Massive theft at Dallas card show, Nearly 2 Million Dollars worth of cards stolen

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by Yoda

First, I mention Bulgaria, and we all know where that went. Now, I mention Brazil, as an example country without knowing a thing about their extradition policy, so I offer my final country for consideration as the possible site for Ash's stolen cards: Vatican City, the smallest country in the world.

We don't know what's in those catacombs. Nazi loot and 1990 ProSet Football cases for as far as the eye could see.

[Yoda]

Dave, thanks. I knew I was at last on the right path.

[Peter_Spaeth]

I have it on good word (sorry I cannot reveal source) that they drove not to Mexico but to Galveston, where they boarded a cruise ship and are believed to have been headed to the PRC where the obsession with basketball cards is slowly morphing into vintage baseball. I am not sure about extradition though but perhaps Nicolo knows.

[packs]

While I was sitting on a bench in the Sistine Chapel I dropped my pen and it knocked into the leg of the bench I was sitting on. A small compartment opened up and I found an Art Whitney with Dog in the leg along with instructions in Latin on the back.

[raulus]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

I have it on good word (sorry I cannot reveal source) that they drove not to Mexico but to Galveston, where they boarded a cruise ship and are believed to have been headed to the PRC where the obsession with basketball cards is slowly morphing into vintage baseball. I am not sure about extradition though but perhaps Nicolo knows.

According to my sources, the US does not have an extradition treaty with the People’s Republic of China. Not entirely surprising.

I guess we can debate whether having a professional baseball league in Taiwan makes the mainland Chinese more or less likely to get into baseball.

[Exhibitman]

I vote for Monaco. The cards will be handed across from yacht to yacht during the Grand Prix of Monte Carlo, like a jar of Grey Poupon.

[JollyElm]

Unfortunately, I really don't have much more to offer, but will remind people that an extensive research mapping project (conducted by University of Cologne) found that large portions of Michelangelo's work on the Sistine Chapel were created through the strategic use of innumerable cut up pieces of junk-era commons, which seamlessly created a flawless image when viewed from a distance.

An ancient text (loosely translated) explains the master's reasoning:
"My capabilities of creating lifelike skin hues paled in comparison to what was readily available to me on the counters of most of the stationery stores in Rome...plus, if I picked the right brand of cards, I got gum!!! YUMMY!!!!"

The history books need to be changed to: Michelangelo - "Sculptor, painter, collector."


michelangelobaseballcardartsistinechapel.jpg

[Beercan collector]

I say we get a boat and go to Bulgaria

[Yoda]

Elm, we have all been waiting for a full report about your love tryst with the beautiful Bulgarian lovely (OK, she is not for everybody). Hope you got out of Bulgaria safely without her father and brothers wanting a piece of your rear end. Lots of juicy details, please.

[JollyElm]

Originally Posted by Yoda

Elm, we have all been waiting for a full report about your love tryst with the beautiful Bulgarian lovely (OK, she is not for everybody). Hope you got out of Bulgaria safely without her father and brothers wanting a piece of your rear end. Lots of juicy details, please.

Why is it that you just looo-ooove basking in the glow every time my hopes comes crashing down into FLAMES?????

You'll be happy to know that although I thought my darling (call back alert) 'E-Katz' was a stone cold PSA 10 Gregg Jefferies Rookie card, she turned out to be nothing but a PSA 1 1991 Fleer Mark Gubicza in a cracked holder!!! So have yourself an exuberant belly laugh over my misfortune, you son of a so-and-so!!!!!!!!!

[Beercan collector]

Originally Posted by JollyElm

Why is it that you just looo-ooove basking in the glow every time my hopes comes crashing down into FLAMES?????

You'll be happy to know that although I thought my darling (call back alert) 'E-Katz' was a stone cold PSA 10 Gregg Jefferies Rookie card, she turned out to be nothing but a PSA 1 1991 Fleer Mark Gubicza in a cracked holder!!! So have yourself an exuberant belly laugh over my misfortune, you son of a so-and-so!!!!!!!!!

Better to love and lost ...
or maybe not

[steve B]

Originally Posted by Beercan collector

I say we get a boat and go to Bulgaria

As long as it's not a Bulgarian boat. Worked on a couple Bulgarian hydraulic pumps form a Bulgarian ship.
Not good. Although they did work despite being very poorly made.

[CurtisFlood]

Hoping for some news on this case. I know Ash is a good dude and how frustrating it must be for him. My last loss by theft was a 64 Mantle PSA5 at the 21 National. Pretty sure I know who snatched that one when I turned my back for a second. Left one case out of 10 unlocked and knew what had happened immediately. The guy may have been trying to help me because it was the only baseball card in a case of graded football.

[Leon]

I am not really surprised, no news. I don't think these guys were amateurs..

Originally Posted by CurtisFlood

Hoping for some news on this case. I know Ash is a good dude and how frustrating it must be for him. My last loss by theft was a 64 Mantle PSA5 at the 21 National. Pretty sure I know who snatched that one when I turned my back for a second. Left one case out of 10 unlocked and knew what had happened immediately. The guy may have been trying to help me because it was the only baseball card in a case of graded football.

