Everyone's favorite auction house

[1880nonsports]

I collect old cards old signs and my wife is old like me. I've really NEVER HEARD such a ridiculous argument about cleaning a sign. If you RESTORE the sign that's one thing. Please keep your discussions to cards where I assume you likely know something about them.

[Michael Peich]

David's and Rhett's replies hit the mark squarely. A sign is a sign. It is not a card. To compare Al's auction with the atrocities committed by other auction houses with respect to cardboard cards is a leap of faith that in a fact-driven world is laughable.

Sorry, Jesse, you should direct your energy toward the folks who are committing card crimes, not for honest people like Al. Let's save the moral outrage for real hobby offenders.

Mike

[Buythatcard]

Nothing wrong done here.

Have you ever attended a car auction? Every car is shiny on the outside and immaculate on the inside. Obviously, they have been washed, waxed and vacuumed. Should that be disclosed to the buyer? I don't think so and that's how I feel about signs.

This thread is nonsense.

Al is one of the good guys in the hobby.

[pokerplyr80]

Looks like a few of you misread my comment. I'm well aware a tin advertising sign is not a card. It should be just as obvious that an E95 Cobb is a card.

[ALR-bishop]

I think it is commendable that Al used distilled water and not cheap beer

[Exhibitman]

No, dude, you misread everything. The Cobb was discovered last day and LOTG informed all the bidders and let them decide what to do. The core of the doctoring activity is fraud, specifically nondisclosure of known alterations to the buyers. Telling someone the card history when it becomes known and letting them decide with full disclosure is what we expect. There is no fraud with disclosure.

[Fred]

Originally Posted by ALR-bishop

I think it is commendable that Al used distilled water and not cheap beer

Damn it Al, read the posts... It wasn't LOTG Al that cleaned it with distilled water, it was the consignor. Give LOTG Al more credit than that, I'm sure it wouldn't have been just any cheap beer if it were LOTG Al that cleaned it. I'm guessing a nice single malt Scotch would have been used.... sheesh Al....

[Jay Wolt]

Originally Posted by Michael Peich

Sorry, Jesse, you should direct your energy toward the folks who are committing card crimes, not for honest people like Al. Let's save the moral outrage for real hobby offenders.

Agree 100% w/ Mike

[pokerplyr80]

My issue with this card is not the alteration or disclosure posted the last day of the auction. It has more to do with the perception that LOTG can do no wrong, yet they don't even follow their own standards.

The following are quotes from their own website:

"Any graded card valued over $500 will be reviewed carefully by LOTG under magnification, along with halogen and long-wave ultraviolet lighting. Should we discover any issues with which we are uncomfortable, the card will be resubmitted to the grading company for review or returned to the consignor at their request."

"Should any hobbyist discover compelling evidence that a card in our auction has been altered, we will withdraw the card immediately."

Clearly neither of these happened. The E95 was not carefully reviewed, nor was it pulled when the alteration was discovered. Again these are not my standards. These are pledges made by a company claiming to be above all of this.

The following is a quote from the disclosure added to the Cobb:

"While our policy is to withdraw items that are discovered to be altered, in this case we believe the alteration is visible enough that it is debatable whether or not it was done deceptively. "

In my opinion, this reads like they are justifying violating their own policy my making up some new standard that judges the intent of whoever altered this card. If I misread that, please let me know how it's supposed to read.

If none of you have a problem with any of this so be it.

[1952boyntoncollector]

Originally Posted by pokerplyr80

My issue with this card is not the alteration or disclosure posted the last day of the auction. It has more to do with the perception that LOTG can do no wrong, yet they don't even follow their own standards.

The following are quotes from their own website:

"Any graded card valued over $500 will be reviewed carefully by LOTG under magnification, along with halogen and long-wave ultraviolet lighting. Should we discover any issues with which we are uncomfortable, the card will be resubmitted to the grading company for review or returned to the consignor at their request."

"Should any hobbyist discover compelling evidence that a card in our auction has been altered, we will withdraw the card immediately."

Clearly neither of these happened. The E95 was not carefully reviewed, nor was it pulled when the alteration was discovered. Again these are not my standards. These are pledges made by a company claiming to be above all of this.

The following is a quote from the disclosure added to the Cobb:

"While our policy is to withdraw items that are discovered to be altered, in this case we believe the alteration is visible enough that it is debatable whether or not it was done deceptively. "

In my opinion, this reads like they are justifying violating their own policy my making up some new standard that judges the intent of whoever altered this card. If I misread that, please let me know how it's supposed to read.

If none of you have a problem with any of this so be it.

Jesse has a point.