[brian1961]

I would agree that a high quality auction catalog picture, and computer screen scan of a PSA /SGC card is essential to a serious buyer. I also agree that too much space is wasted with blah, blah, blah, yadda, .....

However, some of you hyper-cynical, hyper-critical members need to stop and think about this. Beyond the crisp images, why do you assume a potential auction bidder will know what the ---- they're looking at? What its significance is? Why should I consider adding this card to my collection? Expressing a population report is important because many would instantly want to know that information, and may deliberate whether it's worth their while to investigate said pop reports. That auction house has an obligation to the consignor, as well as themselves, to get a collector as interested as possible to become a feverish, fanatical, "gotta have it" person who will, if need be, stay up 'til the cows come home or even when they're being milked in the morning, if it must be so.

I certainly think auction houses could use some better researchers and staff auction lot writers, but those people are costly, and frankly, hard to find. I don't know. Maybe the auction house owners just want writers to convey ONLY what they want them to say--- "yes people" or "when I tell ya 'jump', you better be asking me 'how high?' on the way up". Lots of bosses work that way with their subordinates.

Sure, some of you know much more than the auction house about the items you'd be interested in. You know precisely what to look for, 'cause you've obsessed on them, studied them, read ANYthing you could get your hands on about them, and would never tell anybody what you know, except your dog. Maybe you don't want the auction house to "mastrobate" you and the other people looking at the same catalog, for fear they'll go "ape ----" over the item, and bid it up to the "Moon Over Miami". Then you'd just go sulk and cry in your beer 'cause you couldn't bag it for a song, and have those adorable bragging rights all day long". Isn't that just too bad.

I well remember Mr. Mint's quarterly auctions in SCD. Begun about 1987, at this time The Mint Man was involved with buying find after find of the most desirable stuff in the realm of planet "SPORTS CARD COLLECTOR". He ruled the hobby as a fiefdom, and don't you dare say the wrong thing to him. You had best be humble and respectful, or else.... Back to the point, when Mr. Mint spoke, you listened because he knew exactly what he was talking about, and so, when he conducted his phone auctions in the then "thick as a brick" pages of Sports Collectors Digest, his lot descriptions began to carry a few choice words to sweeten the desire. Yeah, sometimes it was the "you could shave with this one" or "a screamer". However, The Mint Man began tucking in some very pertinent information of which I was unaware. Such as the occasion he wrote of a 1969 Topps Super set. He succinctly explained why Topps referred to them as "SUPER", as well as knowledge that a warehouse fire had destroyed more than half the printing. This Topps test issue was not distributed where it was easily accessible to kid customers. I discovered this 1969 issue in 1972 at the huge Detroit convention when I met Topps employee Bill Haber, who sold a dozen MINT sets he brought with him to the event to help fund his show expenses and card purchases. He may have actually brought a few more sets than what I saw in his satchel, but I doubt it. Those cards were by no means all over the place in Troy. Bill was the only guy who had them available. Regardless, with Bill Haber selling them to happy adult owners, that's why the far majority of them grade so high; they were well taken care of. I would add the interpretation of the POPs may be misleading; assuredly, there are not hundreds and hundreds of MINT cards listed for a given player.

Back to Mr. Mint Alan Rosen, and his quarterly phone auctions in Sports Collectors Digest.

When The Mint Man would call it MINT back in the day before third party grading became "mandatory", his word descriptions carried a lot of weight. I will always remember the time I loudly inhaled when I saw the card of my dreams in a Mr. Mint auction. If you never saw the quality of the SCD black 'n white auction photos from the late 1980s, let me FIRST say they were ''cutting edge" technology at the time. Prior to Mr. Mint, I do not recall any SCD advertiser who paired each and every auction lot with a brief description and a photograph of the actual item being auctioned. Very effective, though by today's standards, the postage stamp size grainy b & w photo was a bad joke. Be that as it may, back then he was the first to do this on such a grand scale for each of his nearly 100 lots of super quality items. And yes, I was extremely "CAUGHT UP" in his auctions. Though by no means a major player in Alan's phone auctions, that Saturday morning I inhaled audibly and and forever etched the occasion into my graymatter over 25 years ago, my "gotta have it" button got jammed into overdrive. Long to short, I won the $1,000+ card, back when a grand would buy a solid gold medal card. Over a decade later I decided to submit the rare piece to PSA. Could Mr. Mint call a spade a spade? Listening to some of you, the man always lied through his teeth. When I received the registered mail package from PSA, I ever so slowly and fearfully pealed away the bubble wrap to discover PSA's Bill Klem verdict.

So, was The Mint Man full of ----?

UH UH. PSA MINT 9. One of one. Over ten years later---still a one of one.

You had better believe I am so glad I got CAUGHT UP in that Mr. Mint auction.

Hey, I've got my Mr. Mint horror stories, too. Yet, that occasion was timeless to me, never to be forgotten.

Still, I agree there's much garblety-goop with auction listings and descriptions. A good buyer had best do his research, or else....

If you're a studious, wise seller / auctioneer, you better come up with something pertinent to say; otherwise, your stuff will just get passed by, dismissed as a used car at "Honest Harry's".

---Brian Powell