Manufactured Gold

[JiveTurkeyMoFo]

I might have to nominate that as "Post of the Year".

 

I second that.

 

All opposed? No? Good.

 

Motion carried.

[Red Hook]

5 yard penalty for misuse of the quote function.

 

[mica]

5 yard penalty for misuse of the quote function.

 

And Bullet should let us know "who" he's quoting and a post # to go see for verification would be nice as well.

[Bullet123]

5 yard penalty for misuse of the quote function.

 

And Bullet should let us know "who" he's quoting and a post # to go see for verification would be nice as well.

 

I am quoting Filter81 and it is from the august heritage auction thread

[Aman619]

I think you picked a particularly weak and off-topic post to refute! In it he was complaining about their billing dept. and NOT the marketing guys who are improving and buying their own books in their auctions. I think Filter had a rough experience with them, but it was due to personality and frustration with their treatment of him, and NOT with the allegations that this thread is all about.

[Ze-man]

Wow... just Wow..

 

That is exactly how I would describe my reaction after reading your post.

 

WOW!

 

I am glad you did decide to jump in and speak your mind. You touched on several things I felt needed reiterating. No doubt you would like to just lay everything out there, and let us decide how we feel about it. But you remain on the right path by not saying anything publicly you cannot prove. Too bad too, because I would like to read more about your experience with Heritage.

 

Great post BTW

 

Ze-

[Viscosity-migration]

I willing to meet on causing concern ( the level of concern depends on your stance on the subject I guess)

 

What Tim and I are more concerned with is that people believe what they read as gospel no matter if what is said has any basis in fact. "I know a guy who knows a guy who " conjecture simply is not good enough for me when it comes to talking about people's reputation's and their livelihoods. You have never seen me disagree with factual information presented on these boards. I applaud your passion and for taking a stance on what you feel is "ruining" the hobby. All I am asking is to simply present the facts and let everyone else make up their own minds.

 

Wow... just Wow.. Bullet, at first I wasn't even going to reply in this thread anymore.. both out of respect to the poster who started the thread, and because several of your posts have me so infuriated I don't trust myself to watch what I say.

But you seem intent on continuing with your faulty logic so fine.

 

Lets start with what you just wrote.

 

"I know a guy who knows a guy who " conjecture simply is not good enough for me when it comes to talking about people's reputation's and their livelihoods.

 

Are you KIDDING me?!?!? Where on these boards, has ANYONE, ANYWHERE tried to back up an argument with "I know a guy who knows a guy" and tried to present it as fact?! Go back and try to give me three examples... can't? ok.. try two.... how about one?!

 

Just like you have your sources, and Tim has his, well, I have mine. Some have been in this hobby for 30+ years. some used to work for Heritage. (you know.. those ex-employees that you say haven't come forward and said anything... well.. yeah.. publicly they haven't.)

The things I have been told would put ANYTHING that has been discussed in this thread so far to shame. The only reason I HAVEN'T discussed any of this prior to now is because I felt it would be irresponsible for me to even say what I have been told until I can prove it all to be true. (regardless of how credible the sources are.) The only reason I even bring this up now, is because you've got me so frustrated with your comments about people wildly presenting rumors as facts, when in reality, nothing could be further from the truth..

 

In your threads you continue to make reference to people spouting out vile, hurtful rumors and representing them as facts without any proof. Here are some quotes from your recent posts:

 

"I think it is just a black eye on the hobby to simply spout things as your version of the truth without a single shred of evidence ."

 

it is the endless speculation based on nothing factual that annoys people like myself and Tim and I am sure others.

 

When a new collector comes on the scene and reads threads like this where people cast dispersions about others without proof it sheds a bad light not only on the medium but the collectors of that medium as well.

 

It is when people go off and spew unsubstantiated venom aimed at either impuning ones integrity or reputation that it bothers me

 

These are things YOU have said in the past 48 hours. And yet, when you are asked REPEATEDLY to come up with even ONE example of people spewing rumors as fact without any proof, you were unable to do so. Not even ONE! With all of the hundreds of pages of dialog on this subject so far, if this were truly a serious concern I would think you would be able to come up with dozens if not hundreds of examples very easily. All that is being done is people are presenting facts as facts, and when something is unknown, allowing everyone to come to their own conclusions based on the facts that do exist and are known.

