Heritage Auction problem

[David Atkatz]

The biggest fraudster in the sports memorabilia business, without a doubt, was Barry Halper.

No one even comes close. No one ever will.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by David Atkatz

The biggest fraudster in the sports memorabilia business, without a doubt, was Barry Halper.

No one even comes close. No one ever will.

There is a difference between "is" and "was".

[slidekellyslide]

Halper would buy up anything and everything and probably ate up the story that went along with it...is there any proof that the stolen items in his collection were stolen by him or at his behest? Was he duped into buying fake jerseys, misidentified photos or forged autos? Halper strikes me as a rich dude that was easily fooled and made up stories to go along with the items in his collection.

The Cooperstown forger is in another league.

[David Atkatz]

"Making up stories" when you sell an item is also known as fraud.

[slidekellyslide]

Originally Posted by David Atkatz

"Making up stories" when you sell an item is also known as fraud.

Yeah, no doubt, but did Halper know his items were fraudulent? Did someone sell him the Jackson Jersey and Halper made up the story about how he got it still believing the jersey to be legit? I think he got stuff from Al Stump who we now know was forging Ty Cobb items...did Halper know that? There was a lot of bad stuff in his collection, but I think at the time he sold it we can't be sure that he knew it was bad. Did he know that items he was buying were stolen from the Hall of Fame or the NYPL?

[David Atkatz]

Originally Posted by slidekellyslide

Yeah, no doubt, but did Halper know his items were fraudulent? Did someone sell him the Jackson Jersey and Halper made up the story about how he got it still believing the jersey to be legit? I think he got stuff from Al Stump who we now know was forging Ty Cobb items...did Halper know that? There was a lot of bad stuff in his collection, but I think at the time he sold it we can't be sure that he knew it was bad. Did he know that items he was buying were stolen from the Hall of Fame or the NYPL?

Did he know that the 500 HR sheet he claimed to have had signed in-person bore the same Ruth forgery as other items in his collection, such as the "Ruth's hair" piece?

I could go on. Was a very successful New Jersey businessman really as gullible and innocent as you'd like to believe?

[slidekellyslide]

Originally Posted by David Atkatz

Did he know that the 500 HR sheet he claimed to have had signed in-person bore the same Ruth forgery as other items in his collection, such as the "Ruth's hair" piece?

I could go on. Was a very successful New Jersey businessman really as gullible and innocent as you'd like to believe?

David, I don't find him to be innocent at all...he was without a doubt a liar, a lot of the rest is up for speculation and hard to prove now that he's dead. I just think (my opinion) that he is not in the same league with the Cooperstown forger. Most of Halper's crap was pretty easily detected to be crap with a little homework.