Romitaman response to everything going on recently

[Meeley Man]

Reputations can take many years to build and can be destroyed overnight.

 

Very true. Very true, indeed.

[Kirby Codex]

I have been dealing with Mike for over 10 years, have never made a public post and keep a very tight group of friends within the hobby. This account was created to defend a very dear friend of mine.

 

Mike has gone out of his way to help me acquire some of the most important silver age pieces I have ever seen and hoped to own. This does not mean that my funds are limitless, actually they are quite the opposite, but Mike has always been more than fair with time payments and has never tried to extract extra money because he knows I want the piece. As a matter of fact, he was always really happy to hear how pleased I was to acquire the page and always tried to make the deal work out. In more than one case other collectors have offered cash up front and even a bit extra to get these pieces, but Mike has honoured our initial agreement because I was in first.

 

When I was diagnosed with an aggressive blood cancer about five years ago Mike put all payments on hold and made sure all I focused on was my health. There was no time placed on payments and my pieces were kept without question. As a nurse in this area he helped me understand that there was a really strong chance that things would be fine. Things with my health are now 100% and Mike was there for me all the way.

 

Prices on pieces have really stopped me from collecting these days, but Mike and I still talk on a regular basis and I consider him a very good friend. My friends in the hobby collect serious silver age pieces and I have only heard Mike being talked about in a positive light.

 

[Bill C]

When I was diagnosed with an aggressive blood cancer about five years ago Mike put all payments on hold and made sure all I focused on was my health. There was no time placed on payments and my pieces were kept without question. As a nurse in this area he helped me understand that there was a really strong chance that things would be fine. Things with my health are now 100% and Mike was there for me all the way.

 

Great news (and story!)

[MR SigS]

I have been dealing with Mike for over 10 years, have never made a public post and keep a very tight group of friends within the hobby. This account was created to defend a very dear friend of mine.

 

Mike has gone out of his way to help me acquire some of the most important silver age pieces I have ever seen and hoped to own. This does not mean that my funds are limitless, actually they are quite the opposite, but Mike has always been more than fair with time payments and has never tried to extract extra money because he knows I want the piece. As a matter of fact, he was always really happy to hear how pleased I was to acquire the page and always tried to make the deal work out. In more than one case other collectors have offered cash up front and even a bit extra to get these pieces, but Mike has honoured our initial agreement because I was in first.

 

When I was diagnosed with an aggressive blood cancer about five years ago Mike put all payments on hold and made sure all I focused on was my health. There was no time placed on payments and my pieces were kept without question. As a nurse in this area he helped me understand that there was a really strong chance that things would be fine. Things with my health are now 100% and Mike was there for me all the way.

 

Prices on pieces have really stopped me from collecting these days, but Mike and I still talk on a regular basis and I consider him a very good friend. My friends in the hobby collect serious silver age pieces and I have only heard Mike being talked about in a positive light.

 

 

Glad your health is at 100%. Sorry that prices are keeping you from collecting- There are some really high prices out there

 

 

[AKA Rick]

 

 

Glad your health is at 100%. Sorry that prices are keeping you from collecting- There are some really high prices out there

 

 

Agreed in that affirmation of your health status, congrats on the recovery.

 

As long as you have your vision, you can still appreciate the beauty of art without the possession nor ownership, so in that way still feel a part of the community and enjoy life, where health and well being is more important than buying non-essentials like artwork.

[thehumantorch]

I have been dealing with Mike for over 10 years, have never made a public post and keep a very tight group of friends within the hobby. This account was created to defend a very dear friend of mine.

 

Mike has gone out of his way to help me acquire some of the most important silver age pieces I have ever seen and hoped to own. This does not mean that my funds are limitless, actually they are quite the opposite, but Mike has always been more than fair with time payments and has never tried to extract extra money because he knows I want the piece. As a matter of fact, he was always really happy to hear how pleased I was to acquire the page and always tried to make the deal work out. In more than one case other collectors have offered cash up front and even a bit extra to get these pieces, but Mike has honoured our initial agreement because I was in first.