 

As several posters have said before, if someone reads these threads and still decides to do business with Heritage... FINE.... I have no problem with that whatsoever. But what is going on is important, and there should be a forum where people are able to discuss it.

 

Personally, I feel that much of what you have written in your posts thus far, if taken seriously would be damaging to MY reputation and credibility, as well as the reputation and credibility of many of the other posters on these boards. I feel you are doing this by trying to claim that people are spewing "unsubstantiated venom", or that people are trying to represent opinions as facts "without a single shred of evidence". And yet, you type all of this without being able to provide one single example of what you say is happening. You say what you say without any proof.... without any facts to back it up... without a smoking gun. Considering exactly what it is you are complaining about, I hope the irony of your actions is not lost on you. Normally, I wouldn't mind.. if you want to attack everything I say.. by all means.. attack away. But please be aware in the future of the hypocritical nature of your posts thus far.

 

When asked to come up with an example of someone spewing unsubstantiated venom as fact without a shred of evidence, you quoted my post below:

 

Here is one from page 3 of this thread

So, since Heritage says no employees ever bid on these auctions for resale, what exactly happens in a situation like this? Someone buys the book through Heritage as an 8.0 and thinks it looks like an 8.5 so they send it to CGC. They get the grade they want and they decide to resell it through Heritage to someone else who buys it thinking the new 8.5 looks like a 9.2. So then this second person cracks the case again and decides to send it to CGC and this time it comes back a 9.2. After it comes back from CGC as a 9.2 this person too decides to sell the book through Heritage. Then a third person buys the 9.2 through Heritage and shortly after that decides to sell the book directly to Halperin at significantly less than what he paid. Then, rather than auctioning off the book using his own multi-million dollar consignment service Halperin decides he'll have better luck consigning the book to LewisWayneGalleries on eBay?

 

How exactly does that validate your point at all.. even a little? Please give me one example of something in the above post that I am representing as a fact in the first place! What exactly am I claiming is true without proof? In fact, if the scenario above WERE true, all Heritage would be doing is auctioning off a book and doing nothing wrong.

 

The facts regarding that particular situation are:

 

1) that book was auctioned off at Heritage three times in the past three years. - FACT.

 

2) Each time the book was autioned off it was being sold as a higher CGC graded. (first an 8.0, next an 8.5, then a 9.2) - FACT

 

3) Shortly after selling as a 9.2 through Heritage, it somehow became owned by Halperin, who then decided to consign the book to LewisWayneGalleries for LESS than it just sold through Heritage for the last time around. - FACT

 

If you choose to believe Halperin & Heritage employees do not buy books in their own auctions, do not play the press/resub game, and that there is nothing shady going on. Fine. But that means, in this particular case, if Heritage didn't buy the book, there would need to be no less than three other buyers involved. The guy who bought it as an 8.0 and had it cracked out into an 8.5, the guy who bought it as an 8.5 and had it resubbed as a 9.2, and the guy who bought it as a 9.2 and then sold it to Halperin at a loss. No opinions here.. just FACTS.

 

I have to be honest with you Bullet, if we both sat down and compared your posts to mine, I think you would see that one of us has made many FACTUAL contributions to this topic, and one of us has posted a number of hurtful, unsubstantiated opinions. Why don't you go back and re-read some of my posts, then go back and re-read some of your posts, and see who did what. I think you've done a good job explaining why you feel there is no place for opinions in this discussion, and why there is no place for anything that isn't a fact that can be proven beyond all reasonable doubt. So how about using FACTS in your next post rather than "unsubstantiated venom".

 

Just so we are clear here, some of my FACTUAL contributions to this thread so far include:

 

1) pointing out that the CGC 9.2 Sensation 1 being sold by LewisWayneGalleries used to be a CGC 8.5 Sensation 1 Crowley pedigree that sold through Heritage and later had the pedigree designation removed

 

2) discussing Halperin's well-documented history of playing the crack/resub game in the collectibles market, and his well-documented history of being accused of using his ownership stake in a collectibles slabbing service to give his collectibles inflated grades, and later selling them through Heritage & Heritage affiliates at inflated prices (later being forced to pay over a million dollars in damages.)

