Doug Allen, a fine man

[ShaimOnYou]

I don't know if these have been posted yet on this site, but here you go. It appears Mr. Allen tried to dupe the feds and it backfired. He is probably going to take it in the shorts at his sentencing.

Two articles, both worth a read:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-auction-house-exec-pleads-guilty-to-fraud-in-sale-of-baseball-memorabilia-20140811-story.html

http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article/100230/report-john-rogers-was-tipped-to-fbi-raid

That original Mastro group, what a clean bunch of classy fellas. Be looking for the new HBO series on "The Sports Memorabilia Soprano's"


Chris

[ShaimOnYou]

Yet another. There is a little overlap on the info, but I just find such pleasure in reading it over, and over, and over again.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/i-team/ex-maestro-auctions-president-facing-12-years-jail-article-1.1899999

[aclben]

Probably not the best judgement to post this in the "About Us" section on the Legendary Auctions site:

"Our only concerns are to offer your material in the most ideal manner possible and to make sure that the value of your material is maximized. And this is what we do better than anyone."

I guess they've proven this...

I own an item purchased from a Legendary Auctions auction. As a relative newbie to the game used space, does this lower the value? Or should we assume that there is always a risk that a non-authentic item makes it through all auction houses but that most would be trusted as authentic?

Thanks,

aclben

[ShaimOnYou]

Probably not the best judgement to post this in the "About Us" section on the Legendary Auctions site:

"Our only concerns are to offer your material in the most ideal manner possible and to make sure that the value of your material is maximized. And this is what we do better than anyone."

I guess they've proven this...

I own an item purchased from a Legendary Auctions auction. As a relative newbie to the game used space, does this lower the value? Or should we assume that there is always a risk that a non-authentic item makes it through all auction houses but that most would be trusted as authentic?

Thanks,

aclben

The authenticity of your item will carry what ever value it has on it's own merit. The fact that you won it from a Legendary Auction is meaningless in regards to the value if you ever choose to sell it.

That said, you may have PAID a bid or two more than "fair market value" if it was one of the items these crooks shill bid up. God knows I have over the years.

Bill Mastro and Doug Allen (and the rest of the Soprano gang) made a point of destroying most of the past auction records, as I remember reading. They saved themselves from many years being added onto their sentencing by doing so. Additionally, I'm sure the FBI's estimate on how many millions they shilled out of collectors is a conservative figure. But we'll never know now. Bill Mastro even had his own personal family dog listed as a bidder, and made bids on his dog's account.

That's ruff to deal with.