Lelands

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Posted By: ZUP

What does everyone think of Lelands....I see a lot of posts about Mastronet, but noone seems to talk about Leland's auctions...just wondering..

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Posted By: HW

Lelands is definitely one of the big auction houses, along with Mastronet, Hunts, Grey Flannel and Robert Edwards.

While they have had some nice cards over the years, they generally seem to concentrate on memorabilia. It seems as though most of the large card collections go by the way of Mastronet, Robert Edwards and Lew Lipset.

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Posted By: jay behrens

I'll jsut say that I have no time or patience for Josh Evans and I've seen too many questinable items in his auctions that he should know better to list as legit to ever trust anything coming from Lelands. Many people feel otherwise, so to each their own.

Jay

The difference between genius and insanity is acceptance.

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Posted By: warshawlaw

They seem to be a memorabilia house. I have picked up some nice cards from them, all of which were misdescribed in some way leading to much lower prices than might have been realized otherwise, IMHO. I would never consider consigning to them for that reason.

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Posted By: tbob

was from Lelands. An E94 Cobb in very nice condition which was described as an E98. I got it for the E98 price and was ecstatic to learn it was actually an E94 whose value is much, much higher. There was no back scan, by the way, and both Cobb poses are identical and both series have, among other colors, red backgrounds.

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Posted By: Bill Cornell

I've had only positive experiences with Lelands. Chris Porter works there now, so the days of misdescribed cards are probably over.

Jay - that's a mighty vague generalization you got there...

Bill

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Posted By: Julie

But I bought 2 of my favorite pieces of memorabilia from Lelands's, one of which they didn't know BEANS about, but I knew enough to know what they thought they knew was wrong. The other was the '55 WS Brooklyn Dodgers Press Pin, which I wear a lot.

Heard a lot of horror stories, which don't have to do with mistakes! But no such experiences.

Something I used to like was that they weren't afraid to occasionally have something a little off-color (like Mickey Mantle's "f**k you!" baseball, Joe d's Tiahuana Bible, etc.). never see stuff like that from other auction houses. I don't want them, but somehow, it's nice to know they're there (I know, I'm nuts...)

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Posted By: DD

I won a lot a few years ago. Since I live relatively close to their office I picked it up. Spoke with Josh for awhile, and even purchased some other items directly from him (at a great price).

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Posted By: Aaron

I've won several items in their auctions over the past few years and they are kind of a poor man's Mastronet.

They are generally much less organized in terms of planning out their auction dates, much more lax in terms of getting their catalogs out to their customers (if at all), their website is a Coleco compared to Mastro's with no "watch" list, gallery view and slow loading times, and their customer service is generally non-responsive and/or misleading (they are not above concealing problems with their items in their lot descriptions). (Plus they just raised to Buyer's premium to a whopping 17.5%)

This auction, for instance, they failed to list any of their auction rules on their website (including how to maintain bidder eligibility in extended time), failed to list a closing date on their auction on their website, and then had an auction-wide mistake in their countdown for remaining days that wasn't corrected until the final week of the auction despite being alerted to this mistake at least two weeks prior.

That said, I am a memorabilia collector and they generally get a terrific selection of rare items, so you kind of have to put up with all that nonsense if they have something you really want. (I won an item in the recently completed auction that I hadn't seen offered since the 2003 National in Atlantic City.) Many must feel the same way as I do, since the prices I've observed for vintage baseball memorabilia tend to reach the same "super-retail" levels that Mastro do.

I think if they could shore up their operation, they could legitimately compete with Mastro, at least in terms of consignor and bidder experience, if not dollars. But for now, they seem like a harried, disorganized, sometimes surly Mom & pop operation compared to the tightly run corporate machine that is Mastronet.

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Posted By: jay behrens

The most obvious fake I remember them try to pass of as real was a Joe Jackson autographed picture with a signature that had almost perfect penmanship. Lelands swore up and down the sig was legit. You didn't need to be an autograph expert to know it wasn't real. I was also burned on a deal by Josh, himself. So you'll forgive me if I have a major dislike for him and his company.

If you haven't noticed. I have the memory of and elephant when people or companies do me wrong.

Jay

The difference between genius and insanity is acceptance.

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Posted By: Tom Boblitt

positive dealings with Lelands. I, like a couple other people above, have gotten some great deals on items that would have otherwise went for 50% more in Mastronet auctions. I always wonder why that is because people who are collecting this stuff generally hit most all the big auctions. Anyway, it's about the only auction anymore that I can find PM1 Ornate Pins in.....and I think Chris Porter will shore up their card division. The cards have been few and far between over last 10 auctions but they had quite a few more this auction.

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Posted By: Nick Martinez

Gents(& Julie),
I know I am only supposed to say nasty things about the competition, but I was impressed with their last catalog. The "reverse of the curse" items were especially interesting. I thought the lay out was professional and the writing was great.

One thing I have learned during my short tenure in the auction business is that auction houses are run by people, human beings and as a rule, mistakes are made.

I can only hope that I never draw Jay "No Mercy" Behrens as a juror.

Regards,
Nick