Quote:
Originally Posted by Johnny630
Agree G1911 brought up and made this statement,
Last - auction houses. A large number of people running respected auctions are the same people who have been involved in hobby frauds, horrible business practices, thefts, and staggering dishonesty
I’d like to know a little more specific about who and what actions he is talking about with AH’s. It seems like painting with a broad brush is not fair to me. Please be specific ?
|
Thank you for identifying what statement you are inquiring into. That's something I can actually work with. Here's an example off the dome of each:
Hobby Frauds - PWCC; as famous as a fraud ring as they are a top auction house now.
Horrible business practices - How about Heritage openly allowing themselves to shill bid in their rules? My personal opinion is that is a horrible business practice that makes me not want to ever bid with them.
Thefts - Lifson - NYPL.
Staggering dishonesty - How about Ken Goldin and Score Board? Issuing redemptions for items they wouldn't deliver because of the bankruptcy, and then selling those items on TV. Have you ever seen less honest advertising than his pitches with Don West about these GREAT DEALS of junk they were trying to dump on fools? I'd call those embarrassingly extreme pitches staggeringly dishonest.
And for a bonus, doesn't Cohen have a federal fraud conviction on his record?
PWCC, Heritage, REA, Goldin, Memory Lane. What percentage of the auction house market do just these solitary examples constitute? Seems like a very large share, though as they aren't all public we don't know. I doubt any of this is news.
Highest prices, lowest convenience, and many of the biggest are people I do not want to do business with for the obvious reasons. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone; none of us are perfect but when I do business, I find it behooves me to do so with people who don't have fraud convictions, thefts, fraud rings, and staggering dishonesty in their histories. Seems strictly reasonable to me, as a buyer, looking out for my interest.