Nice article and kudos to Robert Plancich. I don't know that I would call him a whistleblower. To me, that's a person that reveals damaging information from the inside. He's an outsider asking questions. I wonder if the auction house acknowledged the Mantle glove error and refunded Billy Crystal's money. I also agree with Esken that he is good for the hobby and bad for their business. Truth be told, when you're throwing around the kind of money that is being spent on high dollar items, you need that kind of scrutiny.
Scott
Registry Sets: T-205 Gold PSA 4 & up 1967 Topps BB PSA 8 & up 1975 Topps BB PSA 9 & up 1959 Topps FB PSA 8 & up 1976 Topps FB PSA 9 & up 1981 Topps FB PSA 10 1976-77 Topps BK PSA 9 & up 1988-89 Fleer BK PSA 10 3,000 Hit Club RC PSA 5 & Up
The article has me asking more questions than there are answers. What they don't say is - what evidence did the guy have that the bat is not authentic. Some critics like Taube, after being presented with the provenance accepts the bat:
"Some skeptics have been converted; last summer bat expert John Taube expressed doubts but now says a preponderance of the evidence indicates this was a streak bat."
The issue that light was shed on the fact that Bushing authenticated and sold the bat is important. But, unless the guy produces evidence to the contrary about it's authenticity, he is relegated to a disgruntled collector who is a harasser rather than a critic in this instance.
So, perhaps, H&B is just making a preemptory strike at the guy before they unvail a new trophy rather than having him shed negative light at the premier. Since, as history has shown, if he creates a stink - the negative press will outlast it's welcome even if found to be false. Remember when Mantle's wife announced she had the 500 HR ball of the Mick when another was being auctioned and it was found to be false - I believe, some say it killed the value on the "pulled" item and never truly recovered.
It was Dave Bushing who gave the bat his highest A10 rating, while failing to disclose that he was the seller of the bat. Even Marshall Fogel has called this a serious conflict of interest.
Kudos to Plancich for calling out these shady business practices.
I have to agree with the side saying kudo's to pancich. I mean to me it sounds as if the powers that be are trying to quiet someone who might cut into there profit. ie: mastro, h&b and the authenticaters. If it turns out to be true will not H&B and Mastro look ridiculas at best and completly incompetent or criminally negligent at worst for perpetuating a fraud.
Just my thoughts and i know many will not agree. But i see a huge amount of $ that is benifiting some very powerful interests. And this is the type of thing that could hurt confidence in the memoribilia sector.
Guys Just in the interest of clarity - they believe Plancich did good to expose the "conflict of interest" - but no where in the article does it say that he has evidence that the bat isn't authentic - even John Taube, who I trust personally, thinks it's authentic. If they unvail the bat, and Plancich makes a stink, even without any other evidence, it will kill the item. I think that's what H&B is concerned about and they haven't done anything wrong. This isn't strictly a "david and goiath" thing - the guy means well but may be a zealot who may wind up doing more harm than good in that search for truth. So what do we know from the article? Only that there was poor judgement - conflict of interest - anything concrete about the bat's authenticity? I don't think so.
aloof1003
Posts: 184 ✭
Comments
Scott
T-205 Gold PSA 4 & up
1967 Topps BB PSA 8 & up
1975 Topps BB PSA 9 & up
1959 Topps FB PSA 8 & up
1976 Topps FB PSA 9 & up
1981 Topps FB PSA 10
1976-77 Topps BK PSA 9 & up
1988-89 Fleer BK PSA 10
3,000 Hit Club RC PSA 5 & Up
My Sets
The article has me asking more questions than there are answers. What they don't say is - what evidence did the guy have that the bat is not authentic. Some critics like Taube, after being presented with the provenance accepts the bat:
"Some skeptics have been converted; last summer bat expert John Taube expressed doubts but now says a preponderance of the evidence indicates this was a streak bat."
The issue that light was shed on the fact that Bushing authenticated and sold the bat is important. But, unless the guy produces evidence to the contrary about it's authenticity, he is relegated to a disgruntled collector who is a harasser rather than a critic in this instance.
So, perhaps, H&B is just making a preemptory strike at the guy before they unvail a new trophy rather than having him shed negative light at the premier. Since, as history has shown, if he creates a stink - the negative press will outlast it's welcome even if found to be false. Remember when Mantle's wife announced she had the 500 HR ball of the Mick when another was being auctioned and it was found to be false - I believe, some say it killed the value on the "pulled" item and never truly recovered.
your friend
Mike
Kudos to Plancich for calling out these shady business practices.
Just my thoughts and i know many will not agree. But i see a huge amount of $ that is benifiting some very powerful interests. And this is the type of thing that could hurt confidence in the memoribilia sector.
scott
Just in the interest of clarity - they believe Plancich did good to expose the "conflict of interest" - but no where in the article does it say that he has evidence that the bat isn't authentic - even John Taube, who I trust personally, thinks it's authentic.
If they unvail the bat, and Plancich makes a stink, even without any other evidence, it will kill the item. I think that's what H&B is concerned about and they haven't done anything wrong. This isn't strictly a "david and goiath" thing - the guy means well but may be a zealot who may wind up doing more harm than good in that search for truth.
So what do we know from the article? Only that there was poor judgement - conflict of interest - anything concrete about the bat's authenticity? I don't think so.
your friend
Mike