SCAM of the CENTURY

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Posted By: James Verrill

Check this out:

People MUST be insane.

If I am right, a single "page" from a 1937 Goudey thumb booklet (book #4, last page) was torn out and then slabbed by "AAA". It is graded as, and sold by the scam artist seller (pacificvintagesports) described as, "DiMaggio Rookie card".

What a scam. Not even a CARD. Not even his ROOKIE.

BIG joke. BIG surprise its a private auction.

Am I missing something here? Or, is this really as blatantly fraudulent as it seems?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2717874736&category=31721

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Posted By: Todd (nolemmings)

He's done this before with the thum movies, or at least I'm pretty sure I've seen it from him (know I saw it somewhere). Really sad, since a nice "full" booklet would carry decent value and would appeal to legitimate collectors. This seller has dropped another notch in my book, and I didn't think that was possible.

[Archive]

Posted By: petecld

Yep, you read it right.

Truly one of the saddest elements in this hobby.

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Posted By: AdamBaxter

Although I haven't been in the vintage collecting game as long as some of you, I can definitly share your frustration on CRAP items like this. Personally I think that these graded cutouts take up valuble space in the vintage categories and I wish Ebay would put a stop to it. I can't recount how many times I've been searching the auctions and have to thumb through 500 listings of NASA or AAA graded cutouts that have no value of any kind, other than what some unknowledable person may pay for them. This in my opinion is fraud at it's purest form. The pages themselves torn from vintage publications have slight value if any at best and cutting them down into perfect squares doesn't hide the fact that they are damaged and altered pictures from magazine or newspaper pages. It's a real shame.

[Archive]

Posted By: runscott

I remember seeing really trashed Spalding Guides sell on ebay for about $20 2-3 years ago, some coverless with severel edge damage - you could get a reading copy cheap. Not any more - a few entrepreneurs started tearing out the team photos, which were on glossy paper in the 1900-1906 volumes (I could be off on this range a little), and so survived without browning of pages, and selling them individually on ebay. They were very nice and would sometimes individually bring the price that was paid for the guide. I didn't have a problem with this practice personally because the guides were so trashed that they were practically of no value, and the pictures were great to look at. So why not matt, frame, and hang them on the wall for all to appreciate? And you still had the resulting book, sans full-page team photos, to reference.

Then Roy Huff expanded the practice to include cutting up ALL books and magazines, regardless of rarity or condition, and loosely disguising the cut-outs as "graded" "cards" (though as David has pointed out - he describes them as 'cut-outs' and the people who bid on them ain't too bright). I don't know how many of these guides exist, but Huff and now others, are destroying them almost in bulk now - check the ebay listings. I refuse to sell any of my Spalding or Reach guidebooks on ebay any more, simply because I know odds are that they will end up in AAA holders.