I received a phone call from x&%$#@! in Arizona
 

On Tuesday I received a phone call from a lady in Arizona.
She told me that a friend of hers had sent me a Babe Ruth signed ball that he had recently bought in Arizona at a local auction. I had determined it was not authentic. She told me that she and her husband had spent $30,000 in that same auction on autographs of Ruth, Mathewson, etc. She and her husband then, in their infinite wisdom, were going to flip the autographs to a big auction house and make a killing. The one specific item she mentioned was a glove with a Ruth autograph which she said they had paid $2800 for.
The big auction house had a TPA examine the items and all were determined to be not authentic. They all had been authenticated, before the auction, by a famed TV star.
The local auction house refused to give her a refund. She asked me what to do.
I wanted to chastise her for being so blatantly stupid but I told her to contact local law enforcement.
Sometimes people with money are just too stupid to have that kind of money.

Being in AZ... Do you mind posting what auction house it was or are you not allowed?

She did not tell me the name of the auction house.

28k... hot damn

It was $2800 not $28K,,, the total they spent was $30K.

I'm guessing it's pot of gold.

They will be doing the upside down flip. The glove, if period, might fetch a hundred bucks.

Who was the TV star and what background does he have at authenticating autographs? Is it Charlie Sheen? I know he's a big collector but haven't read anything about him offering authentications. I think I remember reading somewhere he got ripped off bad on some bogus pieces, maybe he's trying to recoup his losses to get himself back in the "winning" column.

Think about it. I think most have understood what I said.
My TV star comment was facetious.

Could be the Pawn Allstars master

Gotta be Drew Max. When will people learn that "reality TV" is anything but?

Bingo!
The TPA that was used by the legit auction house disagreed with all the authentications done by the Pawn Stars master.

So can someone please go to the History Channel and let them know that by allowing this jackass on their TV, which gives him credibility, they are inserting thousands of forgeries into the hobby.

Sorry to offend you, I really had no idea who you were alluding to. I don't watch Pawn Stars.

The more you know... stay far far away

So much for the theory that these FDEs are only involved in "$20 fakes" that "everyone knows about." :rolleyes:

No offense taken, I don't watch the show either (except for a brief moment) but I assumed everyone here already knew who I was referring to. He has already been mentioned in numerous threads.

Dumb as a sack of rocks: spending $30,000 on signed crap without doing some homework on the marketplace.

As I've said to people, "You should have asked for my opinion before you won the item rather than after."

Criminals make their money preying on the ignorant, so you have to expect a lot of ignorant buyers.

I have a list of rules for newbie collectors in any area. One is : "Start by buying inexpensive items. Put off the thousands dollar Babe Ruth baseball cards and Elvis Presley autographed photos for another day. Without exception, all beginners make mistakes. From paying too much to misjudging rarity to buying fakes. It only makes sense that a collector should want to make the inevitable beginner’s mistakes on $10 rather that $1,000 purchases."

Who gives a shit, Steve?

Those fakes never entered (and never will enter) the hobby.

Just as I am not concerned with protecting every moron who places a paper cup of hot coffee between her legs while driving, I'm not concerned with protecting every rapacious asshole who thinks he'll make a killing buying $30k worth of anything he knows nothing about, from a third-rate, fly-by-night auction house. :rolleyes:

David, that stuff will get on the market, it just wont through some auction. It will be CC or craigslist or whatever, and more dumb people will buy... So it does enter the marketplace, being distributed by uninformed people

I didn't say it won't enter the market. I said it won't enter the hobby.

I don't care about the market. It's not my job--or anybody else's for that matter--to protect every sucker out to make a quick buck from every scam.

As W.C. Fields once said, "You can't cheat an honest man, or wise up a chump."

I completely agree.

I suppose we're talking about the McDonald's lady? I'm wondering how many of your opinions about this were formed by late-night talk show hosts. For starters, the car was stopped and she wasn't even in the driver's seat.

Ken

Well, then I guess she's a bit smarter than I give her credit for.

Still...

When's the last time you held a crushable paper cup of scalding hot coffee between your legs in a car?

i know i'm a newbie here, but is david atkatz ever pleasant?

is his abrasive attitude a "schtick" or is that genuine?

Sometimes he's very pleasant!

Other times, not so much. ;)

[QUOTE=When's the last time you held a crushable paper cup of scalding hot coffee between your legs in a car?[/QUOTE]

Hey thats not FAIR someone just stole one of my best "Pick Up" Lines I use for the ladies

:)

Not a coffee drinker, but I have had a hot cup of tea down there. She had the driver pull over so she could pop the top and add cream or sugar, whatever. As she pulled the top, it sloshed on her and scalded her to the point she almost died. Trust me, I'm all for making fun of idiots, but I actually read this case and McDonald's was clearly negligent in this one.

Ken

She almost died?

Did Christopher Lee serve her the cup of coffee?

Did the cup contain Sulfuric Acid, instead of the expected coffee?

;)

JimStinson
 

You gave away my best "pick up line" guess I'll have to settle for #2 in my arsenal

Guy: "Would you like to dance?"

Girl: "I don't care for this song and surely wouldn't dance with you"

Guy: "I'm sorry, you must have misunderstood me, I said you look fat in those pants"

OK. I'll stop using that example.

Well, those forgeries might not enter the hobby, but neither will the people buying (and getting burned by) them.

Is that a good or a bad thing?

Good question. I don't know.

But according to Richard, this guy bought the items to resell at a major auction house. I don't think he was planning on becoming a collector.

I'm wondering the same thing.

I heard he types while sitting on a porcupine.

Granted, the woman in question is a greedy idiot, and granted that a fool and his money are soon parted, but simply dismissing the situation as not part of the hobby misses an essential point: the problem with all of these dodgy items getting to the mainstream audience is that the bad press and bad word of mouth that results gets around and it drives away potential collectors from ever becoming part of the hobby. If it is going to thrive the hobby needs new collectors, not an ever-growing stream of disenchanted people who've been burned by a bad item or scared away because they heard about someone burned by a bad item.

I agree. Turning off new collectors isn't a good thing.

I also know that you often can't stop people who are going to invest/spend $30,000 in an area they know nothing about. Some people can only learn from their own mistakes and would have dismissed your sage advice if you had given it beforehand.

+1 absolutely correct.
And the greedy idiot might tell her friends and bad word of mouth spreads.

that was funny.....nice one Jim

I thought saying stuff like that was how you got a scalding cup of coffee between your legs.

I'm not sure I agree Adam. We all (at least most of us) collect because we love the stuff, and we are collectors. (You know what I mean--I am, my wife's not.) And we've all been burned. (More than once.) Collectors are born; they're not made. Anyone who gives up because they were burned once would have left soon enough for various other reasons.

JimStinson
 

WAY>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>off topic but actually the pretty girls are so SICK of guys telling them they are pretty , that the subtle insult actually works better than a compliment.

JimStinson
 

Actually this stuff is probably best reserved for another forum...:), Sorry I mentioned it ...................carry on

Jim,do you have something against fat chicks?

JimStinson
 

I guess it depends utimately on what your definition of "fat" is.....

wow!!

Different spelling... above is phat not fat

That wasn't even a thong when she first put it on. :eek:

Does the ink require a qualifier on the grade?

Sorry, spending too much time with cards lately. Memo to self: get out more.

Best way to stop an argument on N54 is to toss in a picture of a healthy young lady...We all turn into mute, drooling fools.