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RIP KEITH CONTARINO - CONDOLENCES to his family+ friends

Started by drdonaldblake,

340 posts in this topic

drdonaldblake

drdonaldblake

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Fouteen. Yes, Ben and I have had an arrangement. I have been buying and selling books for him for at least 15 years. I have received no compensation at all for any of this until the past 2 years when he found a collection here in the States. After he had bought all the early Marvels and I sold them for him either myself or through auction houses, he decided to cut me in for 30% of the rest. I'm not complaining but wonder what 30% of all the early books would have been. Certainly 5 figures and possibly more than $26,000. I can say this:had I charged him 10% for all the books I bought and sold for him over the years would have amounted to much more than $26,000. I'm not saying I don't owe him any money just because I've done a lot of sales for him for free. Just saying it's been conveniently forgotten by him and not mentioned anywhere. As I learned in jail, people you've known for years all of a sudden forget anything nice you've done for them when things go wrong. Your circle of friends is smaller than you think

 

I don't intend to come back here to defend myself. As someone pointed out; I have other things to do right now. Those of you that know me should know the legal charges I have pending are ridiculous but they are serious and I have to defend myself which is costing a small fortune. This will delay me paying Ben back but he will be paid.

 

Keith Contarino

 

to clarify this point made by keith:

 

keith had been buying and selling comics @ no charge for me for15 years, true.

He did not mention that i also gave him gifts of thanks including many valuable comics.

The collection i found, keith had been getting a very generous 30 % cut from 2009 actually, NOT justt the last 2 years.

 

The majority of the more valuable comics were sold via an auction house and not by keith.

 

So essentially keith got 30 % for receiving the books, packing them and sending them to cgc and then to the auction house.

 

below is a link to the spidey 24 cgc 9.6 which sold in 2009, keith got 30% of that

 

http://www.comiclink.com/text/2009-11recordpricesrealized.htm

 

 

again, i hope keith can work things out and move on

 

That and the avengers 4 information are very interesting...

 

That certainly puts a different spin on the idea that essentially 'no compensation' was received!

 

May I ask what the avengers 4 was sold for, or what the grade was?

 

it cgc'd 8.5 unpressed, white pages

 

it was a snow white cover with no transfer stains and had snow white pages

i think from memory it went for $4000ish

it was a fresh beautiful book

keith kept saying how he'd been looking for a copy like this for 40 years, would never sell it etc

 

always 3 sides to a story people

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comix4fun

comix4fun

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Eazy :slapfight: not easy :)

 

Eazy for you to say. :whatev:

 

I attributed the misspelling to you cruising down the street in your '64, and the 40 oz. in your lap that is freezing your unmentionables.

 

 

You come talkin' that trash we'll pull your card.

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thehumantorch

thehumantorch

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Wow!! Heard I was getting slammed here. First, I intend for Ben to get every penny of his money back. I've also made him a beneficiary on my Life Insurance policy just in case anything happens to me.

 

Fouteen. Yes, Ben and I have had an arrangement. I have been buying and selling books for him for at least 15 years. I have received no compensation at all for any of this until the past 2 years when he found a collection here in the States. After he had bought all the early Marvels and I sold them for him either myself or through auction houses, he decided to cut me in for 30% of the rest. I'm not complaining but wonder what 30% of all the early books would have been. Certainly 5 figures and possibly more than $26,000. I can say this:had I charged him 10% for all the books I bought and sold for him over the years would have amounted to much more than $26,000. I'm not saying I don't owe him any money just because I've done a lot of sales for him for free. Just saying it's been conveniently forgotten by him and not mentioned anywhere. Keith Contarino

 

I find this thread very troubling. You trusted each other, helped each other and are friends. You both obviously had the best intentions.

 

How he compensated you in the past, how unfair the charges against you are, your promises to repay him, your excellent reputation in the hobby, the stress that you were under don't change the fact that his money is missing.

 

I'm willing to bet that if you hadn't ignored Ben's attempts to communicate he would have offered his help and told you to pay him back when you could. Your silence up to this point has forced him to make this public.

 

You owe him a deep, heartfelt apology.

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comix4fun

comix4fun

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why would anyone let someone hold 26k for them. With the avenues today to move cash quickly for items, it seems very odd.

 

 

If it's international, and considering the incredibly high tax rates of some in the EU, it may have avoided losing 40-50% of the principal.

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