Changes at Mastro

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Posted By: Todd

According to Michael O'Keefe with the New York Daily News Brian Marren is no longer working for Mastro Auctions. I have always enjoyed working with Brian over the years and wonder what he will be doing now. I wonder if this has anything to do with the current FBI investigation?

Honus Wagner card gets new owner

BY MICHAEL O'KEEFFE
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

Saturday, September 6th 2008, 5:18 PM

The rare 1909 T206 Honus Wagner once owned by NHL legend Wayne Gretzky is the most famous, expensive and controversial baseball card in the world, and in the past year it has also been the most mysterious.

When the card sold for a record $2.8 million in a private sale in September 2007, only handful of hobby insiders knew the identity of the collector who purchased the card - and they guarded that information like it was a national security secret.

Until now, that is: A sports collectibles industry source familiar with last year's transaction has told the Daily News that Arizona Diamondbacks managing general partner E.G. "Ken" Kendrick, a veteran collector, is the latest owner of the Holy Grail of baseball cards. The card could wind up on display at a sports museum the Diamondbacks' brass hopes to open at Chase Field sometime in the next few years.

Kendrick would not confirm or deny ownership of the Gretzky T206 Wagner during a recent telephone interview. In fact, he would not discuss it at all. "I'm not going to comment on that," he said.

Kendrick's position is a break from previous owners of the Gretzky T206 Wagner, who spent mighty sums of money on the card because they wanted the publicity it generated.

Former Los Angeles Kings owner Bruce McNall, who bought the card with Gretzky, acquired it to show it off to his friends in show business and sports. Wal-Mart used it as the basis of an advertising campaign. Chicago collector Michael Gidwitz bought the valuable T206 because he wanted to be known as the first collector to sell a card for more than $1 million. Las Vegas businessman Brian Seigel, who bought the card from Gidwitz for $1.265 million in 2000, planned to display it at ballparks around the country.

But the identity of the card's owner has been a secret ever since Seigel sold it in early 2007 to SCP Auctions and an anonymous Southern California collector for $2.35 million, just before the release of "The Card," a book by two Daily News reporters. The book examines persistent rumors that the the Gretzky T206 Wagner was cut from a sheet long after it left the factory - a major taboo in the world of vintage cards - and later trimmed to enhance its value.

The book quotes Bill Hughes, a member of the grading service team that issued the card's high grade - Professional Sports Authenticator gave it a PSA 8 on a scale of 1-10 - as admitting he knew the card had been cut from a sheet when he graded it.

"The card is so outstanding, it would have been sacrilegious to call that card trimmed and completely devalue it," Hughes explained.

In June 2007, moreover, the Daily News published photographs that experts say prove the card was trimmed to improve its condition.

But in the rarified air of high-end vintage cards, none of that seems to matter. The anonymous Southern California collector who purchased the card from Seigel sold it a year ago to Kendrick for $2.8 million, the top price for a trading card.

Kendrick told the Daily News he has been collecting baseball cards since the 1950s, when he was a boy growing up in West Virginia. "I had one of those great moms who saved my cards for me," Kendrick said.

The Diamondbacks are planning to open a museum at their ballpark, perhaps as early as the 2009 season that would display club memorabilia, and items borrowed from the Baseball Hall of Fame, as well as cards from Kendrick's collection, he said.

The Gretzky T206 Wagner was "discovered" by veteran memorabilia dealer Bill Mastro, who bought it for $25,000 in from a Long Island collector named Alan Ray and a few years later sold it to sporting goods magnate Jim Copeland for $110,000. Mastro played a role almost every time the card was sold, either as a buyer, seller, auctioneer or consultant. He has repeatedly denied altering the card.

The Gretzky T206 Wagner gave Mastro the money and reknown to found Mastro Auctions, sports memorabilia's largest auction house. The company is now the target of an FBI investigation focusing on shill bidding, card doctoring and other allegations of fraud. Federal investigators crashed the hobby's nation convention in Chicago this summer and issued subpoenas to dealers and auction house executives.

An industry source, meanwhile, told the Daily News this week that a large number of Mastro employees, including key executive Brian Marren, the vice president of acquisitions, have recently left the company. Marren did not return a call for comment.
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Posted By: Jeff Lichtman

That O'Keeffe -- he doesn't care about the hobby.

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Posted By: davidcycleback

If you write the sun rose this morning, that doesn't make it news. If you look through the old Mastro catalogs, you will see that employees are added and leave regularly over the years. I would guess such employee shifting happens regularly at other auction houses, and perhaps even at New York newspapers.

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Posted By: Todd

Brian had been with Mastro for at least 10 years that I know of. O'Keefe may have an axe to grind but it is news when the VP leaves after a lengthy employment and comes on the heels of a FBI investigation. I hope that had nothing to do with his departure.

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Posted By: leon

You are just a wench hunter....I mean witch hunter .....You and Okeeffe....trouble, trouble, trouble.....with a captial "T"....

