new member introduction

[shelly]

I would also remind you that on his show he had his own card grading company.
Every card was a 10 and worth hundred's to thousands of dollars.
Scott are you not part of this operation?

[Peter_Spaeth]

Shelly what grading company was that?

[shelly]

WCG. Every card he had on the show was a ten. He would then show what the card was going for on Ebay. He would then tell them what a deal they where getting. He also used to pack up a hundred or more cards at a time and show they where all Hall of Famers worth hundreds of dollars. I dont think any of the cards where worth more than ten cents. He would sell the package for around 69-75 dollars plus shipping. Don West was the Hawk.

[kengoldin]

I would appreciate if the board could pause from replies and posts as I have 4 large files I will be posting. This will address in 1 time and place everything that has been brought up
thank you

[wonkaticket]

1:50 mark...funny stuff.

Some great quotes….

“What we decided is after this I’m going to retire…I’m going to be talked out of it I’m sure…how can you top this…how?”

“Simply put this is the greatest baseball card trading product ever put out in the history of mankind!”

Don West on the Tiger Woods Grand Slam Card: “This is the greatest card purchase you will ever make in your life card wise….the number one card in the world!” “The next time we air this it could and should be 4-20k right Kenny? We want to thank you for letting us have these Kenny.”

“That’s right Don…we easily could have raised the price…it’s the best grade Tiger you can get unless somebody has a 100 if they do I’m paying 60k!”

Don West: “Kenny I think you’re looking at a future 100k ball card in this Tiger Woods!”

“I have no doubt you’re looking at a future 100k ball card, can you imagine if Mickey Mantle only ever had one card ever!!”

Done West: “Kenny I can give an example Honus Wagner he has what like only 4 different cards? Tiger has just one.”

“Yes you’re correct that’s right”

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1997-98-TIGE...item3a77c9aeea

[barrysloate]

I wish that guy would talk louder....I can't hear him.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by shelly

WCG. Every card he had on the show was a ten. He would then show what the card was going for on Ebay. He would then tell them what a deal they where getting. He also used to pack up a hundred or more cards at a time and show they where all Hall of Famers worth hundreds of dollars. I dont think any of the cards where worth more than ten cents. He would sell the package for around 69-75 dollars plus shipping. Don West was the Hawk.

Never heard of that one.

EDIT TO ADD But it's out there.
http://www.ebay.com/sch/Cards-/212/i.html?_nkw=wcg

[shelly]

Sorry Kenny I couldn't wait for your post.
this just sold for a dollar from wgc grading. This card sold for one dollar. What happened to it being worth hundreds?

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[kengoldin]

I am going to write a few posts addressing different subjects that have been mentioned here. I am asking each of you not to interrupt the posts by posting in between . I am not going to be answering things publicly piecemeal, or on the public boards after this. Legitimate questions that I feel are simply not mud slinging, I will reply to if I see them. My PM is always open to questions and I invite you to PM me if I can be of any assistance, as is my email, ken@goldinauctions.com

1. Score Board inc(SB) and autographs. SB was the first company to mass market sports autographs, and to sign athletes to long term deals. All autographs signed for SB were witnessed and affidavits were signed by the athletes attesting to the fact they personally signed xx items on xx date. Each item came with a certificate of authenticity from SB. at the time (1989) this was a revolution in the industry, and put autographed memorabilia on the TV shopping networks, JC penny catalog, Sharper Image, Sams clubs, and more.
Unfortunately, the technology back then was not where it was in the late 90s to today. There were instances of customers from QVC and elsewhere taking a fake autograph, coupling it with a real cert, and trying to sell it as authentic with a SB cert. SB went after these people when brought to its attention and I have articles from 20 years ago in my possession talking about this.
In addition, there were instances of people, while SB was still in business, counterfeiting SB certs and trying to pass off fake autographs and fake SB certs as real certs. Again, there are court cases to this effect and I have articles on how SB busted people with uncut sheets of fake SB certs at the printer.
around 92-93 to combat these problems SB started marking its autographed items with a mark that was detectable under UV light. In addition, it began to mark its certs with a hidden water mark as well. 100% of the certs that are REAL and have the name 'ken goldin' have this mark. If it does not have the mark, and has the facsimile of Ken goldin, it is a fake cert. SB did not publicize this fact because it wanted to stay 1 step ahead of the forgers. It told its customers but did not point out where the water mark was, it what it was. I have , however, made dealers and press (example an interview i did with TJ Schwartz 2 years ago where he mentioned that SB certs and items were marked...but did not mention where or how) are of this.

