Originally Posted by slidekellyslide (Post 1003008)

If Heritage auctions is going to level accusations like that in a public forum they better make it clearer then. Leaving it out there like that is sleazy, and lowers my opinion of the messenger even lower than it already was.

Originally Posted by thekingofclout (Post 1003012)

"Simon’s account, as well as several others’, was suspended for allegedly working in conjunction with a man known to the law enforcement world (and on this board and http://whitebetsy.wordpress.com/) as “The Cooperstown Forger.”

That's their words Dan, NOT mine.

It would be great if one of our resident attorneys could chime in regarding the use of the word "allegedly" and let us know just how much protection that offers the user in a situation like this?

Originally Posted by slidekellyslide (Post 1003013)

"Allegedly" is a term used by news outfits to protect themselves from lawsuits. It's sleazy to drop that word here while making an accusation against someone. Either stand behind your accusation or don't make it. Is Heritage auctions in the business of dropping bidders from their rolls for "alleged" activity?

Originally Posted by Splinte1941 (Post 1003024)

If anyone had any real sack in this thread, and had information, they would out this Cooperstown Asshole and simply type "allegedly" somewhere in the sentence.

Why is the identity of this prick being protected? Obviously this piece of shit holds enough cache in the business to scare people off. It's like the Memorabilia Mafia. What a god damned joke.

Originally Posted by slidekellyslide (Post 1003013)

"Allegedly" is a term used by news outfits to protect themselves from lawsuits. It's sleazy to drop that word here while making an accusation against someone. Either stand behind your accusation or don't make it. Is Heritage auctions in the business of dropping bidders from their rolls for "alleged" activity?

Originally Posted by RichardSimon (Post 1003026)

According to what was told to me, nobody has any information, it is pure speculation. There is zero information out there to prove anything. It is not about cache in the business, it is that there is no information at all about who the forger is.
People are not scared, they lack facts or proof.

Originally Posted by Splinte1941 (Post 1003033)

I wasn't referring to you Richard, but someone here knows who this guy is.

Hell, the Cooperstown Forger may actually be one of us...

Originally Posted by Splinte1941 (Post 1003033)

I wasn't referring to you Richard, but someone here knows who this guy is.

Hell, the Cooperstown Forger may actually be one of us...

Originally Posted by Splinte1941 (Post 1003033)

someone here knows who this guy is.

Originally Posted by thxforthebp (Post 1003045)

The only information on the Cooperstown forger available at this point is this artist rendering.........

Originally Posted by Splinte1941 (Post 1003033)

I wasn't referring to you Richard, but someone here knows who this guy is.

Hell, the Cooperstown Forger may actually be one of us...

Originally Posted by thekingofclout (Post 1003058)

Jake. Are you confessing? ;)

Originally Posted by thekingofclout (Post 1003058)

Jake. Are you confessing? ;)

Originally Posted by thekingofclout (Post 1003058)

Jake. Are you confessing? ;)

Originally Posted by travrosty (Post 1003118)

I would love to know the name of the bidder who bid on my item and then didn't pay.

Originally Posted by slidekellyslide (Post 1003361)

heritage auctions has mears authenticated items in their auctions all the time...dave grob works (worked?) for mears...dave grob also wrote at least one article that appeared on hauls of shame.

I demand that heritage stop associating with dave grob and mears for their connections to the cooperstown forger!!!1 :d

Originally Posted by Splinte1941 (Post 1003394)

Please excuse my ignorance and/or stupidity, but am I to infer from this thread that Peter Nash is allegedly the Cooperstown Forger?

The same Peter Nash who has a website dedicated to exposing fraud in the business? Allegedly...

Originally Posted by richardsimon (Post 1003387)

i [am] on the anti hypocrite patrol...

Originally Posted by slidekellyslide (Post 1003396)

I'd like to make it clear that I think Dave Grob is among the best at what he does and I know some of the guys at MEARS and like them all. It's Heritage that I have a problem with.

Originally Posted by Heritage Sports (Post 1002960)

Right off the bat, we’re going to start with an admission that we screwed up. Several of the accusations levied against Heritage are far off base, but we’ll acknowledge that we did make a mistake (or perhaps more than one) in regard to the initial poster’s situation. The lot had been listed in our previous Signature auction and when it did not sell, it was moved to our May auction. In the interim the consignor requested the return of the item and somehow we did not remove it from our books. The jersey was long gone by the time the May auction even began, but since the copy had been written and the photos taken, we didn’t realize it until the sale was complete. The later customer service issues were due to the fact that that department misinterpreted the data in our system—this is a 400+ employee company, and there was a breakdown in communication. I would suggest that should any situation like this arise again, the client would be best served by contacting the Sports department directly. Understand that we accept full fault on this and we make no excuses, only an explanation. I would hope that common sense would dictate that any belief that Heritage would risk its reputation, and the $800+ million in annual sales derived from it, on shady dealings over a piece worth hundreds of dollars, is in error.

