David Festberg

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Posted By: Dan P.

I had a bad experience with Festberg in the late 80's. A fellow I used to deal with without problems called me and said "I have a Briggs Mantle I'd like you to sell on consignment for me." I had never dealt with Briggs before but agreed to help him. I forget what condition the card was in but it was at least ex. The guy told me what he wanted to get for the card (about 80% of Beckett based on condition) and anything over that amount I could get was mine to keep as my commission. I took out an ad in SCD and listed this card along with some of my stuff. The Briggs card sold to a local customer. We spoke on the phone about completing the transaction and we decided to complete this at the Willow Grove, PA, show 2 weeks later. I then called Mitch (the guy whose card it was originally) and told him what was going on. On Friday night of show weekend I showed up to setup my table. The customer (I forget his name) came by and paid cash for the card. Mitch came by and I paid him off. Then the customer came back and said he wasn't happy with the card and wanted a refund (he claimed the card was "fake"). I refunded his money and got the card back. I figured Mitch would refund my money. He didn't (he claimed that as far as he was concerned the card was legit and the sale was final). After I finished setting up my table I walked around the room and showed the card to several dealers that dealt heavily in that type of card (most likely some of the same dealers my customer spoke to). The conclusion I drew was that this Mantle was cut off of an advertising piece and was the same size as the regular card. At that time, Bob Schmirer, the show's promoter, had an auction on Saturday as soon as the dealer area closed (John Scott, now of Huggins & Scott, ran the auction). On Saturday morning I showed the card to Scott and gave it to him for the auction. I stayed at the auction long enough to see the card sell for a decent amount, then I went out to dinner. On Sunday morning I saw Scott and asked him what his policy was to pay off the consignors. He said we had a problem: David Festberg was the winning bidder (I knew him from his SCD ads but never met him). Festberg obviously shopped the card around before paying for it and showed it to all the same people my customer and I showed it to. They all said "the card's a fake--I don't want it". Festberg walked out without paying and I got the card back. Scott and I eventually worked a deal for the card.