Regarding the Probstein Mathewson signed ball auction which ended a couple days ago:
http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.d...m=370937104344
The ball sold for $8990, solely because the underbidder put in a bid at about $1600 above the third bidder for the ball, three days before the ebay auction ended -- and the underbidder just happens to bid in Probstein's auctions 94% of the time. Curiously, the underbidder's bid of $8890
is almost identical to what the ball sold for in the 2013 REA auction ($8887):
http://www.robertedwardauctions.com/...85.html#photos This bid of $8990 was placed a few days before the auction ended, solely to provide a floor/shill bid, presumably to ensure that the owner of the ball didn't lose any money following his purchase of the ball in REA.
I emailed Rick from the Mathewson auction listing and the following dialogue occurred:
1) Rick -- were you the owner of this ball which just sold in your auction?
Response:
which ball ?
2) The Mathewson ball.
Response:
consignor .....I owned the ruth ball though
3) Would you permit Rob Lifson to answer my question if you are not, in fact, the winner of that Mathewson ball from his auction?
No response
4) So are you saying that you consigned the Mathewson ball but didn't own it? How can you consign something you don't own?
Response:
I'm not gonna be online, if something is pressing try me at 973 747 6304 , all our transactions are confidential...both buyers and consignors....
5) Rick,
I'm not asking for you to betray the confidence of a buyer or consignor. I'm simply asking if you bought the Mathewson ball in the REA auction. You denied that you were the owner of the ball but said you were the consignor. To me, if you consigned the ball that means you own it. Again, I don't wish to know who purchased the Mathewson ball in the REA auction unless it's you.
Jeff Lichtman
Response:
jeff, your not understanding my emails....we're having email confusion..lets try again....
I bought the matty from REA , sold it privately , and the guy didn't like so it was consigned to us...
I bought the ruth ball from either REA or legendary or huggins, don't recall, and I was the owner who sold it....
the names of all my consignors are private as are the winning bidders....
6) Rick,
Are you aware that the underbidder of your Matty ball auction bids on your auctions 94% of the time? And that the bid he/she put in was almost to the dollar the amount that YOU paid for in the REA auction for that ball? Presuming you didn't sell the ball to him for exactly what you paid for it from REA, don't you find it interesting that the underbidder put in a placeholder bid 3 days before your ebay auction ended which matches what YOU paid for it on REA?
Jeff
Response:
I wasn't aware of this...were u the winner of the ball ?
7) You don't know the winner of an auction of yours which ended a couple days ago?
Response:
typicallyno
we currently run 20,000 auctions a month...I had 20 staff people here today...I spend the lionshare of my time keeping them busy..
when people email me or call when they see a problem I do act..
the mantle bvg card auction was emailed to me and I cancelled the bids on it....
8) That's wonderful -- but you didn't address what I asked, namely, that fraud obviously occurred in this auction and considering it was a ball which you bought in an REA auction shouldn't something be done about it?
No response
9) So do you think you should void the auction result and let the winner know that he was defrauded the difference between the bids of the second and third bids on the ball? It's fairly obvious that fraud occurred, no?
Response:
I'm gonna first contact the consignor and get more info....
**This conversation was two days ago, that's the last I've heard from Rick about this auction.