Once SB filed for bankruptcy in April 1998, and once they ceased operations totally in 1999, there have been a flood of fake autographs and fake SB certs hitting the markets. The forgers, with the knowledge there is no one to sue them or go after them, have used what good will the SB had left in the autograph industry, to sell their fake items with a fake SB cert on the unsuspecting buyer.

I have spent the past 10 years working law enforcement and hobby members to police the industry of these forgeries. I have worked with others in the industry to try to make people aware of fakes, clean up EBAY, as well keep people informed of what an athlete signed under his SB contract. I have personally contacted well over 200 EBAY sellers DIRECTLY with respect to an item that they are selling with an SB cert that I know is fake, or in many cases was not even an item that the athlete signed under his contract (ie: Mickey mantle never signed a single bat for SB, not even ONE for me personally...and i asked him!). It is very sad to me that some newer collectors are sold an autograph item with a Sb cert, find out from PSA or JSA it is no good, and then mistakenly think SB sold fake autographs. The fact is, the cert is likely NOT a real SB cert, and the item is not an SB item.
I am happy to make myself available to members of this community to send me images or ask me questions about athlete contracts and who signed what and make educated purchase decisions. As a result of all this, it is imperative that if you want to re sell anything with a supposed SB cert, you pretty much need to go to JSA or PSA, unless you are selling to experts like Mill Creek who trust their own judgement.

[WindyCityGameUsed]

[QUOTE=kengoldin;1024221]

FROM POST #223

"I have spent the past 10 years working law enforcement and hobby members to police the industry of these forgeries. I have worked with others in the industry to try to make people aware of fakes, clean up EBAY, as well keep people informed of what an athlete signed under his SB contract"

Maybe its time 2 work with law enforcement again in regards to cleaning up the hobby sum more?

[WindyCityGameUsed]

The first paragraph of this article explains a few things


http://www.nj.com/yankees/index.ssf/...ctionscom.html

[kengoldin]

2.. REDEMPTIONS
For 15 years I have seen my name associated with unfulfilled redemptions on items from SB trading card product. Here is a timeline and facts.
in 1995 Due to the hockey lockout, basketball lockout, and baseball strike, and 80% of SB revenue coming from those areas (card and memorabilia sales) the board of directors of SB agreed to take on outside investors to boost the company's finances . A large percentage of the company was sold to TL Ventures, a subsidiary of publicly held Safeguard Scientifics. As a result, their appointee John White was named to the board as was another member of TL, and John White was appointed COO and later president in 1996. During late 1996 i became aware of a plan from the TL people to 'isolate Ken Goldin and eliminate his allies in the company. extend his contract as we need his name, marketing and creativity, but take him out of management decisions". With this knowledge, I knew what was planned for me, and in the spring of 2007 i infored the board that I did not intend to sign a new employment contract. At that point, they tried aggressively to keep me. In July of 2007 i negotiated a deal with Frontier communications to allow them to buy their way out of a phone card contract with SB for approximately $8 million in cash, 1 lump payment. I flew up there, got a check. The company deposited the check, and made an announcement. the following week, feeling I left the company in good financial steed as it had plenty of money to operate, I wanted to leave on a good note and rather than wait till 12/31/97 I sent a letter to the board resigning in August of 1997. Unfortunately for me financially, I had never sold stock, and pretty much left the company with the same amount of money in the bank as i started in 1987.
After my resignation, John White of TL Ventures was named CEO (he was president at the time). Instead of using the money from frontier for operations, inventory, salaries, etc. He and the board decided to pay off long term bonds that were NOT DUE FOR ANOTHER 5 YEARS. They took this action so that the company would remain listed on NASDAQ and they would not be forced by their auditors to write down their investment.
Well, as you can imagine, John White and the others did not know how to run a sports card and memorabilia business, so when it became time to fulfill redemptions for 1997 All sport PPF (and any other products that were issued by them after i left...have no clue how many issues there were) they decided the company needed the cash, so they started selling some of the items that had been set aside for the redemption instead of redeeming them. When things snowballed horribly in march of 98, and they filed bankruptcy, the court said that the redemption holders were basically last in line creditors, so all of the remaining redemption items were put back into inventory (they previously were seperated out into their own section of the warehouse) and sold at auction.....meaning any un-shipped redemptions at that time would never be filled.
I was a very identifiable and well known figure associated with SB, however Not only was i was not there when this occurred, but unfortunately the issue has been an erroneous thorn in my side for 15 years.
ALL OF THE ABOVE. is documented in financial reports and filings from SB, and can be verified from long time SB employees who are still in the industry, as well as articles.

