Strip Card Find
 

Leon, feel free to delete if this was already covered and I missed it, but I just saw this story pop up in my newsfeed this morning about a new find out in SF with a bunch of strip cards and Ruth’s. Very cool! Their condition is not good, but it’s still a pretty incredible collection.

https://www.sportscollectorsdaily.co...l-tobacco-tin/

Bill

Where platform do they sell on?
I did not see the info?

Very cool story, we found some in a tin once - not as many cards - mixed with sports and non sports. Great little collection and we should see some of these Ruth's very soon! I think the story had said many have already been sold and some off to grading.

Jimmy

I tried calling with no luck
But messaged them - hopefully
I can get details more like where and when
And what’s available

Any updates when these cards are available to buy? auction?
I tried again today, would like to add a card i need.

Some company called Auction Monthly whose owners refuse to reveal their last names...

A company's name should reflect something about that company...I guess we can assume monthly auctions from this outfit? Perhaps if they were instead called Surname Auctions we could likely wrestle last names from them.

Brian (last name not given, but then again I am not an auction company)

It just struck me as odd. Their website's "About page" talks about "brothers Ty and Brandon" and their press releases (which some papers just ran without doing any work) cite "Brandon" but no last names are given. Really a weird way to do business if you are proud of your reputation.

I know nothing about the company (or at least I THINK I know nothing lol, maybe the last name would ring a bell) and maybe it's just me, but it feels weird. What do their business cards say?

Anyway you can chalk my reaction up to jealousy if you think I'm over-reacting.

The seller is active on Twitter under the handle @Sacreseller if you wanted to try reaching out to him there. He does a lot of business both selling and buying. Can’t say I’ve purchased from before but he has plenty of vouches from others

Someone needed to take the scissors away from the original owner back in the day! 🤣

Nice collection, albeit in pretty low grade.

I guess I just find it odd to name your company Auction Monthly with no evidence you have ever held an auction, and no way to find an auction on their site.

This guy was able to reach Auction Monthly.

https://youtu.be/dD1DIr2TI4I?si=yOGE7ixt7_mGteCL

It is very odd. Maybe they're 100% legit, but I can not think of any "good" reasons for a business owner not to want to share their last name on their company website. Especially if you are handling / selling other people's items for them.

I googled their phone # to see if I could find any other info on them - no physical address or business info comes up. BUT, the phone number is also used on Sports Cards Roadshow and Sacramento Auction House websites (these appear to be websites made to just get leads on sports card collections). Both of these websites have zero info about their owners / operators as well.

Thanks,
I reached out to them and also did the buyer/seller private form
They finally responded back on twitter(x)

Hi Sonny,

This is Brandon with Auction Monthly. We operate a fast growing family business. Please DM your phone number to me and I would be happy to call you and we can discuss in detail more about our company and who we are.

I look forward to talking to you. Thanks, Brandon.

well
 

wouldn't it make MORE SENSE to discuss it HERE? Important enough for you to register and post - not important enough to provide details about your fast growing business in a forum hungry for baseball cards?

Touche. Very professional and confidence inspiring. I always trust people who don't give their names.

A few snippets from the article linked in the other thread that was just posted about this same find:


John, whose full name is being withheld by Auction Monthly, pulled the tin container out and took it back to his home in Sacramento.

“I couldn’t believe what was inside when I first opened the lid,” said an official from Auction Monthly.

An official for Auction Monthly, a company founded by a father-son duo, said they knew what much of the collection held


I like my privacy like any other red-blooded private American citizen full of red colored blood, but geez, it seems that the owners of this company didn't even allow their first names to be identified in the article. They certainly are withholding more than the card owner's name, and all it does is make you wonder why all the secrecy.


brianp(arker)-beme

If you like your privacy, a business in which you do press releases might not be for you.

The article that says "a representative " is the same press release just handled better by that particular publication instead of using just "Brandon" which makes no sense.

I agree with the majority. The transparency of this company is lacking. What is also puzzling is why did Brandon reached out to Sonny only not to the others that posted here.

They also waited 3 1/2 years to make their first post.

Hopefully Sonny reports back with some info.

I dunno about that. Sonny’s been here 5+ years and only posted 26 times.

Brandon,

I appreciate the offer, but agree with the other members that if you'd like to share info about your company and who you are - please do it here so all can see.

In the sports cards / memorabilia world, we know the full names of just about all the owners / operators of the auction houses and consignment services. I really can not think of one company that I do not know the owner's full name (and some of their employee's full names as well) - and I buy and sell with 99% of them.

So, when a company shows up that we can not find info on the owner, they have limited contact info, and are named as an "auction" company, but do not have any history of holding an auction, questions arise as to why that might be.

I will say that based on geography and a couple other factors I believe "a representative" of Auction Monthly is registered with us. Obviously not going to share his info, but on a whim I dug through our bidders and I think I found him.

EDIT: They've been "outed" on Blow Out https://www.blowoutforums.com/showthread.php?p=19207176

Per Blowout.

For reference their names are Ty Baisden and Brandon Baisden. Brandon graduated high school two years ago.

