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Fake Mile Highs?

Started by The Black Hand ®,

170 posts in this topic

awe4one

awe4one

Posted
Posted

Was Ewert always based out of Tampa, Florida?

 

It's curious his accusation of CGC inaccuracies in telling the story. Would have been interesting to hear his rebuttal to that since it's a basis for the actions that followed...

 

Jim

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Weird Paper

Weird Paper

Posted
Posted
My opinion is that people that crossed the line and faked Mile Highs were crooks then, are crooks now, and will continue to be crooks going forward. Life is full of a lot of lines one should not cross but once you find justification to cross one (or more) it is impossible to go back. The mentality required to justify doing it once will allow them to justify doing it again even if caught the first time. Take the case of Joe Dungan. Sure, maybe he did fake Mile Highs, but anyone here ever try to trade with him? I still use preperation H to this day from my trade deal with him. Complete and total crook. Others that faked Mile Highs that are still very active in the hobby today are crooks, plan and simple.

 

It just goes to show you everyone's got a different experience. I've known Joe off and on for 25 years. I've always thought he was a pretty good guy. I used to buy GA and SA comics from him when he had his shop in San Antonio. The prices might've been higher than I would have preferred, but that always seemed to be the case with gold and silver.

I happened to run in to him this morning, at a local one-day show (he no longer does comics, but he still buys books and tpbs for himself). Having seen him mentioned in this thread, I felt compelled to ask him about the fake Mile High thing. What he told me was almost word-for-word what I remember another dealer telling me back in 1994 or so. He told me that did happen, but that they were all books he sold in good faith after buying them in good faith as Church books. The thing is, they were all traceable back to the same collector... and everybody knows who that is... a collector that I knew had written his own Mile High codes on books back in the early-mid 90s (information from multiple sources)... a collector who hardly needs the money, so he must just flat-out, be a BAD GUY. His fake Mile Highs ended up in the hands of a number of dealers.

Joe just happened to be very active in picking up pedigree DC books at the time, so he found himself in the middle of it. Now, I'm not best pals with him or anything like that -- I might run into him once every few years nowadays, but I just don't see him as a crook. Your experiences may vary, and I respect that. Everybody has somebody they've p;ssed off.

 

 

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Larryw7

Larryw7

Posted
Posted
. The thing is, they were all traceable back to the same collector... and everybody knows who that is... a collector that I knew had written his own Mile High codes on books back in the early-mid 90s (information from multiple sources)... a collector who hardly needs the money, so he must just flat-out, be a BAD GUY. His fake Mile Highs ended up in the hands of a number of dealers.

 

 

:popcorn:

 

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batman_fan

batman_fan

Posted
Posted
My opinion is that people that crossed the line and faked Mile Highs were crooks then, are crooks now, and will continue to be crooks going forward. Life is full of a lot of lines one should not cross but once you find justification to cross one (or more) it is impossible to go back. The mentality required to justify doing it once will allow them to justify doing it again even if caught the first time. Take the case of Joe Dungan. Sure, maybe he did fake Mile Highs, but anyone here ever try to trade with him? I still use preperation H to this day from my trade deal with him. Complete and total crook. Others that faked Mile Highs that are still very active in the hobby today are crooks, plan and simple.

 

It just goes to show you everyone's got a different experience. I've known Joe off and on for 25 years. I've always thought he was a pretty good guy. I used to buy GA and SA comics from him when he had his shop in San Antonio. The prices might've been higher than I would have preferred, but that always seemed to be the case with gold and silver.

I happened to run in to him this morning, at a local one-day show (he no longer does comics, but he still buys books and tpbs for himself). Having seen him mentioned in this thread, I felt compelled to ask him about the fake Mile High thing. What he told me was almost word-for-word what I remember another dealer telling me back in 1994 or so. He told me that did happen, but that they were all books he sold in good faith after buying them in good faith as Church books. The thing is, they were all traceable back to the same collector... and everybody knows who that is... a collector that I knew had written his own Mile High codes on books back in the early-mid 90s (information from multiple sources)... a collector who hardly needs the money, so he must just flat-out, be a BAD GUY. His fake Mile Highs ended up in the hands of a number of dealers.

Joe just happened to be very active in picking up pedigree DC books at the time, so he found himself in the middle of it. Now, I'm not best pals with him or anything like that -- I might run into him once every few years nowadays, but I just don't see him as a crook. Your experiences may vary, and I respect that. Everybody has somebody they've p;ssed off.