[kengoldin]

part 3.
to tie up some other loose ends
in reply to someone here, I am not involved with any grading company. Do not now nor have I ever owned a grading company. For certain mass market sales in the past I have used services of low budget grading companies to save expenses, in fact the whole reason Beckett came up with the BCCG brand was to get a large portion of my business in 99-2000 era.
Anything in Goldin auctions will be graded by PSA (overwhelming majority) and SGC the rest of the time. no other grading service will be used.

With respect to Don west and Shop at Home, I believe the last time I was on was around 2002 10 years ago. Yes, SAH had an aggressive sales style, and I was one of 6 main vendors they had. All vendors used the same aggressive sales style as that was their format. At the same time, I was on QVC which is well known as a network that has no hype, does not allow values to be stated or claimed, and does not allow a hard sell. I am still occasionally on QVC as I was for their Fenway park 100th anniversary show. If a multi billion $ company like QVC has no issues with me and feels I do a good job for their customers, I am proud of that and I believe that speaks volumes about me.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by kengoldin

part 3.
to tie up some other loose ends
in reply to someone here, I am not involved with any grading company. Do not now nor have I ever owned a grading company. For certain mass market sales in the past I have used services of low budget grading companies to save expenses, in fact the whole reason Beckett came up with the BCCG brand was to get a large portion of my business in 99-2000 era.
Anything in Goldin auctions will be graded by PSA (overwhelming majority) and SGC the rest of the time. no other grading service will be used.

With respect to Don west and Shop at Home, I believe the last time I was on was around 2002 10 years ago. Yes, SAH had an aggressive sales style, and I was one of 6 main vendors they had. All vendors used the same aggressive sales style as that was their format. That is how it was done at SAH. At the same time, I was on QVC which is well known as a network that has no hype, does not allow values to be stated or claimed, and does not allow a hard sell. I am still occasionally on QVC as I was for their Fenway park 100th anniversary show. If a multi billion $ company like QVC has no issues with me and feels I do a good job for their customers, I am proud of that and I believe that speaks volumes about me.

"That is how it was done"?? Uh, ok, but did you not benefit from "how it was done?" More importantly, do you acknowledge it was problematic, or are you defending it, it's hard to tell?

[kengoldin]

Peter: Did not want to reply individually, but will inthis case and hope my 4 lengthy posts otherwise speak for themselves. in no way am i defending the practice or the era, and since then I have had 2 daughters and wish you tube didnt have gag reels of me calling into SAH. But it is a part of my past, we all know it, and move on. I believe the direction I have chosen with the auction house, as well as the good policies, procedures, and most importantly, great product sold in an honest fashion will over time outweigh all. I want the chance to prove myself and hope open minded people who know my 34 years as a hobbyist and my contacts and knowledge will allow me to prove myself to them

[wonkaticket]

Originally Posted by kengoldin

With respect to Don west and Shop at Home, I believe the last time I was on was around 2002 10 years ago. Yes, SAH had an aggressive sales style, and I was one of 6 main vendors they had. All vendors used the same aggressive sales style as that was their format. That is how it was done at SAH. At the same time, I was on QVC which is well known as a network that has no hype, does not allow values to be stated or claimed, and does not allow a hard sell. I am still occasionally on QVC as I was for their Fenway park 100th anniversary show. If a multi billion $ company like QVC has no issues with me and feels I do a good job for their customers, I am proud of that and I believe that speaks volumes about me.

Ken, no offense don’t blame Shop at Home for your past sales tactics. You know that the way you sold those items was right up there with the Wild West snake oil salesman of old. As for twisting that QVC is in some way endorsing you personally they are not and you should know that.

Ken I sell close to every major retailer in the world QVC included. These folks are business people if they are making money with you they are happy. Them doing business with you is not an endorsement of your integrity or character, but more of an endorsement of a successful and mutual business agreement I think the folks at QVC would agree.

