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Mastro Net Auctions - Subpoena - Shill Bidding

Started by Jokerman,

58 posts in this topic

tth2

tth2

Posted
Posted
And it turns out the PSA 8 Wagner card, which Mastro owned, was submitted to PSA as the first card that was ever submitted. Mastro knew the primary grader at PSA during that time.

Not sure why that's an issue. I'm sure whoever submitted the first book to be graded by CGC knew Steve Borock pretty well.

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Designer Toast

Designer Toast

Posted
Posted
"Also on Friday, investigators from the FBI and the United States Postal Service interviewed a former Mastro Auctions employee who is known to be a "card doctor," somebody who fixes dog-eared corners, removes stains, flattens out creases or takes other steps to improve the appearance of trading cards. Most collectors and dealers consider it unethical to alter cards."

 

Uh-oh.........

Man, it would be so great if the federal investigators could swing by and pay a visit to our little hobby too. :wishluck:

 

Criminal investigators and prosecutors are always looking for unique criminal cases to work. I frankly wouldn't be surprised if we see comic dealers being investigated soon. I'm actually surprised this hasn't happened by now considering the majority of fraud is being perpetrated by a relatively small percentage in this hobby.

 

Just my 2c

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greggy

greggy

Posted
Posted
And it turns out the PSA 8 Wagner card, which Mastro owned, was submitted to PSA as the first card that was ever submitted. Mastro knew the primary grader at PSA during that time.

Not sure why that's an issue. I'm sure whoever submitted the first book to be graded by CGC knew Steve Borock pretty well.

Bill Hughes graded that card.
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tth2

tth2

Posted
Posted
"Also on Friday, investigators from the FBI and the United States Postal Service interviewed a former Mastro Auctions employee who is known to be a "card doctor," somebody who fixes dog-eared corners, removes stains, flattens out creases or takes other steps to improve the appearance of trading cards. Most collectors and dealers consider it unethical to alter cards."

 

Uh-oh.........

Man, it would be so great if the federal investigators could swing by and pay a visit to our little hobby too. :wishluck:

 

Criminal investigators and prosecutors are always looking for unique criminal cases to work. I frankly wouldn't be surprised if we see comic dealers being investigated soon. I'm actually surprised this hasn't happened by now considering the majority of fraud is being perpetrated by a relatively small percentage in this hobby.

 

Just my 2c

I don't care so much about the dealers. I'd just like to see the "doctors" put out of business.

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carcrawfordfan

carcrawfordfan

Posted
Posted
Heard a story from a friend wherein he met a guy at one of the large Card Cons a while back who would buy cards, take them up to his hotel room, trim them with a portable trimmer, then go back down to the Con floor and resell them.

 

 

 

wtf.gif

 

That happens all the time at card shows. It is very easy to trim sportscards.

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tonytiger

tonytiger

Posted
Posted

Seems like the same stuff that goes in card market goes on in the comic market. The only difference is that the Feds don't seem to be interested in investigating "comics".

 

Are the laws different for auctions depending on the state? Can shill bidding be OK in one state and not another?

 

Tony

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OldGuy

OldGuy

Posted
Posted
And it turns out the PSA 8 Wagner card, which Mastro owned, was submitted to PSA as the first card that was ever submitted. Mastro knew the primary grader at PSA during that time.

Not sure why that's an issue. I'm sure whoever submitted the first book to be graded by CGC knew Steve Borock pretty well.

 

I don't know who subbed the first book, but Dan (Flying Doughnut) was the first to sell a CGC graded book on eBay and I don't believe he knew Steve from Adam. Of course I could be wrong. (thumbs u

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HOTFLIPS

HOTFLIPS

Posted
Posted
And it turns out the PSA 8 Wagner card, which Mastro owned, was submitted to PSA as the first card that was ever submitted. Mastro knew the primary grader at PSA during that time.

Not sure why that's an issue. I'm sure whoever submitted the first book to be graded by CGC knew Steve Borock pretty well.

Bill Hughes graded that card.

 

 

If you read the book, you'll understand why it was a big deal. Now im just going from what i read, i dont know the details because i was not involved and did not see first hand. But if you read the book, you'll see why it was a big deal.

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Designer Toast

Designer Toast

Posted
Posted
Heard a story from a friend wherein he met a guy at one of the large Card Cons a while back who would buy cards, take them up to his hotel room, trim them with a portable trimmer, then go back down to the Con floor and resell them.

 

 

 

wtf.gif

 

That happens all the time at card shows. It is very easy to trim sportscards.

 

I don't collect sportscards, but I've also heard of people using really fine grade sandpaper on sportscards to make the edges look nice. My understanding is that this is easy to detect on cards. I could see trimming cards being pretty simple due to the thickness.

 

Like I said, a small hand of dishonest insufficiently_thoughtful_persons are responsible for this sort of mess.

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General Zod

General Zod

Posted
Posted
Heard a story from a friend wherein he met a guy at one of the large Card Cons a while back who would buy cards, take them up to his hotel room, trim them with a portable trimmer, then go back down to the Con floor and resell them.

 

 

 

wtf.gif

 

That happens all the time at card shows. It is very easy to trim sportscards.

 

Guess I'm not bothering to sell my Mantle card anytime soon until this industry cleans up its act and properly detects restoration. At least I know my cards were bought before all this asshattery started.

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tth2

tth2

Posted
Posted
Heard a story from a friend wherein he met a guy at one of the large Card Cons a while back who would buy cards, take them up to his hotel room, trim them with a portable trimmer, then go back down to the Con floor and resell them.

 

 

 

wtf.gif

 

That happens all the time at card shows. It is very easy to trim sportscards.