 

When I was diagnosed with an aggressive blood cancer about five years ago Mike put all payments on hold and made sure all I focused on was my health. There was no time placed on payments and my pieces were kept without question. As a nurse in this area he helped me understand that there was a really strong chance that things would be fine. Things with my health are now 100% and Mike was there for me all the way.

 

Prices on pieces have really stopped me from collecting these days, but Mike and I still talk on a regular basis and I consider him a very good friend. My friends in the hobby collect serious silver age pieces and I have only heard Mike being talked about in a positive light.

Welcome to the boards. Glad your health is ok.

[AnkurJ]

I have been dealing with Mike for over 10 years, have never made a public post and keep a very tight group of friends within the hobby. This account was created to defend a very dear friend of mine.

 

Mike has gone out of his way to help me acquire some of the most important silver age pieces I have ever seen and hoped to own. This does not mean that my funds are limitless, actually they are quite the opposite, but Mike has always been more than fair with time payments and has never tried to extract extra money because he knows I want the piece. As a matter of fact, he was always really happy to hear how pleased I was to acquire the page and always tried to make the deal work out. In more than one case other collectors have offered cash up front and even a bit extra to get these pieces, but Mike has honoured our initial agreement because I was in first.

 

When I was diagnosed with an aggressive blood cancer about five years ago Mike put all payments on hold and made sure all I focused on was my health. There was no time placed on payments and my pieces were kept without question. As a nurse in this area he helped me understand that there was a really strong chance that things would be fine. Things with my health are now 100% and Mike was there for me all the way.

 

Prices on pieces have really stopped me from collecting these days, but Mike and I still talk on a regular basis and I consider him a very good friend. My friends in the hobby collect serious silver age pieces and I have only heard Mike being talked about in a positive light.

 

 

Glad your health is at 100%. Sorry that prices are keeping you from collecting- There are some really high prices out there

 

 

Glad your health is ok!

And regarding the high prices....well...there is a reason why some dealers have more than flexible payment plans with little care on time limits. In some cases it is how these record prices are achieved.

[Michael (OML)]

I will be brief in my own views -- I'm no fan of shill bidding but I am a fan of Mike Burkey's. He has been very helpful and trusting whenever I've dealt with him, whether he was accepting time payments or sending artwork before I even paid. For my part, I appreciate his candor and have moved on.

[Kevin76]

If you put a reserve some people consider less buyer interest and less likely that a emotional biddder will come on board also

 

everyone buys based on emotion anyway

[ThothAmon]

As a buyer of original art from Heritage and other auction sights it is truly disappointing that this is was/is going on. Romitaman's mea culpa, while heartfelt, doesn't settle the matter. At a minimum Heritage and Romitaman should come clean on every piece that was sold via consignment. Heritage should be especially ashamed if they ever actually shipped purportedly sold art back to the Romitaman, as this would be evidence of their conscious disregard of the schilling. Sadly, this makes me question the entire market.

[Mephisto]

Sorry, but if this incident is news to anyone that this kind of stuff has been going on in auction houses they are either a newb or have had their head in the sand. There are countless posts on these boards going back years involving various auction houses. These include employee bidding, owners bidding/buying pieces, NP Gresham.I've always just assumed that many people have shill accounts/friends shilling away in many of the auction houses.

 

There is a lot of price manipulation that and exaggeration that goes on. Sorry but it's true. It is nice to kind of have an market range established for pieces but ultimately you just have to decide what you are willing to pay for any given piece.

 

Over the years I have grown to find MANY of the dealers to be complete person_who_is_obnoxiously_self-impressed bags. I would still rather deal with Mike then most of them.

 

[ThothAmon]

 

I do realize that this goes on but expect it at ebay not Heritage.

[crassus]

Sorry, but if this incident is news to anyone that this kind of stuff has been going on in auction houses they are either a newb or have had their head in the sand. There are countless posts on these boards going back years involving various auction houses. These include employee bidding, owners bidding/buying pieces, NP Gresham.I've always just assumed that many people have shill accounts/friends shilling away in many of the auction houses.

