Worst Experience Collecting

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Posted By: Joe

Early 90s…I buy a Babe Ruth signature watch via mail from a dealer in Rhode Island, not the common 40s character, but the rarer late 20s-early 30s art deco watch with Ruth’s facsimile autograph on the face. I showed the watch to my dad, an antique timepiece collector, who popped open the watch and said to me, “you just paid $500 (or $300?) for a dial.” What I bought was a watch face placed onto a movement too small for what may or not have been the original case so the movement had to be built out with a waxy substance so that it would fit into the case. I returned the watch and had my money returned, no questions asked.

Fast forward to a major Sotheby’s auction, the Copeland Collection, I believe, but certainly a sale with William Mastro consulting for the great New York house. There’s a Babe Ruth signature watch lot. It looks familiar. Very familiar. I go to the viewing. I get to meet the legendary Bill Mastro. I ask to see the inside of the watch. He says they can’t do that. I say it’s Sotheby’s and they have someone there who surely can open a watch. They open the watch and it is, of course, the very same watch I owned briefly: same scratch on the crystal, same waxy substance, same watch. I point out the problems to Mastro. He says, “So?” I tell him I owned the watch, bla, bla, bla…he says, “Impossible. It’s been part of the same collection for years.” Oh well, maybe someone had been mass-producing these things for years.

The watch sold for 900 bucks. I learned a very valuable lesson in expertise.

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Posted By: Jeff Lichtman

Joe, that's a hilarious story.

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Posted By: Andrew

Two words:

"Crazy Canuck"
_______

Yup, I second that one! Jason Bobbitt has ripped off others on this board as well. I did recover my loss, but it was one of my worse collecting experiences. In regard to "there are two sides to every story", well, not always:

If side A proves that money was sent
and side B admits that items were not sent
then there is only one side

Also, I know it's debatable to air grievances involving board member transactions. It is interesting that there's usually a consensus of opinion regarding others. That is, if there was a poll as to who's the most honorable, who's the most likely to overgrade, most likely to not disclose all facts, most likely to offer a refund without questions asked, etc., some names would receive very high percentages. Airing grievances THAT MEET CERTAIN CRITERIA might make people think twice about intentionally defrauding, posting sold and not paying, not making amends, etc.


"Take your life in your own hands and what happens? A terrible thing: no one to blame." -- Erica Jong

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Posted By: Anonymous

Crazy Canuck - LOL -

He gave me my only EBAY negative, he never shipped me a $5 card.

I negged him, and he retaliated. I then got a couple e mails from people
who were trying to put together prosecutable cases against him for some
rather large dollar amount deals where he allegedly got the cash but allegedly never sent the goods.

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Posted By: Paul Arpasi (prad)

I rarely post but will share this. When I was in school around 1992, I had a pretty good relationship with a dealer in Toledo, Ohio (Not KSavage) who had a small shop on Sylvania avenue. He was a nice guy and sold me many cards. Like many students I needed to raise money so I gave hime cards to sell on consignment. Cards included Goudey Ruth and Gehrig and 1940 Playball Dimaggio, Many T206 HOFs and 56 Topps stars. The cards were gone one day and he promised to pay me. After many weeks he implied that he gave the cards to a collector who he owed money to or sold the cards to cover his expenses. He promised to pay but never could. Finally he had new remarkable items in stock which he offered to me in trade for my lost cards. I recieved 55 bowman Mays, Berra, and others I forget now. The key to the deal was an Old Judge Kelly card and Brunners Bread Evers. I was satisfied for many years until I had them graded and learned they were counterfeit. I don't know if he knew they were fakes or not. Today I trust very few dealers and prefer to deal with collectors. Also, I only buy graded cards.

Best wishes

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Posted By: Bob

I have had a few, but as Quan alludes to, the loss of an entire set of E98s coming back from GAI via UPS was the worst. We tracked them down to the UPS location in Little Rock, Arkansas, where like the Roach Motel or the Hollywood California, they checked in but never left. GAI refunded the insurance payment but the cards are worth 3 times that now (about 3-4 years ago when this happened) PLUS there was a beautiful Clarke with "Old Put" stamped on the back. I severely underestimated its value as I also did on an E98 Wagner.
That's my horror story.

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Posted By: Dylan

Thats the thing about it too. These cards that were lost a few years back are worth much more now then the refund you received. You can always make more money but you cant always replace a certain card. I wonder when these things happen if someone ends up with the package by mistake or if the cards end up in a dumpster somehow never to be seen again? This is why I would be so hesitent to send true rarities(especially condition sensitive ones) through the mail. Imagine losing something like the 1912 Hassan triple folder display piece that was auctioned by REA last year. Even if you get the purchase refunded a piece of history was potentially lost forever. There's a point where i think id just assume fly over and pick something up by hand then have it shipped, especially something condition sensitive like a large advertising piece like the one mentioned above. Anyone ever done that?