Mastro and Psa

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Posted By: JimB

Is this the e-mail you are referring to? I am not at all ashamed of what I said. Your insinuations that the card was fake were reckless and unfair to the current owner. And FYI, I had completely forgotton about this when I pointed out the irony of your current musings.

"Hi Scott,
How's it going? I wanted to write to you about your comment on Net54 about the hand-cut Ty Cobb back that REA (while under the Mastro umbrella) sold about seven years ago. You seemed to insinuate that the card was not authentic since it looks "VERY DIFFERENT" from "REAL" copies. Do you have any grounds for making that kind of claim? Though I am no longer the owner of that card, I was for many years. I have also owned at different times two other Ty Cobb backs and have seen nine of the twelve known copies of the card. Other than not having the the shallack gloss that the others have and the hand-cut, it looks exactly like the others (and like all other T206 Cobb/reds for that matter). I spoke with Rob Lifson about the card extensively before I bought it in that auction many years ago. He believed that it must have been pulled before a complete production run or that it was some sort of proof. I see absolutely no evidence to presume otherwise. Do you think it is not authentic or not period in some way? If so, what is your evidence? If not, I think you are being a little reckless to throw out off-handed rumors on a public discussion board about that card that are not substantiated. I traded that card to a friend who is very proud to have it in his collection. It is also a very valuable card as you know. When a respected person in the hobby like yourself makes a comment like that on a public discussion board, it threatens to devalue a card like that, potentially undeservedly so. I don't think the current owner has any plans to sell it, but that is not really the point. If there is evidence, other than your hunch, I would be very curious to hear it. Otherwise, I think it would be good to be careful about throwing out unsubstantiated claims on a public board. I should mention that this is coming 100% from me. I have not spoken with the current owner and do not know if he even saw you post. He is a lurker on Net54.

I just want to say that on a personal note I have generally appreciated your contributions over the years and have a lot of respect for your hobby knowledge. (2 sentences deleted here about an irrelavent matter) I hope you don't take this note to you the wrong way. I was just a bit concerned about the public perception of a card I know intimately, used to own, and have 100% confidence in its authenticity.
Best,
Jim Blumenthal"