Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Mike Kaminski on March 29, 2014 at 5:01pm

$$$

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Permalink Reply by GraphingMlb on March 29, 2014 at 6:11pm

Kam did they employee you to cut this?

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Permalink Reply by Mike Kaminski on March 29, 2014 at 6:24pm

Pssh, I would've done a much nicer job.

Seriously though, even I don't see the point in cutting up documents like that. I know theres a TON of Cobb cut ups on eBay right now that only feature letters he wrote going for like $70-100 each, but why would someone really want that?

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Permalink Reply by James Stone on March 29, 2014 at 7:41pm

I guess I just thought there was a line they wouldn't cross. Guess the 40% in auction fees they skim off every item just ain't enough. Neither is their ridiculous shipping charges (which I know they got to be skimming money off of). Not trying to totally bad mouth them, they offer nice stuff. But they seem greedy.

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Permalink Reply by James Stone on March 30, 2014 at 5:24am

Eh, not really. The way I look at these auction houses is the only thing I am doing is making them money by cosigning to them. They take 15% up front off me, then they take another 20% after the auction from the buyer. Guess who's money that is? Mine and IMO that's an extreme amount of money just to list my item. Unless I get really really lucky with the item, Its a loser for me and a winner for the auction house every single time.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Zarelli on March 30, 2014 at 7:23pm

James - I'm not sure you understand what an auction house does. They don't "just list the item."

A good auction house is going to aggressively market your item, publish a beautiful catalog and has a lot of deep pocketed and loyal customers. They assume the risk with payment, shipping and dealing with the buyer. All you have to do is send them your item and they do all the rest. And, if they are good, they will get a much stronger price than you would get trying to sell it yourself... Even after paying them their commission.

Maybe it is not so apparent with a common $50 or $100 item, but for a higher priced or rare item, you are almost always going to do better consigning to a reputable auction house.

(I am not a dealer, but I am an authentication consultant with RR Auction.)

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Permalink Reply by wascher on March 30, 2014 at 3:24pm

I agree with you William. 

The way it is written it states clearly that they came in this way - with info on how and from what it was clipped, as well as another COA.   Why shouldn't RR sell it for the customer if the customer employs RR?  I think we'd be hearing more about RR NOT selling something for a customer if its a legit item like this.  What would be their reasoning?  "Sorry we don't like that you clipped this up?"

While I don't support clipping either (it irritates me to see it too) I don't find anything unethical about selling the item for a customer. 

Wascher

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Permalink Reply by Brick Hunter on March 29, 2014 at 11:04pm

I can't even stand to look at this stuff. What people will mangle and destroy in pursuit of the almighty dollar. Any reputable auction house should have a policy against selling cut up history. It's some of the lowest of the low.

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Permalink Reply by James Stone on March 30, 2014 at 5:25am

I agree.

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Permalink Reply by Dane on April 9, 2014 at 12:59am

This is political, and, for the most part, wrong. When a company raids another company, the basis is inefficiency in the existing business model. If the value of the individual parts exceeds the value of the whole, the company was far from perfect. Yes, they were productive, but at a point of low efficiency.

This is why, as much as I joke about Mike "King of Cuts" Kam, I don't fault him for cutting up his items, assuming he's unable to find a collector willing to pay the aggregated value of the individual cut pieces for the whatever item he's cutting them from. If, however, the item has added value as a collection (the sum value exceeding the parts), then cutting it up is poor business.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on March 30, 2014 at 7:52pm

They didn't cut up them up, they were consigned that way. Keep in mind that all cut signatures came from letters and documents. Years ago, many collectors and dealers would cut off the signature and throw away the rest of the piece. It's sad that they did that, but there's nothing wrong with selling them today.

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Permalink Reply by James Stone on April 10, 2014 at 12:10pm

Doesn't matter that they didn't cut them up. They are encouraging it. Just because people cut up signatures, doesn't make it right. I understand this is business, but they should have standards, and allowing cut up documents shouldn't be something they allow in my opinion.

Should they start accepting Third Reich materials too?

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