, you work more with whom you know rather than whom you don't.

Rich

A personal pet peeve...

How many folks have you heard of through business, work, or different dealings, where people start the sentence with "He's a good guy, but..."

My answer to this is typically "OK, everyone is a good guy on some level, but what is the real story?"

That "He(she) is a good person, but..." applies to everyone I have ever met. There are a lot of great people out there "but" I have never met a perfect one.:)

Not to derail the thread, but does anyone have an extra copy of the Mastro Collection Legendary Auctions catalog that they'd be willing to sell?

Thanks!

Brings to mind the Jerry Seinfeld bit where when a serial murderer is caught, the shocked nextdoor neighbors invariably say "But he was such a quiet neighbor." Jerry's like "Didn't anyone hear the chainsaws everynight at 2am?"

Thanks for interesting post!

Jimmy