Quote:
Originally Posted by Snapolit1
3 or 4 times in recent years I've purchased something at an auction (including Sotherbys) and someone has come to me after the fact and expressed reservations about the authenticity of the item or whether someone had done work to it. Each time I've wanted to say 'gee. . . . thanks, but would have been cool if someone had expressed that to me before I shelled out hard earned bucks for it." Of course none of them knew what was running through my mind. But all heeded the unwritten rule about not drawing attention to running auctions, lest you might accidentally crap on some friend or loyal board member who is trying to maximize how much he makes in a sale. No need to share the fruits of your labors with others kind of thinking,
Funny now reading all the posts about Mile High. Is this unwritten rule repealed or modified? What about the next time you see something on BST that doesn't look right? Do you say something or opt for caveat emptor and turn your head?
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I have grappled with this issue, but look at it a bit differently. My hesitation to go public is not to protect a friend but something entirely different -- what if I am wrong? The last thing I want to do is adversely impact the sale of an item that in fact is authentic/unaltered.
So if I have questions that something might not be what the AH says it is, but my concern has not reached the level where I can feel confident that what I know is material information a bidder has a right to know, rather than go public I would instead express my concerns to the AH. I recognize the AH might choose to bury the info, but feel despite this I have made the better of two imperfect choices. If though what I know I believe to be material information that a bidder reasonably would regard as such, I would be certain it is made public. I might choose to do it by first revealing the info to the AH and giving them the opportunity to act on it. If they do not, then at that point I would go public.
In the current instance with Mile High, based on what has been revealed about Moser cards, the likelihood of alteration has reached the level that identifying a card as a Moser card IMO has crossed the threshold to be material information a bidder reasonably would want to know.