The Card: Collectors, Con Men, ERRORS, etc.

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Posted By: Mark

Apparently, Alan Ray's father bought an uncut sheet of T206 cards at a flea market for a very low price, and gave it to Ray to sell. The number of cards on the sheet is not discussed, but it did, according to Ray, also include a Plank. Alan Ray took the sheet to a card shop owned, I believe, by a dealer named Bob Sevchuk. It was there that the sheet was cut. I don't know if all the cards were individually cut at that time, but at least the Wagner and Plank were, and not really to exact size.

Sevchuk, according to the book, did not have the funds to purchase the card, so he asked someone, I don't remember the name, to go to a card show nearby and make inquiries. The first person he approached was Bill Mastro, who stated his interest and left to see the card. He took Rob Lifson with him. Mastro didn't have the funds to purchase it, so Lifson bankrolled him. The author claims that Lifson wasn't even allowed in the back room to see the card; he was assigned to guard the door. After the deal was made, he was only allowed to glance at it for a few seconds.

Alan Ray claims Mastro bullied him into selling him the card. He also notes that Mastro criticized it, pointing out that it had a wavy edge and a red print mark at the top. Ray needed the money, so he made the deal. Mastro repaid Lifson by giving him another Wagner, one that he quickly sold to Barry Halper, that now resides in the Hall of Fame. Halper paid $30,000 for his.

I don't recall if the book covers whether or not Mastro was present when the card was cut from the sheet. However, one of the sources, I don't remember who, claims that Mastro said he was going to turn it into the most valuable card in the world, or something to that effect.

Later on, when Ray saw the card after it had become well known, he thought right away that it had been altered. He had taken pictures of the card as it was before he sold it, but to this point, has declined to make them public.

I don't have the book here with me right now, so all of this is from memory. Throughout the book the authors are very critical of Bill Mastro, and very complimentary of Lifson. In fact, there is one entire chapter devoted to Rob Lifson's efforts to clean up the hobby.

The source of most of this information is, of course, Alan Ray. You will have to decide for yourself if you find him to be credible or not. There are details provided by Robert Lifson as well.