A possible solution for the PSA 8 T206 Wagner?

[calvindog]

Yeah but this Wagner was the centerpiece of PSA's advertising for decades. It is the most significant card they've ever graded. And not only was it misgraded but it was graded fraudulently. And of course, as predicted, Joe Orlando sticks his head in the sand and pretends this debacle doesn't exist. What a clown he is.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Jeff, the story just broke a couple of days ago, we don't know yet whether Joe is going to play ostrich or take a position. I imagine he needs to discuss this with his management and maybe the CU Board before doing anything. I suspect this will take some time. It's a public company still, no? EDIT TO ADD And yeah he probably needs to consult with their lawyers too.

[WhenItWasAHobby]

Originally Posted by calvindog

Yeah but this Wagner was the centerpiece of PSA's advertising for decades. It is the most significant card they've ever graded. And not only was it misgraded but it was graded fraudulently. And of course, as predicted, Joe Orlando sticks his head in the sand and pretends this debacle doesn't exist. What a clown he is.

PSA could be in store for more than it imagined. According to the Mastro Federal Indictment (paragraph 11):

It was further part of the scheme that in marketing materials distributed on behalf of Mastro Auctions, which were intended to portray Mastro Auctions to potential bidders and consignors as a premier seller of valuable items for which a strong market existed, defendant MASTRO represented that Mastro Auctions had sold the most expensive baseball card in the world, a Honus Wagner T-206 card. In making this representation, however, defendant MASTRO knowingly omitted the material fact that defendant MASTRO had altered the baseball card by cutting the sides of the card in a manner that, if disclosed, would have significantly reduced the value of the card.

Based on this statement, it wasn't the actual sale of the card that was an issue, but continually advertising that they had sold the most expensive card in the hobby without disclosing that they knew the card was altered, which would greatly devalue the card.

Likewise, PSA has milked the same card for all its worth. According to Michael O'Keeffe's articles and his book, The Card, there was allegedly a voice of descent by one of the graders, Bill Hughes, regarding if the card had been trimmed. Here's an excerpt from a recent NY Daily News article:

"The Card" quotes Bill Hughes, a member of the grading service team that issued the card's high grade - Professional Sports Authenticator gave it a PSA 8 on a scale of 1-10 - as admitting he knew the card had been cut from a sheet when he graded it. "The card is so outstanding, it would have been sacrilegious to call that card trimmed and completely devalue it," Hughes explained.

See:

http://articles.nydailynews.com/2010...umerical-grade

To also put this in perspective, the T206 Wagner PSA 8 was the first card PSA graded. Having this highly sought after card with a PSA label was in my opinion the greatest publicity a start-up company in this industry could hope for. So by analogy, if Hughes' admissions are true, PSA may have in essence done the same that Mastro did - attempt to mislead consumers with false information.

Another potential problem facing PSA is if there was indeed a deliberate decision to grade a trimmed card, the current owner of the card may decide to explore the option of filing a suit against the grading company under the Lanham Act for false advertising/mislabeling of a product and would be liable for triple damages. That's $2.8M x 3 = $8.4M!!!

As for Joe Orlando, unless he's gone through a radical personal transformation, I wouldn't expect to see any voluntary public statement about the Wagner or Mastro.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Dan -- Lanham Act claims are usually against a competitor. It is possible a buyer has a cause of action against a seller, I am not sure, but in any event PSA didn't sell the card. I am not sure there is a Lanham Act claim here.