Richard Wolffers Auction

[yanks12025]

Hello,
So i posted in the B/S/T thread about how I bought several auction catalogs from old Richard Wolffers auctions that date from 1993 and up. But I was wondering if it was a big name auction house back then, meaning were the items all real. Cause some of the items are very nice. Like every auction had a Gehrig jersey, mint autographs including Mathewson, Chesbro, Tim Keefe, Anson, autographs of players you never see today like Dan Brouthers, Amos, Gloves used by Cobb, Mathewson, Josh Gibson,, etc. the list just goes on and on of the high end items.

[jboosted92]

Originally Posted by yanks12025

Hello,
So i posted in the B/S/T thread about how I bought several auction catalogs from old Richard Wolffers auctions that date from 1993 and up. But I was wondering if it was a big name auction house back then, meaning were the items all real. Cause some of the items are very nice. Like every auction had a Gehrig jersey, mint autographs including Mathewson, Chesbro, Tim Keefe, Anson, autographs of players you never see today like Dan Brouthers, Amos, Gloves used by Cobb, Mathewson, Josh Gibson,, etc. the list just goes on and on of the high end items.

i think thats when some of the fake stuff really entered the market, but not sure Dave Grob from MEARS had some good write ups on these auctions

[gnaz01]

If I'm not mistaken, I seem to remember the owner committing suicide

[Giants00]

Duane Garrett was the owner and a political talk show host in SF. Jumped off the bridge ahead with a lot of debt.

Sadly, those auctions at least in the jersey world, contained a mix of things which were good and bad. The higher value you got to, the more likely you were looking at something which had issues. I got a list of prices for most of the auctions and what is clear is that even back then, some of the questionable jerseys never sold and just showed up again and again the catalogs.

At least as far as jerseys go, today the buyer has some chance as there are forums, photos, and people with knowledge.

[RichardSimon]

There were many other questionable items that Wolfers sold besides jerseys.
Duane Garrett was a major art collector, sports memorabilia collector and political fund raiser. He did commit suicide by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge.
I really don't know if the stories about bogus auctions and his suicide were connected, but stories were prevalent in the hobby prior to his suicide, about his auctions being questionable. One of the major news magazines had a full page story about his suicide. He left behind a wife and two teenage kids.

[barrysloate]

Many of the items in his auctions that apparently set price records never actually sold. It was a very sordid business, and hard to explain. Duane was a really easy person to deal with and I liked him, but there was some dark stuff going on.