Crazy uncles

[MCyganik]

Just my 2 cents but it seems Aaron bit off more than he could chew with this enterprise this early in the game.

Despite his billed pedigree from Steiners, he only worked there 3 years and less than 2 years as a "senior auction coordinator". His resume makes no mention of auction/sports memorabilia experience before that.

His website and prior posts on here make strong mention that he's been a collector since the 1980s... considering he's 39/40, he's using his time as a small child to establish a reputation as a long-time collector.

He claims the auction house has owners with a lot of capital potentially investing in him/CU, but has admitted in prior auctions he's essentially a 1-man shipper.

This would not be a big deal for an auction house just starting out with a manageable size of lots and moderate investment pieces, but he seemed to attract some big fish (CJDave included) with over 1200 lots for sale and 50+ items selling for over $2k+ including the $79k Batman #1.

If he's a 1-man consignee/invoicer/shipper and his investors are hands-off, I imagine trying to deal with so many consigners/buyers who are invested in such expensive items will inevitably overwhelm him with such a large volume. And unless he's extremely detail-oriented and working non-stop, it's going to take a looooooooong time to fulfill such a large auction.

My hope is CJDave and the other consigners and buyers will get this worked out with him and he and his investors learn something from this. But considering this is the 3rd(?) auction CU has run and none of them have gotten good word of mouth, I don't see this getting much better for awhile, if ever.

[slidekellyslide]

Wait, this Aaron fellow came from Steiners? And this is how he is running his auctions? Good grief. I'm sorry Dave, I hope you get your check and all your stuff back.

[x2drich2000]

Just figured i would give an update. The original check I sent was received and credited to my account. A new invoice was sent to me this morning, however, the invoice is still not correct. On the original invoice I was emailed, there was an extra lot listed (assuming it was a duplicate of another lot). That lot has now been removed from the invoice, however, the price of that lot is still used to calculate the BP.

[hcv123]

Did the items left out in the rain make it to you unscathed?

[CJDave]

Hi Howard,

Unfortunately some were damaged. The encapsulated items appear to be ok....but some of the non-encapsulated items are not in its previous condition. I am photographing the items to document everything. Luckily, and for once my OCD is beneficial, that I had before pics and scans of the items. There also appears to be quite a few missing items but I am still inventorying everything. The saga continues !!!

[CJDave]

Originally Posted by CJDave

Hi Howard,

Unfortunately some were damaged. The encapsulated items appear to be ok....but some of the non-encapsulated items are not in its previous condition. I am photographing the items to document everything. Luckily, and for once my OCD is beneficial, that I had before pics and scans of the items. There also appears to be quite a few missing items but I am still inventorying everything. The saga continues !!!

So some of the expensive presidential framed signatures are definitely damaged from being left out in a either 95 degree weather and/or a tropical storm. Some tickets stubs got wet as did some autographed baseballs and some historical memorabilia. Further there is at least $200K worth of items that are not accounted for. I don't know what kind of game they are trying to play but I am beyond beside myself. Maybe I can get George Washington or Samuel Adams to sign these documents again...….oh wait, I can't, they have been dead for over 200 years !!!

[slidekellyslide]

Originally Posted by CJDave

So some of the expensive presidential framed signatures are definitely damaged from being left out in a either 95 degree weather and/or a tropical storm. Some tickets stubs got wet as did some autographed baseballs and some historical memorabilia. Further there is at least $200K worth of items that are not accounted for. I don't know what kind of game they are trying to play but I am beyond beside myself. Maybe I can get George Washington or Samuel Adams to sign these documents again...….oh wait, I can't, they have been dead for over 200 years !!!

Time to call a lawyer.