Today’s Auction House Scene

[Jeffrompa]

I never thought about these Auction House problems and shilling very much until recently ( mostly because of the News and reading in here ) My family operated a Mail Postcard auction for over 30 years and I never suspected any kind of wrong doing but is always possible. The auctions were always blind auctions in which the sellers did not know what lots were theirs but it is possible they bid them up always from the description . Takes me back in time for sure .

[Ease]

Originally Posted by Jeffrompa

I never thought about these Auction House problems and shilling very much until recently ( mostly because of the News and reading in here ) My family operated a Mail Postcard auction for over 30 years and I never suspected any kind of wrong doing but is always possible. The auctions were always blind auctions in which the sellers did not know what lots were theirs but it is possible they bid them up always from the description . Takes me back in time for sure .

Wow 30 years in postcards, I bet you saw some cool ones over the years, baseball and otherwise! What are some of the most interesting interesting ones you've ever seen? Sorry OT a bit...

[Jeffrompa]

We owned and sold all of the best . We sold 1 million postcards in 1990 . Lots of Rose's , RPPC's , Wolverine Press , Deitsch ( most likely some one of a kind cards also ) everything really . Sad to say I was not into the hobby back then and the cards were not of interest to me . Thats a big regret now .

[Leon]

Originally Posted by Jeffrompa

We owned and sold all of the best . We sold 1 million postcards in 1990 . Lots of Rose's , RPPC's , Wolverine Press , Deitsch ( most likely some one of a kind cards also ) everything really . Sad to say I was not into the hobby back then and the cards were not of interest to me . Thats a big regret now .

Hey Jeff
Knowing a tiny bit about your Dad, and the work he did in the postcard arena, I can only imagine what went through ya'lls hands.

For those that might not know, Jeff's dad, Dr.James Lowe, almost invented postcard collecting some 50 yrs ago. He coined the now common postcard collecting term, deltiology. He wrote and co-authored many books on the subject and is a wonderful human being from the few times we spoke and what I have learned. If you look at about the 2nd or 3rd little section down in this link, under United States, you will see the books he wrote, along with his best friend and Baseball Card Collecting Pioneer, Walt Corson...

http://www.postcard.co.uk/clubww.php


And lastly, Jeff and his Dad auctioned (ebay) some N167s many years ago and I picked up one of the nicest of the group. That is how Jeff came to know of the board (I believe) and how I came into contact with his Dad. It is through his Dad that I was able to acquire a lot of Corson's collecting notes and checklists, which I sometimes display.....this was Corson's 1950 Book Of Checklists, by Charles Bray......

[barrysloate]

Great story Leon.

[slidekellyslide]

Very cool!!! Aside from collecting baseball memorabilia I also collect postcards and have quite a few 1950s postcard collector magazines...I'll have to peruse them to look for Jeff's dad.

[Jeffrompa]

Yes it is all correct Leon . Only two things you did not know was someone tipped me off to the board while the auction for those N167's was going ( it was fun reading all the comments ) and my Dad insists those came from someone in Florida but wasn't really sure .

I guess the lesson is find interests early in life because I did not have a big interest in collecting now i regret not holding on to some great things . It's been a long strange trip as they say .