Integrity - Verkman

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Posted By: Ryan Christoff

Lot #184 of the current Clean Sweep auction is listed as a 1935 Josh Gibson photo. Here is a link:

http://www.csauctions.com/item.cgi?show_item=0000012761

In reality, this looks nothing like Gibson, aside from skin color and the fact that he has a catcher's mitt. I called and told him that in fact the photo was not from 1935, but closer to 1947 or 1948. I explained that from left to right the picture shows Nap Reyes, Ray Noble and Martin Dihigo. The "C" on Noble's uniform actually stands for "Cienfuegos" not "Crawfords" as stated in the description.

So the bad news is no Gibson. The good news is Dihigo, which was somehow missed. With one day left, the lot has not been changed or updated, although I only recently spoke with him.

Since I have never dealt with Verkman before, I am willing to be open-minded and give him the benefit of the doubt that this was an honest mistake and will be either withdrawn or updated soon. If the lot doesn't get pulled or corrected before the auction ends he will of course lose said benefit and open-mind will clamp shut and lock.

This isn't meant to attack Verkman and I hope people don't use this thread to vent about their past dealings with him if they've had any bad experiences. I just thought it would be a good chance to see whether or not an auction house will do the right thing, or the wrong thing. Seems pretty clear cut in this case.

-Ryan