And so we do apologize for our initial mistake, and for the imperfect handling of the resolution. But if our simple pledge of honest dealings isn’t enough, we would hope that a logical consideration of the risk/reward dynamic would be enough to convince even the most cynical among us.

We’d apply that statement to this troubling and utterly false suggestion of shill bidding as well. It simply does not happen at Heritage. It’s an unfortunate fact that a small percentage of bids are not honored. We do make every attempt to settle all accounts, but in the end it is simply impossible to extract payment from someone who is unwilling (or, in many cases, unable) to honor his bids. Heritage has, by far, the largest collectibles bidding clientele outside of eBay, and unfortunately there will be a few bad eggs in a carton that size. The upside is World Record prices—the bidder who paid $418,000 for the Bill Buckner ball, for example, had never bid in a collectibles auction before, but we were all over the news and he signed up the day before the auction. The downside with such a volume of clients is that a very small percentage of invoices in a 2,700 lot auction are inevitably not paid.

It should go without saying that all reneging bidders are banned. It likely doesn’t go without saying—so we’ll say it—that our consignment agreements clearly state that unsold properties can be transferred to the next available auction at our discretion. So, for example, Heritage was completely within its legal rights to retain Mr. Borkin’s unsold ring for placement in our August auction, but we instead returned it and forfeited several thousand dollars in commissions accordingly. This should stick a pin in any belief that shilling, or any other form of auction treachery, was at play.

And, speaking of banned clients, we’ll close with a clarification. Richard Simon and Travis Roste claim that their accounts were suspended by Heritage for negative comments posted on the board. While we’d admit there is an uncomfortable irony in simultaneously bashing and patronizing a business, that’s not the reason. Simon’s account, as well as several others’, was suspended for allegedly working in conjunction with a man known to the law enforcement world (and on this board and http://whitebetsy.wordpress.com/) as “The Cooperstown Forger.” Roste’s account was suspended after a campaign of harrassment of our executives in May of 2011.

To paraphrase the great Vince Lombardi, we won’t ever be perfect, but in the pursuit of perfection we’ll achieve greatness. We are human and mistakes will inevitably be made, but it’s important to bear in mind that boards such as these paint a very distorted picture. On any topic at all, as we all know, you’re far more likely to hear complaints than praise. Our most recent Signature Sports auction included over 400 consignors—ask around, and you’ll quickly learn that’s many multiples the hobby average. There’s a reason for this, and it’s the quality of our overall service. Heritage Sports sells close to 15,000 lots annually—that’s a huge volume of transactions, many multiples that of some of our top competitors. Babe Ruth struck out 1,330 times; Mariano Rivera has struck out once in his career. Who’s the better hitter?

Originally Posted by whitehse (Post 1003545)

So you had to go there and tell this board why two members were banned from bidding? I would think that this would be a business decision that would be just between both parties and not to be shared with the world. And to level accusations against someone's reputation by linking Mr. Simon with a known forger would possibly be detrimental to his livelyhood is just plain unthinkable to me that you would do this.

I have never done business or spoken to Mr. Simon but I have done business with Heritage and will no longer spend my dollars with a company that would be so willing to throw their customers and their reputations under the bus to make themselves look better. I would think that the attitude that has been displayed by a Heritage executive here would do more harm to their business than do them any good. I am constantly amazed how owners and executives of companies in this hobby always seem to shoot themselves in the foot. Heritage has been added to my "do not buy" list....a list that seems to be getting smaller and smaller all the time.

And for the record, my name is Andrew White and I approve this message

Originally Posted by Splinte1941 (Post 1003585)

To defend Heritage you'd have to be:

A)On the payroll/take

B) A moron

C) In bed with the owners/employees, financially or otherwise.

D) A moron

E) A moron

F) A satisfied customer

That's just my $.02

Originally Posted by travrosty (Post 1003554)

Is that professionalism by an auction house? Playing games like that instead of addressing the issue of why this ball was even up on their website, and with a TPA auction loa listed with it as well? Their answer to this is to redirect a link and take a potshot at someone? Professionals???

Originally Posted by thetruthisoutthere (Post 1004310)

Jonathan, I found it very disappointing to read that you would even imply that Richard Simon is "allegedly working in conjunction with a man known to the law enforcement world (and on this board and http://whitebetsy.wordpress.com/) as “The Cooperstown Forger." This is a man who has stuck his neck out fighting the sellers (and the sources) of forgeries. To even imply that about Richard Simon is ludicrous.

Originally Posted by RichardSimon (Post 1004424)

+1
Well said Travis.
Their behavior is more like a petulant child than a professional auction house.

Originally Posted by deebro041 (Post 1004387)

OR....Your initials just happen to be J S !! Just kidding lol