Cheers,

John

[Deertick]

Originally Posted by wonkaticket

Ken, no offense don’t blame Shop at Home for your past sales tactics. You know that the way you sold those items was right up there with the Wild West snake oil salesman of old. As for twisting that QVC is in some way endorsing you personally they are not and you should know that.

Ken I sell close to every major retailer in the world QVC included. These folks are business people if they are making money with you they are happy. Them doing business with you is not an endorsement of your integrity or character, but more of an endorsement of a successful and mutual business agreement I think the folks at QVC would agree.

Cheers,

John

John,
I think the point was that the items sold very successfully @ QVC also, where none of the objectionable behavior from SAH occurred.

[kengoldin]

part 4 of 4, final

All of this brings us to Goldin Auctions. I have purchased millions over the years from auction houses (all of them practically) and consigned millions as well. It is thru that experience, and noticing the downfalls, the problems, the high fees, the lack of good LOAs, that drove me to start this business. I prefer not to list out all the things that drove me to open the business, but an interview with me that goes into detail is in the SCD.

Some of the keys to the auction house
1. any graded cards will be graded by PSA or SGC..ONLY
2. all autographed items will come with FIRST PARTY AUTHENTICATION (verifiable authenticity from MLB, UDA, Steiner) OR come with a cert/letter from PSA/DNA NO AUCTION LETTER CERTS. if there is a large grouping of autographs it may be PSA/DNA pre cert. No more spending $1000+ on an item at auction and having to spend another $25-$150 for a full letter (and worse, finding out their more stringent check of the item rules it non authentic...something that has happened to me several times on 'auction LOAs'

3. all game used items will come with a letter directly from player, team, and absent that a letter from Mears (jersey) or Mears/PSA/DNA (bats)
4. no more 18-20% buyers premium. our buyers premium is only 10%
5. considering my background in player relations, our specialty will be bringing player collections to the auction.
6. we will have over 1000 lots in the first auction, featuring Babe Ruth autographed bat, 1980 Phillies WS ring, Alomar gold glove, Jordan Amex card, Rice TD jersey, Jordan game used jersey, The Bernie parent collection, The Dave Schultz collection, rare baseball cards, and i promise you this, a lot of big surprises that are going to shock some people that a 'new' auction house got such a valuable and prestigious item .
7. an experienced staff (go to 'about us' section at www.goldinauctions.com) with impeccable reputations in the industry. Industry legends who have been in the business for 40+ years like Phil Spector, 30 years for harry Bryant, Extensive auction and EBAY experience like Scott Gaynor, long time well known hobby collectors and dealers like Rob Mitchell, etc.
8. no house bidding (enough said)
9. If an item has a reserve , you will know about it well before closing night of the auction.

I ask that you give us a try, and see for yourself. Check out our web site, our staff, and when the catalog comes out, our items. I am going to work hard to earn your trust and support. I believe I have in great detail and length addressed any questions that were raised about me 10-20 years ago. I will not comment on them further on these boards because, to be honest, everyone has a comment to add, and some will simply want it to go on forever. Hopefully all of this has to at least some of you shed some light on things. I was probably known as someone who was not accessible to the hobby, did not do shows, conventions, or forums. All of that is changing. I will be doing the show circuit with the team to promote the business, and importantly for net 54 members, will make myself accessible to answer questions with respect to authenticity, older items you want to make sure are actually 'from SB and real' and most importantly help you avoid autograph forgeries. I am also always available to PM and ask a private question or send me an image to look at and see if I have any info. I would like to help make this forum and great community a better place, and I would like your input and help in making www.goldinauctions.com the best it can be. PLEASE...help yourselves here. If there are things that I have not addressed that you always wanted to see, or things you wanted fixed in an auction house, now is your chance. Our first Auction closes 11/1-2, and we currently have over $3 million and counting for auction. Tell me what you want to see, and especially what you do not want to see.
For those of you who took the time to carefully read all 4 posts, you have my thanks and appreciation.
regards
Ken Goldin
again, i will make myself available by PM here, as well as email at ken@goldinauctions.com

[RichardSimon]

I have actually been offered a laughable Babe Ruth autograph with a SB cert . Really. Dumbest seller I ever communicated with.
It is certainly true that SB certs have been duplicated by many, many criminals.
And as Ken has said we have worked together to help collectors with fake SB certs and to get crap off ebay that was advertised with fake SB certs.