Last night's "debate" .....some interesting observations.

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Posted By: MW 

To all:

I think some misperceptions have evolved from Greg's attack on me last night and I'd like to further clarify some things:

Any dealer who does not have knowledge of professional restoration techniques is doing a grave disservice to his or her customers. Some dealers (I won't mention any names here), like to perform these alterations themselves. Sometimes these dealer experiments end up in grading companys' holders. Other dealers such as myself, submit small quantities of cards to restoration experts. As I mentioned on the Network54 forum, I have submitted various cards (many of limited value) to a restoration expert on the East Coast. Thus far, I have yet to list any of these cards for sale or offer them in an auction (i.e., eBay). All of the altered cards I have obtained from Dick Towle that I listed for sale were not sent to him by me. Someone else had the restoration work done and Mr. Towle merely contacted me and offered me the cards. When I listed them on eBay, I clearly indicated that they had been restored by Dick Towle -- there was nothing deceptive about it. I even posted information about this on a previous SGC forum thread and discussed the altered state of one of the restored cards I listed on eBay (the 1952 Lansford). It is clear that I have nothing to hide.

One thing I find humorous is that a few collectors of limited knowledge and experience like to take "shots" at me because I have sent some cards to a restoration expert. What these detractors fail to mention, however, is that I've never submitted any of these cards to a grading company. Instead, I keep them in a permanent file and have used them to increase my knowledge and awareness of altered cards. It is precisely BECAUSE of this reason that customers can be assured that none of the cards I sell have been altered or tampered with.

Since this is the real world, it should probably be known that many of the major dealers in this hobby (especially those affiliated with a particular grading company) regularly send cards to restoration experts. One restoration expert who will remain nameless for now, resides on the West Coast and receives a lionshare of these dealers' business. Further, many well-known auction houses regularly list cards in their auctions that have been altered or have sent cards to restoration companies themselves. A good example of this is two different T206 Honus Wagners that have been offered for sale by Mastro auctions. In one of these cases, Mastro not only listed the card in its restored state, but later relisted it in another auction after the restoration had been removed.

The irony of the entire situation is that I'm the only major dealer in the hobby who has the moral fortitude and confidence to write on a public forum that I have sent cards to a restoration company. Restoration is a topic that EVERY collector should be aware of and I encourage collectors to do the same thing as me. Why? Because it is only by examining professional restoration work that one can be familiar with it and avoid it when buying and selling graded cards.

That being said, if someone across the street would like to accuse me of submitting altered cards for grading, that's fine. It only proves how truly ignorant they are. The truth is that there are very few dealers in this hobby who still sell large quantities of high grade raw vintage cards and I'm one of them. And in the vast majority of cases these cards get sent by customers straight to grading companies for encapsulation. My record in selling high-graded unaltered raw vintage cards is unmatched in the hobby. Off the top of my head, I cannot think of a single customer who has ever been disappointed upon submitting these raw cards for grading. And yes, in some cases we're talking many thousands of dollars per card.

Another important factor to consider is the source of the material I offer for sale. I don't think it's any secret that I've purchased some of the hobby's largest and most impressive collections over the past decade. Some of these purchases have been well-document on the Internet and in the Hobby Press. Whenever they're available, I offer both significant star cards AND commons from each of these noteworthy hobby finds. Can the same be said for other well known dealers? Do they have large quantities of NM/MT and Mint condition commons that match the NM/MT and Mint condition 1933 Goudeys or T206 Hall of Fame cards they offer in auctions on a regular basis? Some may but others simply do not. In my opinion, this is very telling.

All things considered, I think Dick Towle does some very good work on some types of cards. But thus far, I wouldn't say that ANY of his work is good enough to get past SGC graders. How do I know this? Because I have shared some of the information directly with SGC graders so that they're aware of what is out there. Again, this is something that the disaffected minions across the street don't realize. Something else they probably don't understand is that some major grading companies keep examples of altered cards on hand to assist them in grading and analyzing vintage sports cards. Basically, they do the same as I do. The irony of the whole situation is that some of the work that Dick Towle does, in my opinion, is professional enough so that it would not be detected by PSA graders. Since I no longer submit to PSA, I cannot say this is the case based on my own experience. However, I HAVE seen some of Mr. Towle's work in PSA holders and have encountered some of Mr. Towle's work being offered for sale by some dealers. Obviously, these were cards that were submitted by many of our beloved and well-known clan of PSA dealers.

There is no question that submitting cards to a restoration expert has increased my hobby knowledge and enabled me to better spot restored cards. To suggest that I submit some of these cards to SGC or to anyone else is complete nonsense. Those who have actually done business with me or who know me, know that this is the truth. I unconditionally guarantee the material that I sell in ANY grading company's holder. Why? Because when I sell a card you not only have a professional opinion from a grading company backing it up, but you have MY expertise behind it as well. How many other dealers offer this same guarantee? Answer: none that I'm aware of.

Detractors may post whatever they like, but I think some very valuable information evolved from last night's debate. As many forum members are very well aware, I've never been one to hide or obscure the truth. I think that many of the things that were posted needed to be brought out into the open so that collectors can make better hobby decisions and better educate themselves when buying and selling sports cards.

Thanks for reading.