Al Rosen - Mr Mint - Passes

[conor912]

Ha...you said crumb bums.

[conor912]

Crumb bums. Yup....still funny.

[BeanTown]

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[2dueces]

In the end it was Rosen who offered big bucks (at the time) for old pieces of cardboard in the 80's. So instead all that material going out with the trash it came to the market place. How many cards in our collections are there because of him? Even if they never touched his hands? Like him or hate him, he helped start the boom.

[BeanTown]

Originally Posted by 2dueces

In the end it was Rosen who offered big bucks (at the time) for old pieces of cardboard in the 80's. So instead all that material going out with the trash it came to the market place. How many cards in our collections are there because of him? Even if they never touched his hands? Like him or hate him, he helped start the boom.

Disagree. Yes he was a master self promoter and got the best tables right by the front door of shows. He just bullied many unsuspecting people and family members as they walked into a show to sell a loved one's estate. Back in the 80s that was pretty much the only way to do it, other than going to the local card shop as there was no Enet. He used cash as his weapon and used car salesman tactics like if you walk away from me I'll pull my offer. Then pressure people when they should have gone to the next row down to most likely get offers twice as much or at least higher.

Then he would go to his downline like a pyramid scheme of his dealer network to sell everything he bought at a pre determined mark up and the dealers had to buy it all, no matter what it was. I think the mark up I heard back then was 20 percent. The dealers just had to move the stuff ranging from cheap wax to rare 19th century items. Everyone made tons of money because of the clubbing the original seller or estate took when they unfortunately took the first offer and was bullied into selling. I think all the cards in the hobby that we collect still would have made it into our collections as I don't see family members just "throwing" cards in the trash.

[1952boyntoncollector]

Originally Posted by BeanTown

Disagree. Yes he was a master self promoter and got the best tables right by the front door of shows. He just bullied many unsuspecting people and family members as they walked into a show to sell a loved one's estate. Back in the 80s that was pretty much the only way to do it, other than going to the local card shop as there was no Enet. He used cash as his weapon and used car salesman tactics like if you walk away from me I'll pull my offer. Then pressure people when they should have gone to the next row down to most likely get offers twice as much or at least higher.

Then he would go to his downline like a pyramid scheme of his dealer network to sell everything he bought at a pre determined mark up and the dealers had to buy it all, no matter what it was. I think the mark up I heard back then was 20 percent. The dealers just had to move the stuff ranging from cheap wax to rare 19th century items. Everyone made tons of money because of the clubbing the original seller or estate took when they unfortunately took the first offer and was bullied into selling. I think all the cards in the hobby that we collect still would have made it into our collections as I don't see family members just "throwing" cards in the trash.

I dont think you or I would of sold to him that way. People go to pawn shops and ripped off too instead of selling on ebay. Some people dont want to go around and haggle to 4 dealers. Afterall they are at a CARD SHOW. Its not like they didnt have options, seller is to blame for being taken advantage of at a CARD SHOW not the seller

Now if mr mint heard someone died and went to the widow's house unsolicited and got the widow to sell her late husband's T206 collection before she had any outside advise at all thats an example at the polar opposite of buying someone's cards a CARD SHOW

In addition, it appears from your comment the other dealers were 'forced' to buy the cards at set prices but later on said 'everyone made tons of money...." so i not so sure any of these dealers would be complaining...if you forced me to accept a deal in which i would make a nice profit later i know i wouldnt complain..

[BeanTown]

Good point Jake and agreed the seller should assume liability as well. Pawn shop was a good reference to. I'm a little bias as my one and only time bidding in one of his auctions around 2001. Al screwed me over as I was the only bidder on many high end lots. Then I noticed he shut his auction down earlier than what was advertised. So the next day when I called him to get my winning total he said I'm lucky he will even sell to me for my opening bid and then I made the mistake of asking him how come he shut down the auction early and asked him why am I lucky??? Then he promptly said FU and he doesn't have to explain anything to me and he isn't going to honor any bids as he hung up the phone.

After reading Ryan's post and some other posters expierence with him, I can say that they are not alone in the feeling. He may have become a better person after the Enet came around but I'll never know. Plus, I'm sure he was loved by his close friends and dealer network as I do think he had a big personality that he could apply differently depending on his mood and who he was entertaining.

RIP and Al would as I believe he would approve of this thread because of this motto. "If they are talking good or bad about you, then that's good! When they stop talking about you then you have to worry and rethink your approach." Al was a master self promoter with that theme IMO

[bbcard1]

There was a time, albeit a brief one, when you could not be stupid enough not to make money on baseball cards. I mean a 50 cent pack could yield a $5 card and there were buyers for that. It was a relatively brief time and Rosen rode the wave.

[Buythatcard]

I don't think he bullied anyone. He was just an aggressive salesman and he was very good at what he did. He paid sellers what many dealers would not pay.

It's up to the seller to just walk away if they are not happy with the deal. If they can find someone to make a better offer, then its up to them to find that deal.
I have been ripped off many times from dealers but I can't blame them. I have to blame myself for not walking away.

I never met Mr. Mint but I respected what he did. I have never seen anyone do what he did.