They have a “Sales and Marketing Associate” named Ryan Verdult who is a Junior at UCLA.

Pure speculation, but I wonder if the lack of transparency is a generational thing. Speaking as a comparatively newer and younger collector, I don’t often see sellers on social media use their full name or contact info. It’s all Twitter handles and “shop” names. Knowing that this group does a lot of business on social media, I don’t think it’s a stretch to think they’re carrying that mindset into this new venture. Makes it less of a “purposefully being shady” thing and more of a “new kid on the block,” if that makes sense

-Andrew Parks

That is a plausible explanation seeing that at least two of the three involved in this business are probably in their early 20's.

But if you are dealing with vintage cards, you should also realize that you might be expected to operate (or at least be willing to, upon request) in a more traditional fashion, being that our age demographic skews a little more aggressively around the speed limit on major thoroughfares.

Having said that, I bet many on this board wish their knees/backs etc. were 20-something again.


Brian

Doesn't address the fact that they are an auction that has never run one (and are in violation of numerous California regulations if they are indeed an auction)

Of course, all of that is true. I just think this is a case of a couple guys in over their heads. Hanlon’s Razor and all that.

For anyone curious, their California LLC is "West Coast Vintage, LLC" (#202135410682).

I have no clue whether "Auction Monthly" is a DBA or something completely different, or why they're being so secretive about it.

I exchange phone texts and a PM with Ty.
Here is some info on their site on their background:
https://auctionmonthly.com/about/
From what i read so far: That they are a sports card shop and help clients sell their items.
I dont know for the auction aspect or where or how to buy, perhaps direct from them.
But seems they send stuff to auction house or other venues to sell.
Otherwise, sit and wait till the cards come back from PSA.
@Gunboat: Yeah that LLC seems right, as they gave me their emails.

More About Auction Monthly
 

Here is all of the information you are looking for:

1. The only reason that we keep as confidential as we can is to protect the privacy of our customers. However, we will consider all of the comments being made as we continue to grow.

2. Our business model is very clear on our website. We help customers sell sports cards and collectibles to our private customers and select auction houses that we have partnered with.

3. We are not a new company. We have been selling sports cards for many years. However, we are now marketing online, and we have big plans for the future. We love sports cards and helping our customers.

4. Our main goal is to provide the best customer service possible for our customers.

5. We are always open to any questions you may have. We are always buying and selling.

Thanks,
Brandon

No secrets. Auction Monthly is our National company.

So your business model is like the guys on Chasing Cardboard minus the eBay store and YouTube Channel, podcast etc

Every Post yada yada yada
 

http://imagehost.vendio.com/a/204295...GAFFKE_NEW.JPG


1933 Worch Cigar , Fabian Gaffke,

..It's in the long slow process of having 90 years worth of cigar and cigarette smoke carefully cleaned off.



..

Just some follow-up questions:

1. How does keeping your own last names out of press releases protect the privacy of your customers? Couldn't you be completely transparent about who you are and how you're rebranding while also keeping your clientele under wraps?

3. If you're an established company and just now starting to market your services online, why isn't there a clear link between "Auction Monthly" and your other ventures? Is Auction Monthly a separate LLC, or is it all part and parcel of West Coast Vintage?

I don't know exactly what they do but yes we help our customers sell with the best options for each collection.

Hi Mike. We were just trying to protect our customers privacy. As you can see, people are trying to figure out who we are so our number one goal is to take care of our customers. I am on here talking to you and answering your questions so that is transparent.

We have future plans of creating an industry online magazine and there may be a different name and domain for the magazine. So we decided to place all companies under the LLC.

As I have stated, our main goal is to help our customers by doing the best for our customers.

Sorry for the typo. I was trying to say that we do our best to protect our customers' privacy.

Welcome to the party, Brandon!

I think a lot of the excitement and confusion was a misunderstanding based on the naming of at least one of your entities. Because it has the word "auction" in it, we all assumed that your entity was itself actually hosting an auction.

But it sounds like you don't actually run your own auction like most other conventional auction houses. But you instead "partner with" other existing auction houses, and they are the ones to host the auction.

So it seems like a bit of a misunderstanding all around. I guess we can put down the pitchforks. At least for now, until another hobby monster comes into our view.

Thank you. I appreciate that.

I will check our inventory to see if we have the Mays cards you are looking for. I will get back to you if we have them.

just a little update:
The guys recently sold the remaining strip cards on Ebay.
Ty (WestCoastVintage they also go by) sent me a text days in advance to the link where it was being auctioned off. Which was Ebay.
Ebay user name -- sports916
Well, i was able to snipe my card, and WON it. Thanks Ty!!

Chris:

You gotta post before the auctions end. Not going to do us any good now to see what we missed out on.

Congrats on the pick-up though!

Phil
It was all the other cards besides Ruth
Bunches of strip cards
Look under the EBay name I listed in Sold items

Link?

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?LH_C...ecificSeller=1

Someone got a cool Stengel with lots of border And a number grade psa 2 ($51)