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Posted By: D. C. Markel

About six weeks ago I sent out an e-mail to all the major action houses that I had 5 or 6 graded cards worth approximately $20,000 I was considering to consign, contingent on who would give me the lowest seller's fee. To my utter astonishment, Brian Marren from Mastro did not reply back to me until about 3 weeks later, which was about 2-1/2 weeks too late, since by then I had committed elsewhere. You snooze, you loose.

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Posted By: Eric Pugh

shilling? altering? colluding? I dont understand the exact reasons behind this investigation, nor am i aware of what evidence led to this investigation. Does anybody know more details or is the whole thing speculation at this point?

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Posted By: barrysloate

At this point it is just an investigation with facts being gathered. But Brian Marren was a valued employee and his departure is big news.

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Posted By: Jim VB

Non-lawyer answer:

It is NOT speculation that subpoenas were served on several people and companies at this years National. Mastro is among that group.

It IS speculation whether those served were targets of the investigation or potential witnesses.


In the past, Mastro has been accused, by some, of altering cards, collusion with certain grading companies to get better grades on their submissions than the average person can get, and shill bidding. Almost all charges have gone unanswered. (I believe Doug Allen has stated that they (Mastro) would no longer have anyone "do" minor fixing to cards before submission. It follows that they, therefore, must have done some of these things in the past.) Shill bidding, if it did occur, will be difficult to prove, as Mastro has also stated that bidding records of past auctions no longer exist.

I assume you are familiar with O'Keefe and his book. It doesn't paint a pretty picture of the Gretzky Wagner card and it's origins.

Whatever O'Keefe's motives, if it cleans up the hobby, we'll all be better off.

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Posted By: Dave S

Agree with Jim VB...

It will be interesting to see if any indictments are actually handed down by the Grand Jury in Chicago. As the FBI is involved, the US attorney must feel that there is something that is worth investigating. Speculating on who and what isn't really fair since we are all innocent until proven guilty, (except where the Patriot Act is concerned) or if you try to sell a "fake" Wagner on eBay, for those of you who remember those threads and Mr. Gumbel's report...

But it seems like many here are quick to throw O'Keeffe under the bus even though he is a serious sports journalist reporting on the facts for a major newspaper. Why kill the messenger?! He's not doctoring cards or shill bidding on auctions -- if anyone is found guilty of defauding others, they should be punished, whether it's baseball cards, wine, mortgages or anything else. Isn't the hobby better off not being perceived full of scammers and fraudsters? Does anyone think the investigations into all of the mortgage fraud is unfair or unfounded?

And on that subject, as a wine collector, I was horrifed to read "Billionaires Vinegar", which is an amazing book about the systemic fraud by one Hardy Rodenstock on all the unsuspecting buyers at Christie's auctions, of which I was one. Christie's has been around since the 1700's and is considered to be one of the premier auction houses in the world and they were not immune from this BS either. They may have even known that Rodenstock was a fraud, but continued to sell his wife for outrageous sums of money while collecting huge commissions. Rodenstock, a German national was sued in civil court in NY, decided it wasn't going well, and simply opted out of the process and left the USA. A large default jugement was entered against him, and the plaintiff's are in the process of trying to collect, which may never happen. The positive is that he will never be able to sell wine through another auction again, and others will think twice before attempting the same, but I don't think the author of BV was out to ruin the wine auction market.

It seems like that no matter what the collectible, there will always be unscupulous people out there trying to take advantage of unsuspecting honest people who just want their own special piece of history, and that sucks. Isn't that why we needed grading companies in the first place? And what if those grading companies are not honoring the public trust they claim to protect? Aren't we all damaged?

So I second Jim's line:

"Whatever O'Keefe's motives, if it cleans up the hobby, we'll all be better off."

Hear hear.

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Posted By: Rob D.

Dave,

Not only is that one heck of an interesting post, you also provided the best typo I've seen in months:

They may have even known that Rodenstock was a fraud, but continued to sell his wife for outrageous sums of money while collecting huge commissions.

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Posted By: Dave S

Thanks, what's really funny is that Hardy's wife, Helga, is really sweet and actually quite attractive...

We'll open the bidding at $5,000.

Sorry for the digression Leon, more fun than editing the post.

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Posted By: Tim

Dave-

Thank you for the funniest typo (as stated above) I have read on this board.

I'm really surprised, though maybe I shouldn't be, how quick so many are to rush to judgment and speculate on the board concerning this and many other issues. I'm a firm believer that speculation and debate can lead to the truth but only if you have the vision to see all sides and not just your own.

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Posted By: Jeff Lichtman

That guy who wrote "Billionaire's Vinegar"? He hates wine.

[turtleguy64]

I was shocked several years ago when I recommended a friend send his 1959 Fleer Ted Signs to Mastronet.Upon receiving the card ,my friend was contacted by Mastronet and told that the card had a scratch but they "could take care of it." It was my first introduction into negativity associated with Mastronet.Now rumors abound about them altering cards before entering them in their auctions.I held them in the high echelon of the big auctionhouses but in the end they fell like a" house of cards." No pun intended.