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Posted By: Joseph

From the Mastro description of the Red Cross Blackburne:

"The reverse...REFLECTS MINOR SURFACE PAPER LOSS AT SMALL POINTS IN THE TEXT AND TOP BORDER."


That sounds fairly honest to me. I mean, they could have mentioned that their ministrations were responsible for some of that paper loss, but they didn't.


Let's get real: Mastro is RESTORING baseball cards. In the real world of art and auctioneering, restoration of works is acceptable but the disclosure of such is expected as the hammer price is greatly influenced by whether or not a work is restored. That is why consumers of art use major auction houses: they TRUST that the auctioneer's expertise will get them an honest deal. If Sotheby's or Christie's
were to knowingly not disclose that a work was restored they would be run out of town on a rail. If Sotheby's or Christie's actually PERFORMED the restoration and didn't disclose, they'd be tarred and feathered before the rail thing.

A number of years ago Mastro entered the real world of art and auctioneering. They should be subject to the same scrutiny as the big boys even though they're only selling old cardboard. They might try being totally honest and letting the market decide the hammer price.