 

 

My dealing with Joe were very different. When I first met him, I traded him a bunch of mid grade Batmans and Detectives from the 1950s for a high grade Spiderman 10 and a High Grade Silver Surfer 4. Later we agreed on a big trade where I would send him a large lot of high grade Marvels and he would send me three NM Goldenage Batmans. I sent him my books (one being the Spidey 10 I had received in the previous trade from him). He kept all the books except the Spidey 10 because it had slight rstoraion (which he didn't disclose to me when I originally got it). After many months, I got one Golden-Age Batman in VF. It ended up taking about two years and many phone calls to try and resolv th trade. He finally sen me a restored Detective 219. Never dealt with him again. The hobby is definitely better without him in my mind.

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kimik

kimik

Posted
Posted
. The thing is, they were all traceable back to the same collector... and everybody knows who that is... a collector that I knew had written his own Mile High codes on books back in the early-mid 90s (information from multiple sources)... a collector who hardly needs the money, so he must just flat-out, be a BAD GUY. His fake Mile Highs ended up in the hands of a number of dealers.

 

 

:popcorn:

 

So, to sum this thread up, the speculation is that the Dentist is the source of the books but no one is willing to confirm it? doh!

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whomerjay

whomerjay

Posted
Posted

So why aren't most willing to elaborate or confirm?

 

Is it because the real facts are not certain? (I hope this is the reason)

 

Is it because they fear retribution? (I would have to laugh at this)

 

Or is it because they don't want to jeopardize any chance of ever getting some of this guy's (real) MH books?

 

I find it bizarre that the group of fanatics on these boards, who rarely exhibit any constraint in discussing anything (admittedly the maturity is greater in GOLD and there is less of a lynch mob mentality), aren't willing to come down on one side or the other. I guess the lack of a defense of the Dentist is telling.

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The Black Hand ®

The Black Hand ®

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I see your point but this is an event that happened 20 years ago or so and there are still people on these boards who were there, but not me. As far as a lynch mob mentality, that happens a lot on general but usually for things that are actually happening at the moment. I think that as far as the fake Mile Highs, there seems to be a kind of a 'Good 'ol Boy' mentality going on as well as some fear of retribution, not only from the comic gods but from the moderators as well. I think that what happened is a fascinating, yet despicable part of this hobby and should be included in any history but it is also twenty years old, so the sting of it has dulled a bit. I'm always mesmerised by what people will do to get what they want and what they will overlook to be able to do commerce in this somewhat shady hobby, that's why I appreciate the BZ's and the Scrooges and the John Berks, who's pure and honest love of the comic enrich and educate us all. But we do need to learn about the dark to be able to appreciate the light.

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whomerjay

whomerjay

Posted
Posted
I see your point but this is an event that happened 20 years ago or so and there are still people on these boards who were there, but not me. As far as a lynch mob mentality, that happens a lot on general but usually for things that are actually happening at the moment. I think that as far as the fake Mile Highs, there seems to be a kind of a 'Good 'ol Boy' mentality going on as well as some fear of retribution, not only from the comic gods but from the moderators as well. I think that what happened is a fascinating, yet depicable part of this hobby and should be included in any history but it is also twenty years old, so the sting of it has dulled a bit. I'm always mesmerised by what people will do to get what they want and what they will overlook to be able to do commerce in this somewhat shady hobby, that's why I appreciate the BZ's and the Scrooges and the John Berks, who's pure and honest love of the comic enrich and educate us all. But we do need to learn about the dark to be able to appreciate the light.

 

Well, if the person involved is still active in the hobby and selling books, the fact this happened 20 years ago shouldn't matter but perhaps explains some of the silence. And I hope the mods/CGC wouldn't supress the truth even though it might affect their bottom line.

 

I think I have a pretty good handle on this now. It's obvious to me that the network of elite GA collectors is small, and most members are non-confrontational for various reasons. In time I'd like to know the history of GA collecting as they know it, I'm sure it's quite interesting.

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nearmint

nearmint

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Posted

There's also the problem of lack of evidence. If something like this happened today, there'd be before and after scans pulled from the Heritage archive and other sources, personal anecdotes about being rooked, etc. Kinda dangerous to slam someone, especially someone who's probably well represented by attorneys, without some kind of paper trail to back up your claims.

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Larryw7

Larryw7

Posted
Posted
that's why I appreciate the BZ's and the Scrooges and the John Berks, who's pure and honest love of the comic enrich and educate us all. But we do need to learn about the dark to be able to appreciate the light.

 

 

Absolutely. :thumbsup:

 

But if the stuff in this thread is true, it makes me a little sad. I always thought that this individual loved comics and the stuff related to it, not that he was just another greedy SOB.

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The Black Hand ®

The Black Hand ®

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So...capping this all off, it seems that there is no proof of anything having happened, other than second and third hand accounts. So in my book, people are still innocent until proven guilty. I've seen no hard evidence of anything wrong being done.

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