We're going to make one last post on this topic and then simply direct any future inquiries back to this post. I'll try to be as clear and direct as I can.
Let me start by stating that I don't mean to "condescend" or insult anybody's intelligence, and if any attitude has been detected in any of my past text (and in my mind I was choosing my words judiciously) I think it's only fair to remember that these posts have been in response to people calling the integrity of Heritage, and by extension myself, into question. This is offensive, particularly due to the fact that it is entirely unwarranted. I think we could all acknowledge that the expected response to "
Hey, you're a lying crook," isn't typically, "
I beg your pardon, my dear sir, but I must respectfully disagree..." But this isn’t about me, and I certainly don’t want it to be. If you don’t like my words—apologies—but let’s keep focus on the topic.
It’s about Heritage.
I've been around this industry for well over a decade, and have seen a lot of different operations close up. Some were ok, some weren’t. But I say this from my heart, and would say it if I were no longer a HA employee--this is the cleanest, most forthright and honest, most transparent business I've ever personally seen. I don't mean just the memorabilia business. Any business. That's a strong statement, I know. I wouldn't say it if it wasn't true. I might toe the company line, but I wouldn't be so adamant here. I hope at least some of you will take this to heart. I'm not one to throw stones at other organizations--that's not my style--but if anybody truly believes that Heritage is anywhere near the top of the list of worthy targets in this industry then we're clearly operating in different planes of reality.
Every year every consignment director at Heritage, over 100 now in the various collectibles divisions under the HA umbrella, attends a nine-hour training session headed by the owners/founders of Heritage. You hear the word "
transparency" like a mantra at these meetings. It is drilled into every Heritage employee, from the very top on down. Call up any consignment director at Heritage and ask about the word. It's practically a religion at Heritage. There's not a single one of us who hasn't had it imprinted upon his or her brain.
Jim Halperin, a visionary in the tradition of a Steve Jobs, was the pioneer of this. It started in coins, and everybody thought he was crazy. He started announcing reserves in an industry where they were always hidden (and still almost always are). He posted past results for similar coins on the actual lot listing for the coin! "
If everybody sees it always sells for "X,"
we'll never get more than "X," people shouted in protest. But Jim was certain that the trust, the transparency, would pay off.
That was years before Heritage was the World's Largest Collectibles Auctioneer, so the proof is in the pudding.
He had a vision of doing something different, and this is it.
Ask around. Ask the top collectors who spend six or seven figures in a calendar year. Ask which houses they'll trust with absentee bids, and which they won't. Watch our auctions live on our website, or come to them in person. Everything, literally everything, is executed with complete transparency.
Honestly, may God help you if you ever broke that code as a HA employee. You could lose a big consignment, you could drop a Tiffany lamp, and you could keep your Heritage employment. You'd be lucky to leave the building with your head if you ever tried to cheat under the Heritage banner. But you'd definitely be leaving.
The particular topic of this thread is no exception to the Heritage code--the policy of house bidding. Every bidder is looking for a bargain--we understand that bidders wouldn't want us in competition for material they're trying to buy. And could anybody doubt how easy it would be for us to simply have cousin Fred in Albuquerque place our house bids, never tell anybody, and whatever he wins just sell quietly and privately? But that wouldn't be honest. That wouldn't be transparent. We place bids in our auctions and we report that we do it. We report when we do it (seven days prior to the auction closing, never after). If we own material, we don't bid on it--we place posted reserves, or (more commonly) we just let it ride.
This is the truth. Period.
I don't think I can make this any more clear.
And if my assurances aren't enough for you, look at the situation in the coldest, most calculating manner possible. We sell close to a billion dollars worth of collectibles annually, over $800 million in the past twelve months. That success, that very considerable sum of money, would be placed at great peril if we were to engage in illegal (or even simply dishonest) tactics.
Heritage is the standard bearer for the way all of us wish the entire industry would operate. You don't have to like everything we do. You don't have to like us at all. But we announce every reserve. We advertise our house bidding policy. We maintain a public database of every single lot we've ever sold. We hide nothing.
We understand that the 800 pound gorilla is going to draw a lot of attention, so we aren't entirely surprised by the negativity we see on this board. But this suggestion that Heritage shill bids has to stop. It is false, which means it is also, by its very definition, libelous. At a certain point, Heritage will have to take more serious steps to protect itself against these claims. Let's hope it never has to come to that.
Again, this is our official response, and the last we'll make. Please spread the word on it. Sadly the Internet tends to bring out destructive instincts in people. You generally find that the people anxious to impugn the integrity of strangers based on a limited understanding of the facts aren’t the type of people one would typically associate with guys like Lou Gehrig or Christy Mathewson, but I hope everybody will understand why we prefer to keep our focus on them instead. The boards are fun that way--this way, they're not. If I’ve offended anybody, I apologize, but attacks on a person’s honor are a serious thing that lately has been taken far too lightly. How should one react?
I hope to hear some brave voices that will echo that sentiment and try to draw this board back out of the high school lunch room. We can do better.
Ending on a high note, hope to see you all in Baltimore at the National, and at our Platinum Night auction at Camden Yards. Bidding is live now at
www.HA.com/Sports.