 

3) Pointed out the contact information previously registered for LewisWayneGallery.com

 

"Registrant Contact:

Heritage Galleries

Robert Dennis (robertd@heritagegalleries.com)

+1.2147805554

Fax: none

3500 Maple Avenue, 17th Floor

Dallas, TX 75219

US"

 

and also pointed out that almost EVERY item up for sale through LewisWayneGalleries on eBay originated from Heritage.

 

4) Pointed out that Heritage employees and owners are allowed, and often do, participate in bidding in their own auctions. (Although this is something that is apparently published in small print in their catalogs, this is something many people on these boards apparently were unaware of.)

 

What FACTS have you been contributing? You CLAIM people, myself included, are spouting out rumors as facts. So why don't YOU back up what YOU say with facts for once??? I've posted on this topic extensively. Can you give me three examples of something that I represented to be a definite fact, that later could not be proven to be true? Can you give me two examples?

 

My FAVORITE comment of yours though was when you tried to say that threads like this are bad for the hobby. You want to know whats REALLY bad for the hobby? Dishonest people stealing thousands of dollars from newbie collectors.

 

The All Winners 1 listed earlier in this thread is in my opinion a good example of what I feel is wrong with this hobby. The example I am about to give you is not hypothetical, it actually happened.

 

I know someone who bought an All Winners 1 CGC 9.2 a while back, and paid over $30,000 from what I recall. A few weeks ago, a different All Winners 1 CGC 9.2 came up for sale through Heritage and sold for $23,900. The main reason that this copy sold so low in my OPINION, is that the book that sold for $23,900 was previously a CGC 8.5 that sold for less than $15,000. (Looking at the book as an 8.5, $23,900 is an outstanding price. Looking at the book as a 9.2, $23,900 is a terrible one.)

 

The owner of the first All Winners 1, the one who paid over $30,000... was recently talking to someone about selling the book. The buyer was interested in buying the book and then saw the other 9.2 sell for $23,900 and now is no longer willing to pay higher than $24,000 for the first book. Neither the buyer nor the seller had any idea of the history behind the $23,900 sale. The buyer lost interest because suddenly $30,000 seems too high to pay. Also, he saw one copy selling for over $30k, and the next one sell for over $6000 less, and suddenly the book looks like a bad investment. Well, now that $23,900 sale is now public record. So what does this other guy do if he wants to sell? Take a $6000 loss? Try to press and clean his book into a CGC 9.4 to keep up?

 

To me, this is a problem. And the solution to this problem is to make sure everybody is as informed as possible. Not to keep your mouths shut as you suggest and hope that new people entering the hobby don't find out. I feel people are getting screwed so that a few already very wealthy people can get wealthier. Sticking your fingers in your ears and shouting "Lalalala" doesn't make this untrue. And I for one, will continue to point out what I feel are problems when I see them, regardless of whether or not this makes you uncomfortable.

 

Lastly, I just have to ask you bullet, what EXACTLY is your problem with this thread? I don't believe there have been ANY examples yet of people presenting speculation as fact. (And since its impossible to prove something that doesn't exist, if you feel this is happening, the burden of proof to show that it is happening is on you.)

 

But lets just say for arguments' sake that some of whats being discussed is wild, unfounded speculation. In this particular case (please don't give me some generalized example) but in THIS particular case, what is the harm?

 

Halperin admitted in a national, well-respected magazine to participating in the cracking and reslabbing collectibles game. He was investigated in the past for owning a collectibles slabbing service which he potentially used to give his collectibles higher grades which he later resold through Heritage and Heritage affiliates. The result of this investigation was that Halperin had to pay back over $1million in damages.