[1952boyntoncollector]

Originally Posted by Belfast1933

Amazing to me how people here dance around with accusatory “questions” that take veiled shots at a well respected dealer who was massively victimized here.

Seriously, what is wrong with these people?

Ashsh is a great guy, a respected dealer and deserves the benefit of the doubt - so sorry to see this news, Ashsh. And I hope you never any of these jagoff comments that imply anything other than empathy for what happened

Hang in there, bud. Hoping for a surprise good outcome here 🤞

who cares if a good dude or not, nobody should have stuff they legit own stolen...

[1952boyntoncollector]

Im sure the insurance company will just pay....yeah right..

[jingram058]

No updates on this. Is the consensus belief the cards went to Mexico?

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by jingram058

No updates on this. Is the consensus belief the cards went to Mexico?

That was my early thought, but who knows at this point.

[CurtisFlood]

Originally Posted by jingram058

No updates on this. Is the consensus belief the cards went to Mexico?

I would bet that they are still in the DFW area. No way to know unless there is a break in this case.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by CurtisFlood

I would bet that they are still in the DFW area. No way to know unless there is a break in this case.

Pretty sobering, it looked like they had pretty high quality images.

[parkplace33]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Pretty sobering, it looked like they had pretty high quality images.

I am truly worried these cards are long gone. Very sad.

[Seven]

Originally Posted by parkplace33

I am truly worried these cards are long gone. Very sad.

They won't be gone from the Hobby, but certainly cracked and reholdered, a little bit at a time If I had to guess. A shame that these criminals essentially got away with the card heist of the century.

[MJRaider]

Originally Posted by Seven

They won't be gone from the Hobby, but certainly cracked and reholdered, a little bit at a time If I had to guess. A shame that these criminals essentially got away with the card heist of the century.

My guess is PSA, SGC, Beckett, and CGC have the card scans and at least some AI to filter out the reholder trickle. At least, I hope so. They all charge enough where you'd hope they could manage something like this on a one-off basis given the gravity and media attention.

[packs]

None of the grading companies have any incentive to filter the cards. The fees are the incentive. I would think they'd be happy to grade the same card a million times regardless of who is submitting it.

[Zach Wheat]

PSA bought Genamint back in 2021 to make hi res scans of cards to serve as "fingerprints".

https://www.actionnetwork.com/news/p...ading-april-21

[raulus]

Originally Posted by Zach Wheat

PSA bought Genamint back in 2021 to make hi res scans of cards to serve as "fingerprints".

https://www.actionnetwork.com/news/p...ading-april-21

Does anyone know to what extent they're actually delivering on that marketing copy?

My experience with these sorts of initiatives springing from acquisitions is that there's often a long lag, and sometimes it never actually happens. Not to mention that even if it is happening, the effectiveness might be a lot lower than advertised.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Zach Wheat

PSA bought Genamint back in 2021 to make hi res scans of cards to serve as "fingerprints".

https://www.actionnetwork.com/news/p...ading-april-21

So they send the PSA cards to a different grader.

[ruth-gehrig]

Originally Posted by Zach Wheat

PSA bought Genamint back in 2021 to make hi res scans of cards to serve as "fingerprints".

https://www.actionnetwork.com/news/p...ading-april-21

See there is no way trimmed or resubmitted cards are going undetected!!

""Based on learnings made from every card, the machine will be able to pick up if a card is trimmed or if a person has cracked out a card that was previously graded in hopes of getting a better grade.""

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by ruth-gehrig

See there is no way trimmed or resubmitted cards are going undetected!!

""Based on learnings made from every card, the machine will be able to pick up if a card is trimmed or if a person has cracked out a card that was previously graded in hopes of getting a better grade.""

Righty-o.

[Flyball]

Originally Posted by raulus

Does anyone know to what extent they're actually delivering on that marketing copy?

My experience with these sorts of initiatives springing from acquisitions is that there's often a long lag, and sometimes it never actually happens. Not to mention that even if it is happening, the effectiveness might be a lot lower than advertised.

I’ve been wondering if they may be using Genamint and AI technology to keep a running database of card images to determine if a card that may have been previously graded has been resubmitted. If they find a match and see that the resubmitted card looks better than the old image on record, then they would suspect the card is doctored.

They might be analyzing unique card characteristics such as paper fibers and printing variations, among other characteristics.

[Lobo Aullando]

PCGS has been doing that for coins for more than a decade (Secure Plus), so one would hope that similar technology made it "across the hall."

Originally Posted by Flyball

I’ve been wondering if they may be using Genamint and AI technology to keep a running database of card images to determine if a card that may have been previously graded has been resubmitted. If they find a match and see that the resubmitted card looks better than the old image on record, then they would suspect the card is doctored.

They might be analyzing unique card characteristics such as paper fibers and printing variations, among other characteristics.