 

There is a lot of price manipulation that and exaggeration that goes on. Sorry but it's true. It is nice to kind of have an market range established for pieces but ultimately you just have to decide what you are willing to pay for any given piece.

 

Over the years I have grown to find MANY of the dealers to be complete person_who_is_obnoxiously_self-impressed bags. I would still rather deal with Mike then most of them.

 

Why would you want to deal with it at all? This is the part of the OA hobby equation I have a hard time understanding.

 

[comix4fun]

Sorry, but if this incident is news to anyone that this kind of stuff has been going on in auction houses they are either a newb or have had their head in the sand. There are countless posts on these boards going back years involving various auction houses. These include employee bidding, owners bidding/buying pieces, NP Gresham.I've always just assumed that many people have shill accounts/friends shilling away in many of the auction houses.

 

There is a lot of price manipulation that and exaggeration that goes on. Sorry but it's true. It is nice to kind of have an market range established for pieces but ultimately you just have to decide what you are willing to pay for any given piece.

 

Over the years I have grown to find MANY of the dealers to be complete person_who_is_obnoxiously_self-impressed bags. I would still rather deal with Mike then most of them.

 

Why would you want to deal with it at all? This is the part of the OA hobby equation I have a hard time understanding.

 

 

From the hobbies I've participated or even dabbled in, (comics, coins, autographs, sports items, movie posters, rare books, etc) I can tell you without hesitation that every single one carries the exact same detrimental elements to some degree, some far worse than OA, but people still keep coming back. As the money and pieces climb the ladder of price and popularity it only gets worse, attracts more people....and more of the wrong kind of people along with it.

 

Maybe it's the collector's gene that prevents so many from walking away from people and deals they would have no problem walking away from in any other area of their life, but it's common and it's across every collecting hobby I've ever seen first hand.

[crassus]

Sorry, but if this incident is news to anyone that this kind of stuff has been going on in auction houses they are either a newb or have had their head in the sand. There are countless posts on these boards going back years involving various auction houses. These include employee bidding, owners bidding/buying pieces, NP Gresham.I've always just assumed that many people have shill accounts/friends shilling away in many of the auction houses.

 

There is a lot of price manipulation that and exaggeration that goes on. Sorry but it's true. It is nice to kind of have an market range established for pieces but ultimately you just have to decide what you are willing to pay for any given piece.

 

Over the years I have grown to find MANY of the dealers to be complete person_who_is_obnoxiously_self-impressed bags. I would still rather deal with Mike then most of them.

 

Why would you want to deal with it at all? This is the part of the OA hobby equation I have a hard time understanding.

 

 

From the hobbies I've participated or even dabbled in, (comics, coins, autographs, sports items, movie posters, rare books, etc) I can tell you without hesitation that every single one carries the exact same detrimental elements to some degree, some far worse than OA, but people still keep coming back. As the money and pieces climb the ladder of price and popularity it only gets worse, attracts more people....and more of the wrong kind of people along with it.

 

Maybe it's the collector's gene that prevents so many from walking away from people and deals they would have no problem walking away from in any other area of their life, but it's common and it's across every collecting hobby I've ever seen first hand.

 

Maybe the difference I'm perceiving has more to do with supply than the demand. Comics has its fair share of d-bags too, no doubt, but there seems less complacency about that than there is in OA, no? Perhaps the difference is that in comics I don't have to put up with the same nonsense in order to get the book I want. Would this be closer to the truth of it?

[Bronty]

pressing, microtrimming, restoration, removal of restoration, undisclosed defects, overgrading... oh there's plenty of d-baggery in comics

 

Not that it makes it OK, just saying.

[comix4fun]

Sorry, but if this incident is news to anyone that this kind of stuff has been going on in auction houses they are either a newb or have had their head in the sand. There are countless posts on these boards going back years involving various auction houses. These include employee bidding, owners bidding/buying pieces, NP Gresham.I've always just assumed that many people have shill accounts/friends shilling away in many of the auction houses.

