Matty Portrait Auction

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Posted By: T206Collector

I don't have access to PSA pop reports. And with all apologies to anyone considering bidding in this auction, but I am struggling with a number of the population claims made throughout 19th Century Only. The one that really had me confused was this one. Of course PSA has graded more than 5 Matty portraits higher than a 4, right? What am I missing?


(Lot 129) 1909-11 T206 Christy Mathewson (Portrait) PSA 4

Out of fifty-four examples ever graded by PSA, there are only five cards that grade higher than a PSA 4. This card has perfect centering and bright bold colors. A very desirable Mathewson portrait.

http://www.19thcenturyonly.com/site/bid/bidplace.asp?itemid=4296&getauctionid=63



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[Archive]

Posted By: Alan U

The problem with the PSA pop. reports is they only relatively recently started separating back types so there are only 58 "Piedmont" Matty portaits in the pop. report, but there are an additional 333 graded Matty portraits with "Unknown" back types, since the one's graded previous to that time don't indicate the back type.

-Alan

edited for spelling

[Archive]

Posted By: T206Collector

...explanation of PSA pop reports. So, basically 19th Century Only is basically saying what the most recent population reports of PSA graded T206 cards are in its auction. How is that at all relevant, unless you are trying to mislead bidders?

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Posted By: Rob D.

Gee, I'm surprised 19th Century Only doesn't have any contact information on its site so that question could be posed directly to the company.

Oh wait, here's a phone number that's posted on the Web site. And it's toll-free, too!

800-801-4399

I guess if an answer is really being sought, here's an avenue to do it. Of course, the option to post rhetorically on a public message board remains.

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Posted By: T206Collector

...defending the misleading practice or questioning the manner in which I am bringing that misleading practice to the public?

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Posted By: Jeff W.

Who really cares? I think the person who ends up winning this auction is not going to be influenced by a population number from PSA. Everybody knows that there are a million Matty portraits available, just look on ebay. It seems like every week there is some new accusation about a grading company or an auction house. How about just contacting the auction house first and letting them know about your issue? Seems easy to do.

Jeff

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Posted By: T206Collector

If "[e]verybody knows that there are a million Matty portraits available," why would you say there are only 5 better?

I did want to have the PSA pop reports checked just in case I was totally missing something. And perhaps the buyer won't care that the description is totally wrong. But after spot-checking a few of the T206 auctions, I was really surprised by these kinds of comments.

Here's another one with a different kind of incorrect statement:

<<(Lot 136) 1909-11 T206 Frank Chance (Portrait - Yellow) PSA 4

Nice portrait card of Chance with the yellow background. The most valuable of all 3 variations of the T206 Chance cards.>>

Now, of course the Yellow Chance is the most common of the 3, and the Red is the most valuable. Why would you say these kinds of things in an auction, when most of the knowledgable buyers will know they're inaccurate?

But I will send an email to 19th Century Only with my issues and see what comes of it.

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Posted By: T206Collector

19the Century Only was very responsive to my emailed concerns and redrafted the following provision of its terms and conditions as follows:

15) All population and SMR references made in the descriptions were recorded as of the date the descriptions were written in late May, 2008 from both the sgcard.com and psacard.com Web sites. Please note for T206 population figures PSA has an "unknown" back designation with more cards that were graded. Population figures shown in the auction are showing the figures from the specific back variation, and does not include the "unknown" category.




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Posted By: Dave F

For what it's worth, Seth is a quality guy. I don't think he is out trying to mislead anyone with anything when it comes to his auction. I'd put my trust in his auction over quite a few out there today.

He also did ask when he listed the auction, or soon after that if anyone saw any mistakes please come forward about them.

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Posted By: bigfish387t

I agree with Jeff and Rob. E-mailing the auction house would be a better way to handle this. I don't see any real value in posting this type of question. I guess it is a forum to get answers? Just not the way I would have gone about it. Seth is top notch and does not have a deceptive bone in his body. I have done several deals with him and would do more.

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Posted By: T206Collector

And I have to say that Seth has been better than could be expected in answering my concerns after I emailed him. It is evident from his candor that there was no intention to mislead.

Every auction description has been adjusted and his Yellow Chance comments justified by reference to the guide he was working off of.

I'd delete/change my comments/posts above, but I think that makes these threads hard to read. Suffice to say, an email worked here and my original posting was probably unnecessary.

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Posted By: Anonymous

I received an email this afternoon from someone pointing out that there is an "unknown" back designation in the population reports for PSA. The population figures that I used during the description write-up was based on the specific back variation in the PSA population report. I have added the following paragraph to each of the T206 descriptions referencing population information.

6/30 update: Please note for T206 population figures PSA has an "unknown" back designation in their population report with more cards that were graded. Population figures shown in the auction are showing the figures from the specific back variation, and does not include the "unknown" category.

Sorry for any confusion, and I have promptly responded.

Seth


edited to fix typo

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Posted By: T206Collector

Thank you for promptly responding and apologies for not bringing this to your attention privately. You run a first-class organization.



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