 

Guess I'm not bothering to sell my Mantle card anytime soon until this industry cleans up its act and properly detects restoration. At least I know my cards were bought before all this asshattery started.

You bought your cards in 1906?

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The Black Hand ®

The Black Hand ®

Posted
Posted
Whoa :o That's pretty daaamm creepy if you ask me! My father in law is a big fan of Mastro but he's never mentioned any of this to me. Zipper, if you know of any other published articles discussing Mastro along these lines, I would greatly appreciate it if you could PM me links so I can pass them along (as I did with this news story).

 

NY Daily News: Feds swarm to question card sharks

 

The Daily News article seems more focused on the Feds zeroing in on PSA and "cards that have been altered" , as well as Mastro.

 

"...questioned employees of Professional Sports Authenticator, the hobby's top card grading service.

 

"Also on Friday, investigators from the FBI and the United States Postal Service interviewed a former Mastro Auctions employee who is known to be a "card doctor,"..."

 

:eek:

 

"Also on Friday, investigators from the FBI and the United States Postal Service interviewed a former Mastro Auctions employee who is known to be a "card doctor," somebody who fixes dog-eared corners, removes stains, flattens out creases or takes other steps to improve the appearance of trading cards. Most collectors and dealers consider it unethical to alter cards."

 

Uh-oh.........

 

Other than the removal of stains, that sounds like pressing. According to a lot of people , that's OK.

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arexcrooke

arexcrooke

Posted
Posted
Whoa :o That's pretty daaamm creepy if you ask me! My father in law is a big fan of Mastro but he's never mentioned any of this to me. Zipper, if you know of any other published articles discussing Mastro along these lines, I would greatly appreciate it if you could PM me links so I can pass them along (as I did with this news story).

 

NY Daily News: Feds swarm to question card sharks

 

The Daily News article seems more focused on the Feds zeroing in on PSA and "cards that have been altered" , as well as Mastro.

 

"...questioned employees of Professional Sports Authenticator, the hobby's top card grading service.

 

"Also on Friday, investigators from the FBI and the United States Postal Service interviewed a former Mastro Auctions employee who is known to be a "card doctor,"..."

 

:eek:

 

"Also on Friday, investigators from the FBI and the United States Postal Service interviewed a former Mastro Auctions employee who is known to be a "card doctor," somebody who fixes dog-eared corners, removes stains, flattens out creases or takes other steps to improve the appearance of trading cards. Most collectors and dealers consider it unethical to alter cards."

 

Uh-oh.........

 

Other than the removal of stains, that sounds like pressing. According to a lot of people , that's OK.

Comics and cards might be different animals. While there is debate to the "correctness" of pressing in comics, perhaps there is much less debate to the acceptability of that with cards

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tth2

tth2

Posted
Posted
Whoa :o That's pretty daaamm creepy if you ask me! My father in law is a big fan of Mastro but he's never mentioned any of this to me. Zipper, if you know of any other published articles discussing Mastro along these lines, I would greatly appreciate it if you could PM me links so I can pass them along (as I did with this news story).

 

NY Daily News: Feds swarm to question card sharks

 

The Daily News article seems more focused on the Feds zeroing in on PSA and "cards that have been altered" , as well as Mastro.

 

"...questioned employees of Professional Sports Authenticator, the hobby's top card grading service.

 

"Also on Friday, investigators from the FBI and the United States Postal Service interviewed a former Mastro Auctions employee who is known to be a "card doctor,"..."

 

:eek:

 

"Also on Friday, investigators from the FBI and the United States Postal Service interviewed a former Mastro Auctions employee who is known to be a "card doctor," somebody who fixes dog-eared corners, removes stains, flattens out creases or takes other steps to improve the appearance of trading cards. Most collectors and dealers consider it unethical to alter cards."

 

Uh-oh.........

 

Other than the removal of stains, that sounds like pressing. According to a lot of people , that's OK.

Comics and cards might be different animals. While there is debate to the "correctness" of pressing in comics, perhaps there is much less debate to the acceptability of that with cards

Let's arrest all the people who doctor comics and let the judges sort it out.

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Aces

Aces

Posted
Posted
Heard a story from a friend wherein he met a guy at one of the large Card Cons a while back who would buy cards, take them up to his hotel room, trim them with a portable trimmer, then go back down to the Con floor and resell them.

 

 

 

wtf.gif

 

That happens all the time at card shows. It is very easy to trim sportscards.

 

Guess I'm not bothering to sell my Mantle card anytime soon until this industry cleans up its act and properly detects restoration. At least I know my cards were bought before all this asshattery started.

You bought your cards in 1906?

:roflmao:

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jkrk

jkrk

Posted
Posted

Let's see..........

 

If Mastro moves to Texas they can have shill bidding? (thumbs u

 

I guess that means Heritage conducts shill bidding? (shrug)

 

If true, then Heritage cannot get good prices for most / some books without shill bidding? :o

 

However, the other comic auction houses (none in Texas) do get the great realized prices and can't conduct shill bidding? why such great prices? hm

 

What is wrong with this picture? doh!

 

Jay

 

 

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esquirecomics

esquirecomics

Posted
Posted
"Also on Friday, investigators from the FBI and the United States Postal Service interviewed a former Mastro Auctions employee who is known to be a "card doctor," somebody who fixes dog-eared corners, removes stains, flattens out creases or takes other steps to improve the appearance of trading cards. Most collectors and dealers consider it unethical to alter cards."

 

Uh-oh.........

Man, it would be so great if the federal investigators could swing by and pay a visit to our little hobby too. :wishluck:

 

I really believe it is only a matter of time Tim. Only a matter of time.

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