 

There is a lot of price manipulation that and exaggeration that goes on. Sorry but it's true. It is nice to kind of have an market range established for pieces but ultimately you just have to decide what you are willing to pay for any given piece.

 

Over the years I have grown to find MANY of the dealers to be complete person_who_is_obnoxiously_self-impressed bags. I would still rather deal with Mike then most of them.

 

Why would you want to deal with it at all? This is the part of the OA hobby equation I have a hard time understanding.

 

 

From the hobbies I've participated or even dabbled in, (comics, coins, autographs, sports items, movie posters, rare books, etc) I can tell you without hesitation that every single one carries the exact same detrimental elements to some degree, some far worse than OA, but people still keep coming back. As the money and pieces climb the ladder of price and popularity it only gets worse, attracts more people....and more of the wrong kind of people along with it.

 

Maybe it's the collector's gene that prevents so many from walking away from people and deals they would have no problem walking away from in any other area of their life, but it's common and it's across every collecting hobby I've ever seen first hand.

 

Maybe the difference I'm perceiving has more to do with supply than the demand. Comics has its fair share of d-bags too, no doubt, but there seems less complacency about that than there is in OA, no? Perhaps the difference is that in comics I don't have to put up with the same nonsense in order to get the book I want. Would this be closer to the truth of it?

 

 

It might be slightly more acute in artwork, but not much more than the top end of Silver Age and (especially) Golden Age comics. Some of the guys at the top of those areas, where the books are far harder to come by and far more expensive, would have been out of business years ago with their "stick it in, break it off, insult their mother in the process" customer service model if not for the scarcity of their product.

 

[JadeGiant]

Sorry, but if this incident is news to anyone that this kind of stuff has been going on in auction houses they are either a newb or have had their head in the sand. There are countless posts on these boards going back years involving various auction houses. These include employee bidding, owners bidding/buying pieces, NP Gresham.I've always just assumed that many people have shill accounts/friends shilling away in many of the auction houses.

 

There is a lot of price manipulation that and exaggeration that goes on. Sorry but it's true. It is nice to kind of have an market range established for pieces but ultimately you just have to decide what you are willing to pay for any given piece.

 

Over the years I have grown to find MANY of the dealers to be complete person_who_is_obnoxiously_self-impressed bags. I would still rather deal with Mike then most of them.

 

Why would you want to deal with it at all? This is the part of the OA hobby equation I have a hard time understanding.

 

 

From the hobbies I've participated or even dabbled in, (comics, coins, autographs, sports items, movie posters, rare books, etc) I can tell you without hesitation that every single one carries the exact same detrimental elements to some degree, some far worse than OA, but people still keep coming back. As the money and pieces climb the ladder of price and popularity it only gets worse, attracts more people....and more of the wrong kind of people along with it.

 

Maybe it's the collector's gene that prevents so many from walking away from people and deals they would have no problem walking away from in any other area of their life, but it's common and it's across every collecting hobby I've ever seen first hand.

 

Maybe the difference I'm perceiving has more to do with supply than the demand. Comics has its fair share of d-bags too, no doubt, but there seems less complacency about that than there is in OA, no? Perhaps the difference is that in comics I don't have to put up with the same nonsense in order to get the book I want. Would this be closer to the truth of it?

 

 

It might be slightly more acute in artwork, but not much more than the top end of Silver Age and (especially) Golden Age comics. Some of the guys at the top of those areas, where the books are far harder to come by and far more expensive, would have been out of business years ago with their "stick it in, break it off, insult their mother in the process" customer service model if not for the scarcity of their product.

