***Lost 1888 N162 Goodwin Champs King Kelly - PSA 3 (MK)
 

Please be aware that a hobby friend of mine received an empty package yesterday that was supposed to contain the below pictured 1888 Goodwin Champs King Kelly - PSA 3(MK). The seller of the card in OH has been completely cooperative and has already reimbursed my friend in Florida (even though the card was NOT insured) but the card is nowhere to be found. It is easily identifiable with two stamps, one circular (center) and another on the top border. There’s also a faint “V”? Across the middle reverse.

The post offices in each town have been contacted as have local police departments, local card shops, PSA who is tagging the cert, SGC and BGS. The seller is as confused by all of this as anyone and there have been several character references provided by way of just talking to the card shops up his way. I can also assure you the card wasn’t in the box delivered to my friend. He’s devastated and even videotaped himself opening it as he was planning to post it on FB when he reunited it with his other Hof’ers from the set. And yes, I’ve seen the video, it’s sad and pathetic. He even had Reunited by Peaches and Herb playing in the background in the video lol! But seriously he’s reading this and is really upset

So please be on the lookout for this card

On a more positive note, check out this amazing Frankenstein cut-out 1914 CJ Christy Mathewson :eek: that he actually did receive in the mail yesterday (the intent here is to help make him feel a little better). And yeah that’s his 1914 CJ Cobb back there so don’t feel too bad for the guy! (kidding buddy)

For clarification - to package did not looked "disturbed" before your friend opened it? If so, that would indicate someone opened the package and carefully resealed it sometime between the time if was sent and received.

What would Encyclopedia Brown do?

Totally sucks. Good news is that the card has identifying marks. Ebay, Craigslist, N54 BST ( :eek: ).

He described the box that arrived as pristine. He had zero concerns. He also verified with the seller that it had at least two layers of tape over every single seam and it did. It’s seriously bizarre

I too would be absolutely devastated, as it is just a beautiful card. Yes, totally sucks.

+1. Awful. At least it appears to be easily identifiable as stated. I'll absolutely be on the lookout for it.

Since it's in a PSA slab, the buyer should still register it on their PSA registry account. If someone else tries to register the cert number, then PSA will know which account attempted to add it. Let PSA know the card is missing/stolen so that if it gets registered, they are aware that there is disputed ownership of the card.

OP stated that PSA was notified and is tagging the cert.

Thank you. I believe this has been taken care of on PSA’s end. At least that is my understanding. Btw, should I block out the cert # in this thread? Is there any downside to having it visible? Thanks

No need to. Very slim odds someone who ends up with this would know about this forum.

This situation really sucks. I hope the N162 is found. It is unique, and there aren't thousands, so there is hope...
.

If the shipping box appears there was no evidence of tampering, isn't it possible the card was not in that box from the beginning ?

The seller did not insure the card?

The seller reimbursed the buyer even though the package was delivered and (apparently) not tampered with?

I believe aloondilana was on target using the word "bizarre" to describe this.

Yes. That seems like a legitimate possibility. The question is why and where’s the card? At the moment the seller is out the sale price and the card. He’s trying to get surveillance from the post office as the package tracking is timestamped 9:01am, but the manager at the PO is saying there is no surveillance in the lobby…although there is a camera (the seller went back and took pics confirming that). He’s saying he’s getting law enforcement involved Tues but he also said that yesterday. He’s also told my buddy if the card is found he can just have it, he doesn’t care about the money. It’s really crazy but at least it’s just a quest to find the card at moment

This is a really strange story. Maybe the seller got cold feet? Usually if this happens the seller just suddenly says they lost the card, or they say an error was made in the listing, or some other story. They don't mail you an empty package and go through all this drama. But stranger things have happened.

Wow this is weird especially with the packaging being pristine.
Luckily the buyer got his funds back so did not take a monetary loss.

Seems more seller related as mentioned prior

Hopefully we get an update to this at some point

WTF?

This is a card worth thousands of dollars, isn’t it?

Something is definitely wrong with this story.

Maybe someone David Copperfield-ed it... strange for sure. It'll be interesting if it shows up for sale.

If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit! The packaging is untouched, I’d acquit the post office, this seems like a seller issue.

Maybe seller wanted to back out of deal and went through this charade. How do you explain am immediate refund?

Bingo was his name-o. That immediacy makes no sense.

Darren, what’s the term for sending an empty box?

I've been taking notes on a wide variety of things for my next round of 'Collectorisms,' and you can be sure that one is on the list.

A box of air?

Airboxing?

Peek-a-boo-box?

Pretend-a-thief’ing?

I hope the seller checked his trash. I've almost sealed up an envelope before inserting the card when trying to ship and multi-task.

I was once getting a new passport for one of my bosses. We went to the post office, got the paperwork all done, and sealed in an envelope by the postal service clerk.

I then took that envelope to fedex to express overnight to my passport people (pre-zombie apocalypse I could usually get a passport in a couple days using "my people").

The next morning they called to say that when they opened the fedex envelope, which had no damage to it and was sealed properly, the envelope inside that had been sealed by the post office had been opened, rendering it useless for getting a passport.

So we had to do it all again.

Doug

I don't know the parties involved and don't intend to libel anyone, but to me the simplest explanation would be that the seller had a major case of seller's remorse and just sent an empty package. The (mostly) honest thing would be to send the refund, and play along with the investigation for the benefit of the buyer. I doubt we'd ever know, but I wouldn't be surprised if the card is still safely tucked away in the seller's collection.

This exactly. Can I ask what the winning bid was?? I'm thinking the seller was not happy with the final sales price.

Would it not have been simpler to just cancel the sale?

There are now several additional parties (law enforcement, PSA, USPS) involved. The cert number is now invalid. People are on the lookout for this card (both actively and passively) as though it were stolen.

If the seller did this to avoid parting with the card, they went about things in a rather foolish, needlessly over-complicated manner.

EDITED TO ADD: Not that I condone cancelling sales b/c the hammer price was lower than anticipated...

People don't always follow the smart path. That is obvious by the multitude of spouses that "off" their partners rather than simply divorce them. Americans aren't known for being smart. That is what makes those "Man on the Street" interviews so entertaining.

I doubt the thought process went beyond "I wish I hadn't sold that card (or I don't like the sale price I got). I'll just send an empty package and give a refund." They probably figured the refund would be where this ended. Once this was escalated, there wasn't exactly an opportunity to back out without admitting what had happened. Most crimes are not well thought out.