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hankronOf course the auction houses should do a good job. But I also feel that, on expensive items, collectors should educate themselves and hire a personal consultant to advise them. If you're buying a $100,000 glove, f*ck Sotheby's getting Joe Phillips' second opinion. YOU pay Joe Phillips for his opinion. I can tell you that currently I know of issues with significant items. The problem is that not a single bidder or potential bidder has asked for my input or likely will. Even if I wanted to talk to the bidders and potential bidders, I have no clue who they are.
Even if I'm no longer an avid baseball collector, I follow all the auctions and am well aware of what is being offered in my areas of expertice and the accuracy of the descriptions. However, my experience is that the Sotheby's and MastroNets of the world don't ask for my input before the auction and almost no bidders ask for my input during. This genuinely used to bother me whenever I saw a significant problem. But I've grown to beleive that, if neither side is interested in my input, that's their issue to work out. I'm happy to save my energy and help for the occasional collector who does seek it.