Posted By:
SteveHi All,
Not sure if this is the right thing to do as my company has not been mentioned, but these are issues of considerable importance to Clean Sweep and wanted the members of this board what we think. I also think that this has been a tremendously informative thread with lively and intelligent arguments on all sides.
In response to the main questions:
1)Rob Lifson recently described the altering of cards as an "epidemic". Do you agree with this and if so what are you doing to combat it?
I could not agree more and have been stating this more than anyone in the hobby for years. We will call a spade a spade more than other auction houses and do not accept consignments that have been altered, even when they are in holders. We screen our inventory more carefully than anyone for fresh, unaltered material as we have always done.
2)Rob also said that some of the most sophisticated work on cards has been executed by employees of auction houses that also deal in cards. What is your reaction to this?
This does not surprise me but I cannot comment on another auction house unless I have seen something first hand.
3)What will and its employees do (if anything) to improve the condition of cards that are consigned to it? Please adress the following
--cleaning card--such as taking glue off
Have never done this.
--taking out creases
Do not do this.
--erasing pencil marks.
Rarely do but do not have a problem either way.
--pressing cards
Have never done this.
--trimming
Have never done this.
--bleachoing/recoloring
Have never done this.
4)Do you use restoration services on cards such as Paul Messier or Graphic Restoration and what exactly will they do for you?
We have never restored a card or used these services or any other.
OTHER ISSUES IN THREAD
(1) Auction Ownership
Some feel that there is a potential conflict of interest when an auctioneer is auctioning something that he or she owns. Our policy is as follows: we do own many items that we sell in any auction and have and will answer any ownership requests when asked. We feel that with over 1,000 lots in many of our auctions this would be a very laborious process that has never been requested. The larger issue is simply one of trust. If you feel that an auction house would run up its own lots but not a consignor's, it is simply illogical and does not make sense. As one poster brilliantly mentioned, people that are unethical in one area will be in another. In other words, a corrupt company that runs up its own stuff will likely not hesitate to do the same with consignors' material; once a crook, always a crook.
Further, in our case, we need to sell the items for our cash flow. If anything, and this we can state from experience, the consignor lots are most likely to be run up by the consignors themselves or a freind. A consignor can then take the item after it does or does not sell and put it in another auction; we do not have that luxury and of course, it would look ridiculous. People have mentioned that there is nothing one can do about this but I do not agree as twice in the last four years, consignors had a "freind" bid on their items in our auction, we caught it and removed all of these shill bids in both cases. If any auction house is serious about stopping this practice, they can eliminate 95%+ of the problem. Further, several auction companies will have minimum bids that are 10% of the final value. In other words, they will start a $30,000 card collection at $3,000. This almost forces the consignors to manipulate bidding and we feel is simply an inherently problematic way of doing business that is at a minimum deceptive to both the bidders and consignors.
(2) Grading Companies
We will not get into endorsing one company over another. We use PSA for most of our cards as they do bring the highest prices and nothing seems to indicate that this will change in the near future. I could not agree more with Barry Sloate's consistent and excellent idea of a $100 grading fee. I have had conversations personally with Joe Orlando where I told him that they charge far TOO LITTLE on key cards and should charge much more and spend all necessary time. Maybe it would even be nice to have a one-page report as to the card. Joe assured me, BTW, that they do take all time for authenticity and are researching this issue. We all know the grading services are not perfect and it is up to the collectors and dealers bidding on items to set the values for these grades. In other words, if people consistent pay 3-5x the price for an 8 as opposed to a 7, the restorers have such a huge incentive that these practices will go on. If the market had much smaller premiums, I am personally convinced that these practices would diminish.
(3) The Honus Wagner T206
I certainly have felt that this card has been trimmed since first seeing it in 1991 at the Copeland Auction, long before there was a PSA. I have also heard countless times that this was an oversized card that was then trimmed down to size. I heard Copeland bought this in 1987 as a show, does any one know the dealer that originally sold it to him?
Hope this is a clear statement of our company's positions on these vital issues
Steve Verkman
President
Clean Sweep Auctions
www.csauctions.com