 

Is your worry really that someone might come along, read one of these threads and as a result think that maybe he might be cracking and resubmitting collectibles through a collectible grading service and then selling them through Heritage and Heritage affiliates? The fact that he has gotten in trouble for this before is a matter of public record, people SHOULD wonder if its happening again now. Halperin has done more damage to his reputation by defrauding people since the age of 13, then anyone on these message boards could ever do.

 

And just as an aside, as far as I know, Halperin has never produced a signed, notarized confession written in blood regarding his behavior in the comic book industry. The smoking gun here isn't one specific example, it is a pattern of behavior, that when looked at objectively as a whole paints a surprisingly clear picture of what exactly is going on. Some of what is going on, is now known and is a matter of fact. Some is still unclear and open for people to form their own opinions.

 

 

 

Just an outright awesome post, BRAVO!!!!

 

 

Yet, after that entirely detailed, and honest post, I guarantee we'll see some that will simply write something akin to: "so what, that's your opinion"

 

 

The horror, the horror...

[Bullet123]

I think you picked a particularly weak and off-topic post to refute! In it he was complaining about their billing dept. and NOT the marketing guys who are improving and buying their own books in their auctions. I think Filter had a rough experience with them, but it was due to personality and frustration with their treatment of him, and NOT with the allegations that this thread is all about.

 

I was asked to supply an example. I did just that and now that is still not good enough? Why don't you pick the thread you would like me to use and the quote you would like me to use and I will see if I can give you what you want

[Foolkiller]

It would be foolish to outright call anyone out with out evidence and name names. The problem with Heritage is exactly what Filter has alluded to: pattern of behavior. I understand that the Forbes article is one side and Halperin has another, but Halperin is motivated by thing: over excessive greed. I don't think there's really any debate on that. Geppi, by contrast, is certainly all about the coin, but I believe in his intrinsic love for comics (just look at the museum).

 

There are many stories floating out there from "industry insiders" (what is that anyway?) about things they question about how Heritage conducts business and the whole resub game... Does it happen? I really don't know for sure. If I was guessing? I'd certainly say yes. There's just far too many books that pop up in these auctions that are "upgrades" to say that it isn't going on. The press and resub game is only relevant if you buy into the fact that there's a problem with doing that in the first place.

 

Other "illegal" practices -- ? Again I'm not sure, and any stories I've heard I don't have the evidence for. On the other hand, I'm sure it isn't a mistake they set up in Texas, a place where auction houses are protected very well by the law.

 

Would I deal with some like Halperin or Halperin's company? No. But I think Ed Jaster is a standup guy, so at times it makes me doubt that he would involve himself knowingly in an organization geared towards perpetrating fraud. But at the end of the day, I don't think people are just creating stories out of thin air or this should be dismissed as rabble rousing or "idle speculation".

 

I think Heritage and their business practices should continue to get scrutinized under the microscope publicly.

[burntboy]

gotta say that the many opinions expressed herein, have been some fascinating reading..............

 

but, i would really rather get back to MasterChef's infinitely more interesting real-life examples of "changed" comics...................

[Bullet123]

The facts regarding that particular situation are:

 

1) that book was auctioned off at Heritage three times in the past three years. - FACT.

 

2) Each time the book was autioned off it was being sold as a higher CGC graded. (first an 8.0, next an 8.5, then a 9.2) - FACT

 

3) Shortly after selling as a 9.2 through Heritage, it somehow became owned by Halperin, who then decided to consign the book to LewisWayneGalleries for LESS than it just sold through Heritage for the last time around. - FACT

 

How do you know the book is owned by Jim Halperin in this instance? I do not know the circumstances regarding this book but maybe the purchaser refused to pay for the book because of its history ? or maybe Lewis Wayne Galleries owns the book. How do you know the book was a consignment. Did you get that info from Lewis Wayne Galleries?

 

If you choose to believe Halperin & Heritage employees do not buy books in their own auctions, do not play the press/resub game, and that there is nothing shady going on. Fine. But that means, in this particular case, if Heritage didn't buy the book, there would need to be no less than three other buyers involved. The guy who bought it as an 8.0 and had it cracked out into an 8.5, the guy who bought it as an 8.5 and had it resubbed as a 9.2, and the guy who bought it as a 9.2 and then sold it to Halperin at a loss. No opinions here.. just FACTS.

