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Posted By: barrysloate

I awoke to find a serious discussion took place while I slept, so let me make a few pertinent comments. First, I saw my name in Jay Miller's post, and I would be happy to list the lots from my previous auction that I owned if anybody really cares to know. My position is I do purchase inventory throughout the year and need a venue to sell it. It would not make sense for me to put together a catalog auction and then send my pieces to someone else to sell. I know some feel there may be a conflict of interest, but I am happy to go into more detail if anyone requests.
To Doug Allen: I greatly respect your willingness to come on the board and answer all these questions in a forthright manner. I may disagree with you that ironing out a light crease is an acceptable practice, but it is really up to the grading service to detect that and make a judgment call, so let's say that is not a big issue.
But I do have a much greater concern, and there was one tiny phrase you used that opens a whole can of worms for me. You stated: "We service our customers...we maximize the grades." In theory, Mastro Auctions can not maximize any grades if the grading is being handled by an impartial third party. My question therefore, and it is an important one, is to what degree does Mastro Auctions pressure the grading services to reexamine a card when they are unhappy with the grade they receive? And to what level do the grading services capitulate since they are dealing with what is likely their number one client?