Mastro and Psa

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Posted By: Scott Elkins

I knew of the "alteration" "cleaning" "preparation" (whatever Doug Allen is calling it this week) before the auction catalog came out. I was getting out of collecting and consigned the card directly to Doug Allen in/around 2001. I was going to post the description, but it was too large and I had to cut out the pic of the card itself and omit the description Mastro provided in the catalog. I know Doug has said different since, but when he contacted me via phone, he said the "cleaning" of the card would only require a Q-Tip and bleach. I was against it, as I don't believe in alterations. PLUS, I thought the card would sell better without cleaning, since people would recongnize the back as the card being in Lipset's Encyclopedia. Without the "bugger" at the top, as Scott B. refers to, I thought people would not recognize the card from Lipset's Encyclopedia. To make a long story short, I agreed to the cleaning, as I was getting out of the Hobby (which lasted a couple of years), and Mastro cleaned the card, listed it WITHOUT stating anything about the cleaning and sold it - end of story.

BTW - Barry, what I really hate as well in auction house (and some eBay) descriptions, is when the seller gives stats and tells how great a player is - Hell, if someone is bidding on a vintage Cobb with Cobb back, they probably know Cobb is the all time leader in batting average! Keep up the nice auctions, and I look forward to your next "NO NONSENSE" auction!

Dan B. - I was about to say something regarding Bruce's use of "upmost" instead of utmost. Glad you brought that to "their" attention!