Posted By:
warshawlawI think Mastro did the right thing here. It accepted a card slabbed by one of the major slabbers on faith, which is a reasonable thing to do. It then listened to the evidence that the card had been sold before as small and might be even smaller and sharper now. It noted the size discrepancy for potential bidders, and ultimately decided not to carry the card in its auction.
For those of you who are critical of Mastro on this: Would you prefer than Mastro or any other auction house ignore what it is told and simply rely blindly on PSA? Aren't we always saying "buy the card not the holder?" If so, isn't Mastro doing exactly what we ask it to do?
As for the consignor, assuming his or her innocence with regard to any alterations of the card, nevertheless, he or she would have been rewarded unjustly if the card sold for $10k and it had in fact been altered. Why should the auction buyer be stuck with it instead? Is that a better outcome?
The sad thing is that this card is in a PSA holder and will likely end up in the inventory of a dealer who doesn't know this board or in the collection of a collector who isn't aware of us.