“Leland's is an advertiser here so please keep that in mind. It doesn't change my view but it needs to be said.”
Why should that matter or need to be said? Other than political on your end it shouldn’t concern the rest of us Leon IMO.
“I think the poster was an oversight and one that got egg on their face.”
Simply not true (minus the egg and face) this thread as well as their responses are conformation that it wasn’t a simple oversight. Let’s lay out the cliff notes for the folks who aren’t going to read this entire thread.
- I notice the item for sale and realize that it was the item that Broadway Rick’s Strikezone/Rick Kohl was selling on eBay.
- I knew firsthand the history of this poster and the level of damage prior to restoration as did several respected hobby players.
- I notified Leland’s offline and privately and provided them with images and detailed insight. Not only was their employee shocked but he agreed with me that it was well more than simple restoration. He even asked how the auction description should be changed to better describe the item with the new information he had received. I explained his response was thank you very much for the heads up let me get with Josh.
- Days later I noticed nothing had changed, re-emailed the employee and copied Josh. The response I got was a one sentence response. “It is clearly written in the description regarding restoration” I emailed back Josh and said I politely disagree that the current description accurately described this item.
- I then decided to try and warn folks via the boards. With the exact same information I provided Leland’s.
- Then after Leland’s took a few lumps on the public boards Josh said he didn’t notice how bad the images were on his phone and until he saw it on here he hadn’t realized how bad. This was a scramble to fix a sinking ship. He had the same images in full resolution days before from his employee etc. when I pointed this out he said he just looked at them quickly missed them and was and I quote “kind of annoyed” whatever that means.
- After all this dancing they finally include the new description saying “The poster has had major restoration. However, the appearance is magnificent and the work virtually undetectable.” But no before photos. Also the undetectable line is a joke Stevie Wonder could see where this item has been fixed. Heck you can even see the before and after photos proudly displayed by the company that did the restoration…yet somehow were missed by Leland’s….
- Then we are back to the boards to say what gives? Then only after this photos are added.
From day one at the National they have marked this item as one of the finest in existence. They then took this marketing to web and print with a minor foot note of restoration. When notified of the extent of the restoration they dodged and only after a very public flogging they did the right thing.
Bottom line this is what they tried to market.
And this is what the item really is…..in this case a picture really is worth a thousand words.
What really ticks me off is as a collector with no real vested interest I took my time and did the right thing. I notified them offline to allow them to save face fix the bugs and move on. Allowing them to protect themselves as well as their bidders/customers. However that wasn’t enough I had to go on public boards light up a signal flare point fingers and act like a dick to just to have the right thing done and even then it was a freakin chore.
John