David Festberg

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Posted By: cn

After reading about Brian Cataquet,s auction I was wondering whatever happened to David Festberg. I remember meeting him at some of the early shows and can,t forget his longtime adds of vintage cards in SCD. I remember when the address on the adds changed from Brooklyn to Huntington which is 15 minutes from my house. I drove over there expecting a card shop and I found an office with a surley older lady(maybe his mom who is mention). I was disapointed. This was in the early 1990,s. I dropped out of the hobby from 1995 to 2003 and have seen his name on this board referenced about every 6 months but I always wondered what happened to him. His adds in SCD always stand out in my memory. Maybe just a name from the past. CN

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Posted By: dstudeba

I remember as a kid making my parents drive all the way down Flatbush Ave to his store. I was so excited, I couldn't believe Flatbush Ave was so long. When I finally got to the store it was closed even though according to the posted hours it was supposed to be open. Man was I disappointed. Never went back and never met him, but I do remember his SCD ads.

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Posted By: Dave F

Found this on the web from '98


http://www.zmotive.com/gallery/album26/David_Festberg_1998_10_001?full=1

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Posted By: Sandy Schwartz

I met him a long time ago, probably in mid-late 80's, I think at a few card shows ... maybe at the old shows at the Roosevelt Hotel? I recall being interested in some of his cards but never buying anything because his prices were exhorbitant. I only wish I could get those "exhorbitant" prices today!!

Sandy Schwartz

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Posted By: dstudeba

Looks like his website became inactive around mid-2001

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Posted By: barrysloate

I've known David since I started in the hobby in 1982. I bought my first cards at a show from him, and went to his store almost every week. His mom used to work there but Shirley passed away quite a number of years ago. Haven't heard from him in a long while, I know he left the hobby for some time to do other things. He was a character.

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Posted By: marty q

barry s. probably remembers this show, i used to buy from david at the golden gate card show, (brooklyn ) this was a monster show in the 80's and early 90's, shoulder to shoulder, couldnt move, had to get in line to get to a table, amazing stuff at one time, have eveything !!!

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Posted By: Joseph

At some point a quarter-century or more ago Festberg either acquired or decided to sell something he was holding onto for a long time: a set of black-and-white Homogenized Bread cards that featured Brooklyn Dodgers for the most part, as I recall. He sold either the whole set (24 cards or something) or the Jackie Robinson individually, as I recall. Festberg was a major player in the early days of the modern collecting (post-Topps monopoly) era, but when I hear David Festberg, I think "Homogenized Bread."

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Posted By: barrysloate

Marty- I used to see David at the Armenian Church show in Manhattan, but don't remember if I went to the Golden Gate show.

Joseph- David had a large hoard of the Homogenized Bread cards, and he offered them in SCD for years. It seemed like a never ending supply.

I remember going to David's store to buy commons for my 1975 Topps set, and he would pull out his T206's and tell me this is what I should be collecting. I had no idea what I even was looking at.

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Posted By: Steve Murray

$139

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Posted By: sporteq

wow .. what a surprise! i was just thinking about
D. Festberg just last week. I to was wondering what
happened David. I had many transactions with Mr.
Festberg back in the early to mid 90`s. I could hardly
contain myself opening SCD looking for the Festberg
sale. I hope he's well and enjoying life!!

aL

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Posted By: Anonymous

I remember David's full page auctions in SCD on a weekly basis. It was amazing the shear volume of cards he had. I remember buying about thirteen 1915 Cracker Jack cards in poor to fair shape for $150.00. The lot included Schalk, Rickey and Mathewson, which had a chunk out of the right border. Also, I bought a large group of E121s (two lots about 50 cards in total). Every card of the Cracker Jacks and E121s is still in my collection.



The last time I saw David was at the Robert Morris show in the Fall I believe of 2003. He left early because he was upset someone stole something (a card or memorabilia) from his table.

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Posted By: Jay

I have seen David within the past year. He went to India for a few years to meditate and returned very thin and with long hair. He is still fun to talk to, never running out of old time hobby stories. I think he may limit himself to Long Island shows now.

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Posted By: scgaynor

He moved from Long Island to upstate New York about 4 years ago and I sold a bunch of his personal collection for him so that he could raise money to travel to India. I saw him at the National a couple of years ago, but have not seen him since. We always go along great and hopefully he is doing well for himself.

Scott

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Posted By: Jerry Spillman

At the NSCC in Atlantic City 2003.

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Posted By: Bob

I remember buying cards from David in the late eighties and on in to the mid to late nineties. He helped me put together my first T207 set and I bought a lot of other cards from him. For some reason I always envisioned him as being quite a bit older and was shocked when I met him at a large card show (might have been a National, perhaps Dallas or St. Louis) to see how young he was. I always found him to be a very good seller and great to do business with but I think he ran in to some trouble in the late 90's and a lot of collectors panned him on the boards for his selling pratices. Don't know what happened, my memories of him were always good.

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Posted By: BcD

Doug Allen and I used to look for him at shows and call him "Uncle Festy"!
I think he was in the Navy once!
I think a bad divorce sent him on a search of sorts.I watched his cards once while he walked a floor at a show coming back with stuff I would have purchased if I wasn't keeping and eye on his stuff. I went to his store as well having lived in Commack(Huntington)for 17 years myself!


BcD

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Posted By: Dan P.

