Dave Bushing has weighed in on the Winslow helmet situation. There is one part of his description which I find troubling. Specifically...

Mr Bushing wrote:

"Next, Doug had mailed this helmet previously to a forum regular who is a football expert and collector. It was returned with notes on the wrong faceguard. Doug had the helmet corrected with a period replacement and then deliberately put it up for auction without disclosing this fact hoping to get it by the collecting public and risking his company reputation for a profit of maybe $1000 and hoping that said expert who watches and bids on many football items in their auction does not notice it and blow the whistle. Possibly, but it does not make any logical sense to me."

First of all, I am not an expert. I am a collector who does the best to research items when buying. I have never represented myself as an expert, because I am not.

What actually happened is, Doug Allen sold this helmet to Vintage Authentics (traded actually) as a game used helmet from the Duke Hott Collection.

Vintage offered it to me for $5500 saying Mastro liked it, Lou Lampson liked it and besides it's from the Duke Hott Collection.

To say "It was returned with notes on the wrong faceguard" minimizes the situation. In actuality it was returned by an angry customer who felt let down by all of the entities involved. I was angry that it took me and not all of the actual experts (people paid to be experts) to realize something was wrong here. My $5500 was at stake here,. It wasn't "sent" to me. It was SOLD to me.

Mr Bushing then wrote: "...hoping that said expert who watches and bids on many football items in their auction does not notice it and blow the whistle."

I would really hope that my bidding tendencies were not a topic of discussion between Mr. Allen and Mr. Bushing. That is not information that should be disclosed.

And something that Mr. Bushing did not comment on which has baffled many people. Why would an auction house modify an item? Is that really the road we should be going down in the hobby?

Should I be wondering what has been modified by an auction house when bidding on an item?

And finally, I think Mr. Grob's comments about disclosure were more about Mastro identifying which lots they have a financial interest in, and less about the switching of the facemask.

Eric