When you dance with the devil....
 

Posted By: <b>Bob</b><p>O.K. I should have known better. I know all about Alan Hager (ah collectibles) but when he offered a 64 Topps proof Stand Up (albeit in an ASA holder) and also a T205 Fromme in EX also in the ASA holder, I bit. I decided maybe he had changed his spots and was willing to give him a try. Yeah, right. The "proof" was simply an unperforated Stand Up and there are almost as many of those floating around as perforated ones. He did say for $5.00 extra he would send me a xerox one page letter from Topps saying that they were selling proofs (although mine of course wasn't specifically mentioned). $5.00 for a copy of a form letter! What a deal! On to Fromme. Same old story, too thin width-wise, looking like a trim and a crease in the upper corner which didn't appear in the scan. (My first rule of card collecting is that cards graded EXCELLENT NEVER HAVE CREASES)I should have known better and consider myself properly booted in the posterior. <BR>Don't worry guys, I won't be buying any PRO graded cards, I haven't completely lost it.<img src="/images/happy.gif" height=14 width=14><BR>Take care. Twins up by 7 in the AL Central yet continue to have almost zero airtime on SportsCenter or Baseball Tonight which buries them down there with Milwaukee, Pittsburg and Kansas City highlights.

When you dance with the devil....
 

Posted By: <b>scott (runscott)</b><p>...my last one. It took him almost three weeks to mail a $10 card I paid for with Paypal - when I complained, he responded that he had fired the person handling the invoice because they did a bad job. What a laugh. As a penalty for my stupidity, I also received a large catl'g with pretty color pictures of coins - I am probably on his mailing list also, as a never-ending reminder.

When you dance with the devil....
 

Posted By: <b>TBob</b><p>Hager had some beautiful cards, back in the early 90's I bought about 30 T207s in an auction from him which were all EXMT and measured correctly at a very decent price and at a National I bought about 40-50 including some of the really rare ones for good prices. I talked to him at the time and he was all right, although I felt he was a trifle arrogant but chalked it up to his background. It turned out I knew a hell of a lot more about T205s and T207s than he did and he wrote a frigging desk table book! Anyway, about this time his already shakey reputation in the hobby went deep south and it never recovered. Maybe he can make a comeback on ebay.<BR>Scott- I got the same huge color coin catalogue (what do I need with a frigging coin catalogue?????) and am also probably condemned to his mailing list.

When you dance with the devil....
 

Posted By: <b>warshawlaw</b><p>If you want to get back at him, mark them "return to sender" and make him pay the freight back.

When you dance with the devil....
 

Posted By: <b>Julie Vognar</b><p>I called the guy from "Gone with the Stain," to see if he could help me, and over the phone, he mentioned he was reaching for Hagar's book. I NEVER GAVE HIM ANOTHER THOUGHT&gt;

When you dance with the devil....
 

Posted By: <b>Bob</b><p>Would that be the coffee table sized book with the beautiful pictures of a card from every set and the most incomprehensible, incorrect and down right fallacious information ever to see the light of day in the card collecting hobby? That book? <img src="/images/happy.gif" height=14 width=14><BR>I am saddened that the Gone With the Stain people have that book as their reference manual. If they are pricing the cost of their restoration work based on Hager's inflated idea of the cards' values, Katy bar the door...

When you dance with the devil....
 

Posted By: <b>Brian C Daniels</b><p>The inflated prices in Sammy Hager double knit slacks book are about right now!!!

When you dance with the devil....
 

Posted By: <b>Jay Miller</b><p>About right? I'll buy most 19th century cards at his prices!I never thought he was that far off on pre-1900 cards when the book came out. Also, the two cards I bought from him, a two player Kalamazoo Bats and the anonymous Mayo football were both reasonably priced and nice cards.That's a higher batting average than I have with most dealers.