antique roadshow guy is talking cards

pandrews

right now on pbs

heh.. he's talking about the ripken FF error going from $300 to $5

edited to say i think its a repeat

Spigrimace

Saw it too. He boosted encapsulation and grading. I think he could have come up with a better example than the FF Billy Ripkin as that is a pretty laid back show.

love watching it

WinPitcher

.....I remm that card well and the lame attempt fleer made in correcting it 5 different ways! All it did for me was to prove to me that Fleer was just a second rate card company, the following year donruss proved itself to be just as lame with that butt ugly orange set with 50 or more variations. Upper deck soon followed with the news that the executives there were printing there own Griffey jr rookies......I miss anyone? oh Score they were a lilttle better then the 3 dregs I just mentioned. ohhh the pbs road show ....great show

Basilone

I have only seen Simeon Lipman of Leland's on the show. Have any other hobby related people been featured?

JTB

Ah yessss...Mr. Lipman,
A few years ago I bid on a game-used item in a Christie's auction. It was supposedly an item that was used in a significant World Series game. I was hesitant about bidding so I called, spoke to Lipman and he assured me that the item would come with a letter from the owner stating the provenance of the item. I won the item, but received no letter. I called Lipman repeatedly and we usually ended up screaming at each other. Christie's return policy is: no returns unless you can _prove_ the item is not as described. Finally, I took pictures of the item, sent them to the (still-living) player. Within a week, the player wrote back "The real item is in my trophy case". I faxed the letter to Lipman with a great big . It still took several months to get a refund from Christie's.

Every time I see him on Roadshow I want to throw something at the TV.

JTB

By the way, at the time this happened, I contacted the "voice of the hobby" Rocky Landsverk at SCD. He replied: Probably just an honest mistake; I'm not interested in pursuing it.

helionaut

The one time I saw cards on that show it was a female "expert" who described someone's childhood collection of 1977 Star Wars and 1980 ESB cards as being worth about 800 dollars. Pretty strong value for about 100 cards that looked VG at best on TV. She must've just looked them up in some bizarre price guide and multiplied them out, failing to take into account condition and actual market value. Or else she just made it up. I guess you don't get on the air unless you come up with big numbers. I still enjoy the show, but ever since, I can't put any credence in any value they put on anything.

Engineer

I remember a show about 6 months ago where someone brought in a bunch of Old Judge cards that looked to be pretty darn good condition. Don't remember what they valued them at.

Adam

CON40

Christie's return policy is: no returns unless you can _prove_ the item is not as described. Finally, I took pictures of the item, sent them to the (still-living) player. Within a week, the player wrote back "The real item is in my trophy case". I faxed the letter to Lipman with a great big . It still took several months to get a refund from Christie's.

This is a scary experience! If Christie's can get away with this, it really makes you wonder how much of the GU auction market is fraudulent. It is enough to curtail my interest in ever bidding on anything!

JTB

Scary indeed. When I finally talked to someone "important" at Christie's, their only response was: Lipman no longer works for us.

But my guess is that they hire people like Lipman on short-term contracts all the time to service individual auctions. Which means they can always say: xxx no longer works for us. I haven't bid with them since.

Basilone

How frequent are Christie's Sports Memorbilia auctions (North American)? I do not remember any recently....

John

Spigrimace

That show inflates values. It's good for ratings. They use "insurance" values which are always way high (just like diamond appraisals) and they use stuffy botique, stuffy auction values of people who don't care what they pay values vs. what would actually be paid by the general public on eBay.

Just wait for that eBay card price guide. You'll see the disparities between published guides and reality. May really shock the market. Glad I already insured my mantles and donated my off grade stuff at published priceguide prices. lol.

CapAnson

I dunno.. they're usually pretty good with sports stuff.. They had that 1933 Autographed all star game ball one time *drool*... another cool one was the Dimaggio signed San Francisco Seals ball someone brought in.. I thought they prices they gave on those were pretty good.

Stone193

<< <i>Within a week, the player wrote back "The real item is in my trophy case". I faxed the letter to Lipman with a great big . It still took several months to get a refund from Christie's >>


JTB
Good story - just shows that, at times, they are not doing enough research or verification and they are relying on people trusting in their reputation/name. So, is Lelands, who does more sports stuff, more reliable than Christies, Sotheby's etc.?
Mike

qualitycards

After reading JTB's story, it made me think of Billy Crystal's Mantle glove he won. It was advertised as a glove from '56 or '61 (i forget which) and later research indicated it was a 1966 glove from where Mantle had an injury prone season and the Yankees ended up in last place. If memory serves Crystal paid around a quarter million for the glove. Does anyone know what ever happened with it. Does Crystal still even have it? ...jay

koby

I remember Sotheby made a big deal about the quarter million dollar glove from the Halper sale. I don't remember reading that the glove turned out not as advertised.

Stone193

Authentic - Not Crystal Clear:
Jay
Good memory - I remember the sale, approximate cost and his comment about - 'don't tell my mom what I paid for this glove' - it turned out to be a later glove and not as represented - thus, IMO not as valuable:


<< <i>Rawlings senior glove designer Bob Clevenhagen, however, says Crystal recently called to ask what year his glove was manufactured ("Made no earlier than 1964 and most likely used in 1966," Clevenhagen told Crystal). He also picked Clevenhagen's brain about a Mantle mitt that will be offered for sale at tomorrow's auction, conducted by Guernsey's in the Convention Center at Madison Square Garden. >>


Crystal is being silent on this for the moment. As we can guess, if this can happen to high profile items and customers - where do we stand?
As they say: buyer DUCK!!!!!
Mike

Bearsnum34

good find mike on the article...

after reading is there any doubt I won't be buying any memoribila, I'll stick to the psa graded cards

Stone193

<< <i>I won't be buying any memoribila, I'll stick to the psa graded cards >>


Scott
It's a tough road - but I have always purchased a lot of minor junk that I will show you when you come to San Antonio - not out a lot of money - but as a newcomer to GU bats - people complain big time - e.g. what is heavy use on a bat - the honest ones like Zane will tell you little or no use - 'rack game used' which means it never hit a ball but got rubbed or scratched by the paint in the rack. I was told on the boards a long while back that you could trust ASI since they are contracted with the ball players with 'direct' pick up of the stuff they sell - it's a TRUST game.
Cards are great but there's a lot of neat stuff waiting out there besides - one just has to be careful - and that aint easy!
Mike

NickM

Stone - one of the memorabilia dealers has a nickname for "rack game used" bats - he calls them "Reggie specials". He sold off a beautiful Jackson bat from his Angels days a few years ago that Jackson used in one game to walk once and strike out 3 times. The bat has absolutely no ball marks of any sort.

Nick