 

This seems to be the key. There is ALWAYS another version of a comic to buy – if you encounter a dealer with bad business practices you can look elsewhere. This scales back as the books get older but it still applies. There are lots of dealers for comics out there. The internet has blown this wide open and CGC addresses many of the questions about what has been done to a book (resto, etc.). In OA, the playing field is so small. The dealer list is very short when considering your options for reviewing an inventory of available artwork. It also seems that most (if not all) of the dealers started due to being able to build their inventory when the art was much more accessible and affordable. The common denominator for most of the dealers is that they got in early before the market exploded, not necessarily because they demonstrate great business practices. It comes down to who has the art and how do they let it out into the market. In the big picture, I am still new to the game but I don’t (or haven’t) seen anyone enter the market as a dealer in recent years based on a platform of excellent business practice – it’s too hard to enter. I do see new entrants in the market in the form of repping artists and over time you can build an inventory of art from their stable of artists but that’s a different animal. In those cases, stellar business skills are the key ingredient to success (and a good group of artists helps as well). Not saying that a seasoned art dealer can’t have good business practices; the 2 concepts aren’t mutually exclusive.

[Fred Chamberlain]

There are dealers that I will pass up a grail for. At day's end, it's just artwork. *Ready to dodge bottles...*

[Terry Doyle]

Sorry, but if this incident is news to anyone that this kind of stuff has been going on in auction houses they are either a newb or have had their head in the sand. There are countless posts on these boards going back years involving various auction houses. These include employee bidding, owners bidding/buying pieces, NP Gresham.I've always just assumed that many people have shill accounts/friends shilling away in many of the auction houses.

 

There is a lot of price manipulation that and exaggeration that goes on. Sorry but it's true. It is nice to kind of have an market range established for pieces but ultimately you just have to decide what you are willing to pay for any given piece.

 

Over the years I have grown to find MANY of the dealers to be complete person_who_is_obnoxiously_self-impressed bags. I would still rather deal with Mike then most of them.

 

Why would you want to deal with it at all? This is the part of the OA hobby equation I have a hard time understanding.

 

 

From the hobbies I've participated or even dabbled in, (comics, coins, autographs, sports items, movie posters, rare books, etc) I can tell you without hesitation that every single one carries the exact same detrimental elements to some degree, some far worse than OA, but people still keep coming back. As the money and pieces climb the ladder of price and popularity it only gets worse, attracts more people....and more of the wrong kind of people along with it.

 

Maybe it's the collector's gene that prevents so many from walking away from people and deals they would have no problem walking away from in any other area of their life, but it's common and it's across every collecting hobby I've ever seen first hand.

 

Maybe the difference I'm perceiving has more to do with supply than the demand. Comics has its fair share of d-bags too, no doubt, but there seems less complacency about that than there is in OA, no? Perhaps the difference is that in comics I don't have to put up with the same nonsense in order to get the book I want. Would this be closer to the truth of it?

 

 

It might be slightly more acute in artwork, but not much more than the top end of Silver Age and (especially) Golden Age comics. Some of the guys at the top of those areas, where the books are far harder to come by and far more expensive, would have been out of business years ago with their "stick it in, break it off, insult their mother in the process" customer service model if not for the scarcity of their product.

 

This seems to be the key. There is ALWAYS another version of a comic to buy – if you encounter a dealer with bad business practices you can look elsewhere. This scales back as the books get older but it still applies. There are lots of dealers for comics out there. The internet has blown this wide open and CGC addresses many of the questions about what has been done to a book (resto, etc.). In OA, the playing field is so small. The dealer list is very short when considering your options for reviewing an inventory of available artwork. It also seems that most (if not all) of the dealers started due to being able to build their inventory when the art was much more accessible and affordable. The common denominator for most of the dealers is that they got in early before the market exploded, not necessarily because they demonstrate great business practices. It comes down to who has the art and how do they let it out into the market. In the big picture, I am still new to the game but I don’t (or haven’t) seen anyone enter the market as a dealer in recent years based on a platform of excellent business practice – it’s too hard to enter. I do see new entrants in the market in the form of repping artists and over time you can build an inventory of art from their stable of artists but that’s a different animal. In those cases, stellar business skills are the key ingredient to success (and a good group of artists helps as well). Not saying that a seasoned art dealer can’t have good business practices; the 2 concepts aren’t mutually exclusive.

 

Good post, jaded one.