Did PSA get a free pass on The American Greed show?

[Fballguy]

Originally Posted by prestigecollectibles

Here is a You Tube video called "Holy Grail: The T206 Honus Wagner" produced by ESPN with Keith Olbermann.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUTbxT_CleE

Thanks...That was a good watch. The card was so nice in all other aspects, why bother to trim it?

[insidethewrapper]

I wonder how others on here would have handled that garage sale ? I wonder if the seller was hoping for $ 25 and when he said $ 500 he said yes quickly. I always ask what they want for their items and go from there ? If both parties are happy then what's wrong .

[orly57]

Originally Posted by insidethewrapper

I wonder how others on here would have handled that garage sale ? I wonder if the seller was hoping for $ 25 and when he said $ 500 he said yes quickly. I always ask what they want for their items and go from there ? If both parties are happy then what's wrong .

"If both parties are happy, then what's wrong?" If you take that mentality a step further, the same could be said about shilled cards. I am happy to pay 20k for a card even if you shilled me, because that is what I was willing to pay for a card that I desperately wanted. I don't think anyone is saying what Evers did was wrong or what Maestro did was right. Hell, I would gladly take a garage-sale deal like that, though I like to think I would have returned with more money for the guy after assessing the value of the cards.
Those of us who posted about Evers found the irony in him whining about getting ripped off, when he got those cards by ripping-off someone else. We weren't comparing the legality of one over the other, but merely the morality, or immorality as it were. The fact that the seller didn't know he was getting robbed doesn't mean it wasn't so. Maestro robbed many people who were as oblivious as the seller at the garage sale...and many were just as ignorantly happy.

[Mdmtx]

Originally Posted by orly57

"If both parties are happy, then what's wrong?" If you take that mentality a step further, the same could be said about shilled cards. I am happy to pay 20k for a card even if you shilled me, because that is what I was willing to pay for a card that I desperately wanted. I don't think anyone is saying what Evers did was wrong or what Maestro did was right. Hell, I would gladly take a garage-sale deal like that, though I like to think I would have returned with more money for the guy after assessing the value of the cards.
Those of us who posted about Evers found the irony in him whining about getting ripped off, when he got those cards by ripping-off someone else. We weren't comparing the legality of one over the other, but merely the morality, or immorality as it were. The fact that the seller didn't know he was getting robbed doesn't mean it wasn't so. Maestro robbed many people who were as oblivious as the seller at the garage sale...and many were just as ignorantly happy.

Extremely well put Orlando!!

[irv]

Originally Posted by prestigecollectibles

Here is a You Tube video called "Holy Grail: The T206 Honus Wagner" produced by ESPN with Keith Olbermann.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUTbxT_CleE

For the CDN members, like me, who can't view the vid posted.


I just finished watching the episode tonight, and, like others, also find it hard to believe PSA wasn't mentioned/talked about more?

[Mdmtx]

My assumption on the lack of PSA coverage, is fear of legal repercussions. PSA offers an opinion of quality of a card, and opinions are only that, nothing more. As far as I know, they are not embroiled in any criminal case. No basis for the show to sling mud on them.

Mark Medlin

[doug.goodman]

Originally Posted by Mdmtx

My assumption on the lack of PSA coverage, is fear of legal repercussions. PSA offers an opinion of quality of a card, and opinions are only that, nothing more. As far as I know, they are not embroiled in any criminal case. No basis for the show to sling mud on them.

Mark Medlin

They are only opinions, you are correct, but the mud slinging is well justified.

Hypothetical conversation in the office of people who get paid for their opinions :

Person 1 - "this card looks trimmed"
Person 2 - "well then we need another card to be the first card we grade"
Person 3 - "Doesn't look trimmed to me, looks like an 8"

Whether person 1 is lower than person 2 who is lower than person 3 in the pecking order in this hypothetical conversation is unknown to me.

Doug

[Fballguy]

Originally Posted by Mdmtx

My assumption on the lack of PSA coverage, is fear of legal repercussions. PSA offers an opinion of quality of a card, and opinions are only that, nothing more. As far as I know, they are not embroiled in any criminal case. No basis for the show to sling mud on them.

Mark Medlin

No basis...They're a paid service. Supposedly card experts. And they can't tell a trimmed card? The most famous card in the history of cards no less. They should be buried in mud for that. How anybody can send them money after that is beyond me.

Well...like P.T. Barnum said...

[rats60]

Originally Posted by Fballguy

Thanks...That was a good watch. The card was so nice in all other aspects, why bother to trim it?

The story was that the card was originally part of an uncut strip. The person who cut it off the strip did a poor job. Mastro just improved it.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by rats60

The story was that the card was originally part of an uncut strip. The person who cut it off the strip did a poor job. Mastro just improved it.

Right. As I recall the story Alan Ray, who I believe sold it to Mastro, would not say from whom he had bought it so the provenance goes back no further. But apparently it was obviously hand cut when Mastro bought it and in any case could not have been from a pack because of the back (not that it wasn't obviously hand cut afterwards too lol).

[WWG]

Originally Posted by rats60

The story was that the card was originally part of an uncut strip. The person who cut it off the strip did a poor job. Mastro just improved it.

In the program they said the card had oval edges and it was football shaped before Mastro used a paper slicer to trim the card. Can you imagine what it would be worth if the card was still intact on the strip.

[oldjudge]

A lot less

[JeremyW]

Originally Posted by oldjudge

A lot less

I agree. It wouldn't be a PSA 8 Wagner. An uncut strip w/Wagner sold for less within the last 15 years.

[JeremyW]

Actually $85,000. in the 1999 Halper auction.

[ullmandds]

Originally Posted by JeremyW

Actually $85,000. in the 1999 Halper auction.

that one could never be high grade no matter how it was trimmed!

[WWG]

Originally Posted by JeremyW

I agree. It wouldn't be a PSA 8 Wagner. An uncut strip w/Wagner sold for less within the last 15 years.

The strip that sold years ago looked like crap, the strip that the Mastro Wagner came from obviously looked a lot better.

strip.jpg

[prestigecollectibles]

Here is a link to the strip in the Hunt Auction from 2010

https://www.huntauctions.com/live/im...=242&lot_qual=