SUBJECT: BEWARE Steve Verkman, Keith Vari, Leland’s, Clean Sweep & Paragon auctions

[jingram058]

Originally Posted by raulus

Took me a couple of days to realize this thread was moved.

I guess I should thank Leon for keeping my very 1st post on the main page, in spite of it being a public shaming of an AH that also happens to be an advertiser on the forum. It's been a few years, but thanks Leon. (In case it's not clear, I promise this isn't sarcasm.)

Of course, in that situation, I provided more details and pics at the request of the other posters here, and there were plenty of people who still jumped to support the AH, in spite of the fact that the AH auctioned off a fistful of clear and painfully obvious fakes. So much so that some of the backs of the items were clearly identified as Kodak photo paper. Luckily for the AH, when they listed photos of the items in the auction, they happened to leave off the backs that were on Kodak photo paper. I suspect this means that James and I are mostly in agreement about the strong affinity for AHs among a subset of the posters here, although since almost all of my collection is in slabs, this is probably an uncomfortable position for James.

And while it might sound like I take a dim view of AHs in general, being in the professional services industry, I'm actually pretty supportive of the role that AHs play and the amount of work that it must take, particularly on high volume, relatively low-value per item, disorganized consignments.

On the other hand, I can empathize with the OP in wanting to share his experience, and by so doing hope that the collecting community can learn from it. The fact that it was his first post is probably as much a function of finally having a big enough motive to get into the game.

In terms of whether this was a bad deal for the consignor, I'll agree that it's really hard to tell without knowing more about the details. But it's certainly possible that it could be a fair deal. Or it could be highway robbery. Clear as mud, sadly.

I could not possibly agree more with what you say here, absolutely spot-on. And while you do have a collection of great cards in slabs, the way you have it so tastefully displayed is simply awesome!