Very, very, interesting...

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by Leon

Pertaining to the collectors I agree with you Dan but those guys are still passionate collectors. They have only made mistakes and I think it's a shame when honest people get defrauded, even if they did make a bad decision. They should still get what they paid for and they aren't. As for the guys that are driving expensive cars over the speed limit and crashing them, they are doing something illegal. The guys buying the fake autographs aren't.

Leon, I would love to own a signed Babe Ruth baseball. I have looked at many of them on auction sites and almost pulled the trigger more than once. One thing I noticed: the ones that I feel the most comfortable bidding on end up going for a lot more than the ones that I don't. When looking at high-$ autographs, I never look at the COAs - I instead look at the ball and the signature, and I compare the signature to others that I find that appear to have good provenance. Wouldn't you do a little research if you were about to drop such money on something like an autograph?

The people who didn't are idiots. They don't deserve to be defrauded, as that's an illegal act committed against them, but they do deserve to have to put up with the bullshit of trying to get recompense. It's a life lesson that will hopefully be a good one for them.