[Aman619]

I think you picked a particularly weak and off-topic post to refute! In it he was complaining about their billing dept. and NOT the marketing guys who are improving and buying their own books in their auctions. I think Filter had a rough experience with them, but it was due to personality and frustration with their treatment of him, and NOT with the allegations that this thread is all about.

 

I was asked to supply an example. I did just that and now that is still not good enough? Why don't you pick the thread you would like me to use and the quote you would like me to use and I will see if I can give you what you want

 

I hear you frustration. but all Im saying is Filter refrained from repaeating inside info on the subject at hand, and complained about the billing dept... and THATs what you found to quote. Not really the examples you were asked to produce, no?

[Filter81]

Bullet,

 

Thank you for this latest post. While I disagree with your post, at least by posting specific examples of what you feel the problem is it gives us a place to start.

 

In response to your comments, I will take them one at a time:

 

I think their thought process is if their business practices causes a few people not to do business with them anymore, they will still have other people bidding on the auctions anyway.

 

Is that your opinion or is this last statement based on something you recieved from Heritage. If so, could you send me a copy of this correspondence?

 

First off, I would ask that you please remember what it is you have been claiming. You are claiming that I, and others, are taking rumors and presenting them as facts. Do you also have a problem with people voicing their opinions? If you read that sentence, it starts out with the two words "I think". That was me voicing my opinion. At no time did I try to represent my opinion as fact.

 

As far as where I came up with my opinion, it was during a phone call I had with Ed Jaster. I was talking to him about the Batman 1 I had bought. (The one where Heritage didn't mention that the back cover was nothing but a xerox copy and then refused to take it back.) He told me at one point that since the consignor had already been paid, Heritage was not going to take the book back. At some point I responded that I had been a long-time customer of Heritage and had spent over a million dollars in the last two years, and that I felt in the scheme of things Heritage should reconsider their position and take the book back. While I don't remember the conversation well enough to quote his response word for word, he responded with something to the effect of "Most of the comics you bid on in our auctions are key issues anyway. These books will sell regardless of whether or not you are participating in our auctions." He basically told me, that even though this was a mistake on Heritage's part (failure to disclose that the Batman 1 was in fact incomplete), that Heritage would not allow me to return the book, and if I didn't like it, I was free to take my business elsewhere. Based on this conversation, as well as some stories I have been told by other Heritage buyers, I formed the OPINION that Heritage is SOMETIMES willing to lose customers to make money in the short term, thinking (probably correctly so) that it will have minimal to no impact on their ultimate bottom line as a company. However, again, I must point out I NEVER said this was a fact, so I don't see how it strengthens your argument.

 

I truly think they overcharge quite a few people on interest.

 

On what basis do you make this claim? do you have a list of people that were overcharged?

 

Again, I used the words "I truly think"... my only "claim" is that I truly think what I said is true. this again was submitted as my opinion, not fact.

 

I based this opinion on the fact that they have overcharged me on interest more than once. The last time they did so in more ways than one. One way in which they overcharged me was to not credit a $189,000 payment I made to them until several weeks after the wire transfer was received by them. They continued to charge me interest during this entire time, which wound up being an extra $1200+. I made both the higherups and the accounting department immediately aware of the situation on multiple occasions. It took them SIX MONTHS to fix the situation. In this case I told them I did not feel comfortable making my final payement on that auction until they were charging me the correct amount. It took them six months to do this, and then they decided to charge me interest on the balance that went unpaid for the six months it took them to correct the situation.

 

My feeling was that if this sort of mistake was a one-time occurence, they would have tried harder to fix the problem faster. And the fact that they still charged me the extra interest afterwards led me to believe that I felt this was a bigger deal than they did. (If it were my company, and I had accidentally overcharged a customer in such a way, I would immediately fix the problem and I certainly wouldn't charge the customer additional interest as a result of the time it took me to fix the problem!)

