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MarkLegendary Auctions is a company formed by several of the former Mastro Auctions principals. It does not include Bill Mastro or Brian Marren.
They acquired the assets and the good will of Mastro Auctions. Thus, any consignments you made to Mastro before the events of March are now in the possession of Legendary, who will include them in their own sales. If you don't want them to offer your material in their sales, you should direct them to return your material. Since they have not been reliable answering phone calls (and since their customer service manager is new, not very knowledgeable and helpless in getting Doug Allen to return calls), you should probably make your request in writing, via certified mail/return receipt requested. Save all correspondences to Legendary, in case you have problems later.
I had sent several lots to Brian Marren at Mastro before the events of March. They were destined for sales in April and June. The Legendary web site shows that my material is in their possession and that one lot I consigned will be offered in the April sale (I received my catalog yesterday and found this lot included). Although I considered requesting my material be returned, I think one lot is not too much to risk as a test of whether Legendary can run a lively and trustworthy sale.
Since Doug Allen had not returned any of my messages, I called Ron Oser, who was very cordial and did what he could to reassure me that Legendary would run a tighter ship than Mastro. Only time will tell. I expressed to him my concern that some Mastro clients would be apprehensive about bidding in Legendary sales until their integrity was demonstrated. Furthermore, I expressed to him my concern that Doug Allen's failure to address his clients concerns would further feed fears about the state of the business. He said he would communicate this concern to Doug.
Finally, I have not received my settlement check from Mastro's February sale. Ron Oser informs me that those checks will go out from Mastro next month, one month late. Obviously, that creates some concern about Mastro's ability to meet its financial obligations.
Accordingly, I have sent a written statement to the State of Illinois Attorney General's Office (their web site has a form you can download), along with a copy of my consignors contract and proof that my lots sold.
I have also added my name to the list of defrauded clients of Mastro through the Chicago field office of the FBI, where the investigation of Mastro's practices is based. If I receive a settlement check and that check clears, I will withdraw all of the above complaints.
This is a crisis in the collecting community, but not a cause for panic. Remaining auction houses will take up the slack and will, if they're smart, be transparent: they will demonstrate to their clients that they do not tolerate shilling, alteration of material, preferential grading or any other unethical or illegal practice. Since the auction business involves interstate commerce, it is overseen by the feds. I don't think auction houses want to take the risks Bill Mastro took in this environment. We're all going to be better for it. Once this crisis passes, both buyers and sellers will be happy once again.
04-16-2009, 12:08 PM
Legendary Auctions. Should I call the police on them about having possible stolen material
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