Any Idea of Why This Went So Cheaply?

[Al C.risafulli]

I think it's really easy to get riled up over stuff that's written on message boards, because there's no TONE involved - just words. Something somebody writes quickly and posts can easily be perceived as being more rude than it was meant to be, because you can't see the person's facial expressions or hear their tone when you read it an hour after they posted it.

That said, when you post something on a message board, "mind your own business" no longer applies, does it? Because you post it in a thread where everyone else can post, and where everyone else can read what you posted. If you want your business to remain your business and not be subjected to the responses of everyone, I'd suggest using the board's private message function. This way, nobody else can read it, except for the person you're addressing.

My opinion is that the photo is not Radbourne. My opinion is also that this may have been one of those cases where I made a run at something based on the authentication and the low price. H&S did a service by cancelling the sale when faced with evidence. Mistakes happen all the time in authentication; I think the important distinction to make is not that a mistake happened, but how the offending party responds to the mistake. When faced with issues like this, some companies stand their ground or run in the opposite direction, and others own up to the mistake and make the appropriate restitution.

That's not just in sports memorabilia, by the way, its in the identification of any type of historically important memorabilia. I can't imagine that mistakes aren't made when identifying unsigned sketches, handwritten letters, photos, locks of hair, etc.

It really does illuminate one of the challenges and risks of being a collector of historical memorabilia of any kind. I own precisely one cabinet photo of a player not wearing a uniform; it's Eddie Collins, who is pretty easily identified by the giant wings on either side of his head.

-Al

Edited to add: My sentence above makes it appear as if I DID make a run at the cabinet. I did not. I didn't bid. I meant to imply that this might have been one of those items I made a run at - IF I HAD ANY MONEY TO SPEND ON CARDS RIGHT NOW. Which I don't.