 

After this happened I talked to a few friends of mine in the industry. One of them sent me a copy of a Heritage invoice he received, where he was charged interest equal to roughly 2% of the purchase price on the auction despite the fact that the auction was paid in full within 3 weeks of the auction's close. (Heritage charges interest at 1% a month which means that if the invoice he showed me was correct, Heritage overcharged him.)

 

I also base this opinion on the stories several other people have told me regarding similar experiences they have had with Heritage. I did not ask for proof every time somebody told me something, but given that I had undergone a similar situation, I figured what I was being told was probably correct.

 

This is the information that led me to this particular opinion. But again, I represented it as my opinion, not a fact.

 

I personally find it surprising that they are even allowed to say "your first payment is due on November 1st, but we are going to go back and charge you interest as of October 15th". They literally start charing interest before people even get their winning invoices sent to them. But I'm no accountant so I have no idea if practices like these are common or not.

 

There are terms which you agree to when you bid on items in an auction and for someone who spends that amount of money you would think you would take a little time to get to know them

 

Well then I guess its your opinion that I acted irresponsibly. Maybe I did. But I have to tell you, Heritage's terms and conditions are rather long. How many people who bid on their auctions actually read them all the way through?

 

How many people were surprised to find out that Heritage employees and owners choose to participate in bidding on their own auctions even though its written in their catalogs that they reserve the right to do so? I suspect I am not the only person to ever bid with Heritage without reading all of the fine print. But assuming that somewhere in the fine print they state that they have the right to charge you interest on your wins even prior to notifying you that you have won a particular auction, then had I taken an hour or two to read through everything and do some additional homework prior to bidding, then I would have known about the problem prior to bidding. If they do mention it in their fine print, you are absolutely right some additional research on my part would have been one way to avoid that particular problem.

 

But given some of Heritage's other business practices I guess i'm not that surprised that they'd try to squeeze every last cent they can.

What business practices are you referring to?

 

No one business practice in particular. Some of the things I suppose I was referring to include:

 

1) My personal experience with Heritage where they refused to accept a return on a comic that they misdescribed and failed to mention the book was incomplete.

 

2) Halperin's history of dishonesty and possible fraud discussed at length in the Forbes article

 

3) My experience with Heritage where they overcharged me on interest and I had to fight so hard to get it corrected. (see above)

 

4) Heritage's willingness to allow employees/owners to bid on their own auctions, which is wrong if for no other reason than it creates the appearance of impropriety.

 

5) Heritage's controversial involvement in the press/resub game. While I am not saying that EVERY book that passes through Heritage's hands a second time in a higher grade is the fault of Jim Halperin, there is no doubt that Heritage is involved in the press/resub game to some degree.

 

They hired Matt Nelson, to in part, help determine which books that come up for auction through Heritage are the best candidates to be cracked/cleaned/pressed/resubbed. At one point several years ago I almost consigned a few books to Heritage. I submitted among others, an Incredible Hulk 3 CGC 9.0 and an All Flash 1 that I had purchased raw off of eBay as a 7.5 that I had graded as a 7.0. It was suggested to me that the Hulk 3 could possibly be pressed into a higher grade. I find it hard to believe I'm the only client of Heritage's where this subject came up.

 

As a side note, the All Flash 1 managed to come back several grades higher than expected at 9.0, and several stress marks that I remember seeing on the spine when it was sent in to Heritage were no longer visible when I got the book back. At the time I knew very little about pressing, and chalked it up to defects being less visible inside the CGC holder, or me possibly remembering the book incorrectly. I won't say anything more than that on this subject, because anything further would be speculation.

 

Basically, when I made the comment, I was referring to the fact that in MY experience Heritage has at least occassionally been willing to throw business ethics and customer service out the window in pursuit of the almighty dollar. Again, this is only my experience.. only my opinion. Those that have had nothing but positive experiences with Heritage... excellent! Its not like a company can take advantage of every customer every time and still expect to stay in business. I'm sure plenty of people have had and will continue to have nothing but positive experiences with them. My experience has been different.

 

I have to be honest though Bullet, maybe I am misunderstanding you, but I still don't see your point. You claimed that people are representing opinions as facts. Yet all the examples you pointed out, are me voicing my opinions as opinions. I'm sorry, but I don't see how they help your argument.