I had a bad experience with Festberg in the late 80's. A fellow I used to deal with without problems called me and said "I have a Briggs Mantle I'd like you to sell on consignment for me." I had never dealt with Briggs before but agreed to help him. I forget what condition the card was in but it was at least ex. The guy told me what he wanted to get for the card (about 80% of Beckett based on condition) and anything over that amount I could get was mine to keep as my commission. I took out an ad in SCD and listed this card along with some of my stuff. The Briggs card sold to a local customer. We spoke on the phone about completing the transaction and we decided to complete this at the Willow Grove, PA, show 2 weeks later. I then called Mitch (the guy whose card it was originally) and told him what was going on. On Friday night of show weekend I showed up to setup my table. The customer (I forget his name) came by and paid cash for the card. Mitch came by and I paid him off. Then the customer came back and said he wasn't happy with the card and wanted a refund (he claimed the card was "fake"). I refunded his money and got the card back. I figured Mitch would refund my money. He didn't (he claimed that as far as he was concerned the card was legit and the sale was final). After I finished setting up my table I walked around the room and showed the card to several dealers that dealt heavily in that type of card (most likely some of the same dealers my customer spoke to). The conclusion I drew was that this Mantle was cut off of an advertising piece and was the same size as the regular card. At that time, Bob Schmirer, the show's promoter, had an auction on Saturday as soon as the dealer area closed (John Scott, now of Huggins & Scott, ran the auction). On Saturday morning I showed the card to Scott and gave it to him for the auction. I stayed at the auction long enough to see the card sell for a decent amount, then I went out to dinner. On Sunday morning I saw Scott and asked him what his policy was to pay off the consignors. He said we had a problem: David Festberg was the winning bidder (I knew him from his SCD ads but never met him). Festberg obviously shopped the card around before paying for it and showed it to all the same people my customer and I showed it to. They all said "the card's a fake--I don't want it". Festberg walked out without paying and I got the card back. Scott and I eventually worked a deal for the card.

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Posted By: CoreyRSh.anus

Dan,

You said,

"The conclusion I drew was that this Mantle was cut off of an advertising piece and was the same size as the regular card."

I don't profess to have any expertise in Briggs Mantles, but it seems to me that a card cut from an advertising piece is not a regular card and therefore could be characterized as a fake. That being the case, if I bought a card at an auction and later learned it was a fake, I wouldn't feel compelled to pay for it either. From the facts you recite, seems to me the real culprit here was the fellow on whose behalf you sold the "card" and who refused to refund you your money.

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Posted By: Alan

CN - Funny, I was just about to post the same question about him before I saw this thread.
Is he still Jewish ?

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Posted By: dstudeba

Interesting story Dan. I have seen a fake Briggs Mantle, but I have never seen or hear of a Briggs advertising piece. I would be very interested if anyone had more information on it. I also agree the consignor should have taken it back.

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Posted By: Rich Klein

Because I liked all the parties involved; but one of the best hobby fights I ever saw involved the Festberg and the Eskal family at a Manhattan show in the early 1980's. Apparently there was a long simmering feud between the two families which erupted that day into one of the few really good hobby fist fights I have ever seen.

I just needed an excuse to tell that story. I've have seen only a couple of other hobby fights including one at a Schenker/Sonneberg New Bruswick Show in 1988. Now that one was even better

Regards
Rich

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Posted By: Rick McQuillan

Darn, I missed all of the fun. I've never been to a show where a fist fight broke out. Not even a slap in the face. Darn!

Rick

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Posted By: Steve

The Briggs Mantle upon being auctioned should have been
classified as being cut from an advertisement sheet?

Also agree with Corey, the original consigner should have made good.

Steve

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Posted By: Dan P.

When I gave the card to John Scott I explained the history of the card after it was given to me. At the time, the only conclusion to draw was that if it wasn't the legit card it was originally part of some type of adversing display item. And I agree that the guy who consigned the card to me should have refunded the money I gave him (I have refused to deal with him since this incident).

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Posted By: Jamie

Card dealer turns yogi, moves to ashram... haha, love it!

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Posted By: Jerry

Sounds like a Cat Stevens Move

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Posted By: Jodi Birkholm

We could call it "The Ron Oser Story"

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Posted By: Tim Kindler

I remember getting Mr. Festberg's ads in the mail in the mid-late 90's. The were nicely put together and had that slick, colorful look that a store ad has has in the Sunday paper. I still had them all until about a year ago when I cleaned my closets. In the "Wish I had I bought that card" category, Festberg had an E98 Chief Meyers with an Old Put Back. Man I wish I would have picked that up all those years ago. I wonder where that card is today?
Anyway, best wishes to him wherever he might be today.

Oh, speaking of people who are not mentioned in the hobby anymore, what ever happened to Dennis Purdy who started the VCBC magazine? Didn't he used to run shows at the Tacoma Dome and he had one heck of a type collection from what I used to read in his magazine.

Tim Kindler

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Posted By: JimB

Sounds like a very cool thing to do to me - speaking as somebody who has spent several years in India and Nepal.
JimB

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Posted By: Michael Steele

I liked his auctions back in the 90's. The material ran the gamut of condition. I have all of his auction catalogs with prices realized and it is interesting and painful to see what could be picked up and at what price. It was not that long ago.

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Posted By: Jamie

Far out! I didn't know there were so many baseball card collecting yogis. Count me among them!

Jamie

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Posted By: Lee Behrens

I had a really bad experience buying in one of his auctions, cards were badly over graded and would not return them. he did offer to fire his grader though, thought that was quite funny. Needless to say I have had no intention of ever dealing with him again.

Lee

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Posted By: Alan

Lee, Welcome back.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVS3WNt7yRU&feature=related