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Posted By: runscott

He sent me an email and said he had forgotten to cancel it, but wasn't trying to pull a fast one. It wasn't the typical "backwoods grammar" email and he sounded sincere. (Tom, I purposely left out references to Kentucky )

Sending emails to these folks is always a tough call, since on the one hand it's none of my business, but on the other, new vintage collectors can get a bad taste in their mouth for the hobby.

About a year ago I almost bought some of the "Old Judge Proofs" that were created by the leach who bought the original plates in an auction several years ago. He was a master of deceit, putting them on the market one at a time at ridiculous reserves, saying he found a few in an estate sale in Pennsylvania - boy, did they look convincing!. Hee then offered them to the high bidder for just above their high bid (around $1,000 each if I remember correctly). Fortunately I didn't have enough money to buy any of them! A board member (Jay or Tom) later gave me and my potential accomplish (a man of dubious reputation) the story on these items, which kept me from bidding on more of them.

The point is, I was looking for a great "find" and willing to take a gamble even though I was out of my territory and hadn't done the research necessary before forking out bucks like that. Did I deserve to get hosed? Greed is certainly not commendable, either on the part of the seller or the buyer.