 

With that said, I appreciate you pointing out specific examples that you feel are cause for concern, and I hope that you continue to do so. I have gone to great lengths to never try to post something on this subject as a fact unless I can conclusively prove it. That is why your claims that I am trying to represent opinion as fact are so frustrating to me. If you are able to find any examples of me doing so, I would appreciate you bringing them to my attention so that I can apologize and edit that particular statement.

[infinite_comics-migration]

I have seen on more than one occasion people accuse Heritage of shill bidding their own auctions up to a persons maximum bid. If that were true, just from the bids I have placed personally my bill at Heritage would have been about $300,000 more for the last three years.

 

Just so interpret this correctly: are you saying that the "Heritage Bump" is a myth?

[shadroch]

The facts regarding that particular situation are:

 

1) that book was auctioned off at Heritage three times in the past three years. - FACT.

 

2) Each time the book was autioned off it was being sold as a higher CGC graded. (first an 8.0, next an 8.5, then a 9.2) - FACT

 

3) Shortly after selling as a 9.2 through Heritage, it somehow became owned by Halperin, who then decided to consign the book to LewisWayneGalleries for LESS than it just sold through Heritage for the last time around. - FACT

 

How do you know the book is owned by Jim Halperin in this instance? I do not know the circumstances regarding this book but maybe the purchaser refused to pay for the book because of its history ? or maybe Lewis Wayne Galleries owns the book. How do you know the book was a consignment. Did you get that info from Lewis Wayne Galleries?

 

.

Unless I'm mistaken,Halpe !rin stated such in a PM to a member that was quoted, with Halperins permission, on this board

[Red Hook]

I believe that is correct, Shad.

[Bullet123]

I have seen on more than one occasion people accuse Heritage of shill bidding their own auctions up to a persons maximum bid. If that were true, just from the bids I have placed personally my bill at Heritage would have been about $300,000 more for the last three years.

 

Just so interpret this correctly: are you saying that the "Heritage Bump" is a myth?

 

The Heritage bump that you refer to is when they post the reserves ( if there are any) on the consigned books. That is simply the minimum price the consignor is willing to accept for their book and Heritage bidding on their behalf. (which is standard practice for almost all auction houses, the main difference is most auctioneers do not disclose the fact that there is a reserve and simply bid at the live part of the auction up to the reserve creating the impression that someone other than the consignor may be bidding on the book.

[Filter81]

The facts regarding that particular situation are:

 

1) that book was auctioned off at Heritage three times in the past three years. - FACT.

 

2) Each time the book was autioned off it was being sold as a higher CGC graded. (first an 8.0, next an 8.5, then a 9.2) - FACT

 

3) Shortly after selling as a 9.2 through Heritage, it somehow became owned by Halperin, who then decided to consign the book to LewisWayneGalleries for LESS than it just sold through Heritage for the last time around. - FACT

 

How do you know the book is owned by Jim Halperin in this instance? I do not know the circumstances regarding this book but maybe the purchaser refused to pay for the book because of its history ? or maybe Lewis Wayne Galleries owns the book. How do you know the book was a consignment. Did you get that info from Lewis Wayne Galleries?

 

Assuming that the three times the book was auctioned off at Heritage, Halperin was not the owner, then in the event that during one of those sales the buyer backed out, the book would have been returned to the seller, not to Halperin or Heritage, so your argument here doesn't make sense.

 

As far as how I know the book is currently Halperin's, that is based on an E-mail from Halperin himself. At one point it was mentioned that every single item that LewisWayneGallery had available for sale or for auction worth $500 or more had sold through Heritage in the past year or two. At the time, I don't believe it was public knowledge that there was any connection between heritage and LewisWayne. When asked to explain, Halperin responded in an E-mail that he uses LewisWayne as a consignment service for all of his personal items. So my source in this case would be Halperin himself.

 

 

[Aman619]

right!

[alecholland]

Actually, I spent in excess of $2,000,000 with them between 2003 & 2005.

 

+ 1,999,996 more of those.