Of course the buyer was happy with his purchase -- he thought it was real. This was before the days of slabbing, so unless the buyer got wind of the commotion at the viewing, how would he know he was buying a fake? While the card was clearly a repro to one with expertise in the field, that probably did not appy to a significant number of potential bidders, whose guards were presumably down because they had no reason to suspect the card was a fake. DuMouchelles, though not known as an auctioneer of baseball items, was still a recognized and reputable auction house (perhaps the largest in the Detroit area). So why would prospective bidders believe they might be buying a fake? The scene at the viewing was almost surrealistic. I mean here was an auction house with no expertise in baseball items being told by a number of recognized experts that the card had no chance of being real. Yet the auction house refused to pull it. Perhaps having already pulled one Wagner, they thought they would be the laughing stock of the auction world if they got it wrong the second time. The saddest part of this story is that it is not unique to DuMouchelles (e.g., "Creighton" tintype).
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