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mikeOn the plus side, Mr Mint was all good in SCD and SI, etc. He marketed his image and helped increase the flow into sports card collecting. His advice in his book on investing in baseball cards was true but laughable: buy the best you can afford in the classic series - mint T206, 50-60s hall-of-famers, and 1987 topps sets! One had to have known he was knee deep in T206s and 1987 Topps sets. The easiest way to have turned his opposition to 3rd party grading would have been to give him a stake in PSA.
If you were a teen during the mid-80s, then you remember Trump's Art of the Deal, and how teens (at least in flyover country) looked up to Trump. There were the writeups in SCD of his amazing finds of 52/54/55 Topps, and the vintage football cards, and whatever else he turned up. Like baseball cards, Mr Mint was a flash to white bread MidWestern teens. His pics of the grin and oddles of cash were backed up with a display case filled with $100s at shows and newpaper ads. Of course, meeting him (or not) was a different experience. (Sort of like, you see Yoko on TV all nice and thoughtful, and then there she is at the local fair get out of my face).
If he's buying $1000 cards for $150 or whatever and flipping those to buddies at $400 or whatever, then he's a great guy; If I was the one with my want list getting filled I'd be estatic. The transactions were all voluntary and he brokered cash and cards to everyone's advantage.
How come Mr Mint gets trashed here but not SCD? Aren't all the ex-coin dealers just as guilty as Mr Mint when it comes to their ads with the high buying prices listed for stars that never sell off the show tables, but then not buying cards offered?