Wow - Genuine Action in Cleaning Up the Hobby

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Posted By: Aaron M.

This is a long-overdue, but welcome step by MEARS.

I know when it was first publicly revealed (and discussed here on the N54 Forum) that the authenticators who would go on to create MEARS owned some of the same material they authenticated and sold in Mastro auctions it was very upsetting.

After several heated discussions with MEARS representatives, I think it became clear to them why this blatant undisclosed conflict of interest was damaging to their reputation and collector confidence (both in them and in the auction house), and they seemed more than willing to consent to having their conflict of interest disclosed in the item's description (although they were not willing to stop authenticating and selling their own items).

The problem was that Doug Allen (as he explained to me) was adamantly against the disclosure of the identity of ANY consigners (whether they be the authenticators or otherwise), so he refused to allow MEARS to do so, and so the practice continued.

Flash-forward a couple years later and it seems that MEARS is finally taking a stand at the risk of alienating their bread and butter (Mastro), and is instead signing on with REA's above-reproach ethical stand on how auctions should be run:

1. No bidding by the auction house's employees and executives on their own auctions. (Mastro allows this, REA does not.)

2. No undisclosed alterations of cards prior to grading. (Mastro does this, REA does not.)

3. No undisclosed conflict of interests in terms of authenticators authenticating items they are also consigning. (Mastro does this, REA does not.)

I also feel inclined to add a fourth items from REA's "missions statement" that Mastro practices to further illustrate the point:

4. No selling of items the auction house itself owns. (Mastro does this, REA does not.)

In any case, perhaps the Jordan shirt mis-hap brought these issues to a head, but it's good to see MEARS siding with REA in terms of trying to reach a higher level of honesty and integrity than Mastro is. If MEARS does it, perhaps other auction houses will follow suit and Mastro will have no choice but to update its ethical standards to reflect collector demands.

Well, one can hope...