Open letter to STAT and Christopher Morales

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Posted By: <b>Bill Panagopulos</b><p>Still love this string...<br /><br />John, I see that Mastro accepts no returns on autographs at all, Hunt will with a dissenting opinion within 60 days, Lelands declares it is the final arbiter of any dispute, and Sotheby's, contrary to your post, will refund your purchase price against good evidence that an items is a forgery (I know - I've tested the system). It's vitally important that bidders READ and UNDERSTAND the terms of sale and any implied warrantees PRIOR to bidding. Of course, how these houses guarantee their material has absolutely nothing to do with how I guarantee my material. I didn't mean to say these companies are not trustworthy, not legitimate, or anything else negative. Perhaps you misunderstood what I was trying to say. What I meant to say was that an auctioneer that guarantees his material for the life of the buyer obviously has a lot more on the table, money-wise and reputation-wise, than one who is free and clear once the hammer come down. But everyone is free to run their business any way they choose...<br /><br />Matt - to answer your question, in all honesty, I think I've processed perhaps two hundred or so returns in all of the lots I've sold. The majority of those were returned because of differences in how we described the item's condition. Now, our stated policy of "two well qualified" should have been stated as "mutually acceptable", though to skeptics the effect is the same. But, believe it or not, we make our money on repeat customers, not the one or two we could, if we were so disposed, cheat out of a lousy couple hundred dollars. A good reputation travels at a snail's pace, a bad reputation travels at the speed of light. In actuality, if there is a good, reasonable, supportable doubt that an item is bad, it's out and the refund check gets put in the mail. Who wants an argument? Frankly, we don't need the money THAT badly. But of course, if an item IS real, and three or four PADA members or an equal number of qualified experts stand by it (NOT forensic experts, STAT, et al), then we have to defend the interests of our consignors. Ethically that's our obligation. <br /><br />Also, bear in mind I deal with historic Americana, not baseball. Baseball "cuts" and signed balls don't use parchment or fancy metal type or watermarked paper. Baseball forgers only have to go to eBay, buy old baseballs (and think about tracking some of those buyers, fellas!), and slap black ink on a dirty old baseball. Easy!<br /><br />And DK - the site is collectspace.com. A great watchdog over space forgeries.<br /><br />This string is getting tons of publicity. Don't delude yourselves thinking you'll ever hear from Chris Morales. Doubt he ever set foot in Mongolia...maybe the Vince Lombardi Rest Area on the Jersey Turnpike...<br /><br /><br />