We Buy Treasure - Anyone Know These Guys?

[JimCaravello]

These guys had a big ad in my local sports page today ( Raleigh, NC ) - they are located about 2 hours from me in Winston - Salem, NC. I have never heard of them - anyone know anything about them??

http://www.webuytreasure.com/

[kingjammy24]

hi jim

apparently "rick cash" is the infamous rick kohl aka broadway rick. see here:
http://www.gameuseduniverse.com/vb_forum/showthread.php?t=11619

i loved the part where he's willing to pay $12,500 for gehrig jerseys.

rudy.

[kingjammy24]

a little more on richard kohl:

http://www.gameuseduniverse.com/vb_forum/showthread.php?t=10421

"Tracy Marander, one of Cobain's old girlfriends, doesn't seem conflicted. After having lived with Cobain for three years in Olympia, Wash., Marander still has artwork potentially worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Her collection consists of four paintings and an oil pastel, all made when Cobain was in his early 20s, before the world knew the word "grunge." One painting depicts a white skeletal figure with knees upraised--a self-portrait with a touch of tortured German expressionism. "Kurt always thought he was too skinny," she says. Other subjects include fetuses, a homeless man and even Charles Manson. "He didn't paint happy-looking flowery stuff." A married stay-at-home mom, the 39-year-old Marander says she'd consider unloading one or two pieces to put a down payment on a house or send her two children to college. The rest she'd like to save for their inheritance. "Some guy harassed me for two weeks to sell him something," she says. That guy was Richard Kohl, 57, a longtime sports and rock memorabilia dealer in Gainesville, Fla. He's also the one who tracked down Cobain's 81-year-old grandfather, Leland, in his Montesano, Wash. trailer in August and gave him $16,000 for a bunch of Kurt's effects. Among them were three early watercolors, two signed cards, two handmade cards, two sketches--of Donald Duck and Goofy, made when Kurt was 6--and a handwritten note. Every Cobain thing, in fact, that Leland still owned. Kohl sold the lot for $50,000 to Edward Kosinski, a New York art dealer. Kosinski has so far pocketed $15,300 for three of those items, sold in Monterey, and has another two pieces up for bid at the Christie's auction. If they sell at the low end of the estimates, they'll bring in another $20,000."

and to top it off:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3078735/

in the dung heap of disreputable dealers, there are few lower than kohl.

rudy.

[Eric]

From NY Daily News

BY BILL MADDEN
Sunday, May 11th 2003, 7:57AM

MONTE GETS PLAQUE BACK

Here's a feelgood story about one of the really good guys of baseball, Hall of Famer Monte Irvin, done bad by one of those predator sports memorabilia dealers.

A while back, Irvin, who lives on the west coast of Florida, got a call from a guy named Rick Kohl - "Broadway Rick" of Strike Zone Collectibles in Alachua, Fla. - asking him if he was interested in selling any of his memorabilia. When Irvin said he was, Kohl managed to talk his way into visiting the 84-year-old former Giants and Negro League outfielder at his house.

"Once he got in my house," Irvin related, "I foolishly let him rummage through all my belongings. All the while, he kept asking about my Hall of Fame plaque. When he finally found it in my closet, he tossed it on the pile of all the other stuff, and gave me $2,000 for it. By that time, I was confused and I just let him take it. Then I found out a few months later it was going on auction for $10,000. At first, I was embarrassed and ashamed that I'd been so gullible, but then I got mad as hell."

When Irvin's friend and fellow Hall of Famer, Joe Morgan, heard about it, he was equally livid. After going through some back channels, Morgan made an appeal to Joshua Evans, the proprietor of Lelands Auction House on Long Island, to see if there was a way to return the plaque to Irvin.
"Even though I'd paid $10,000 for it, I felt badly for Monte," Evans said. "It disturbs us when you hear about these things; where these old players are taken advantage of. The $2,000 was ridiculous.

"To give you an example, we sold Pee Wee Reese's plaque and got $18,000 for the Reese family, and we've never sold a Hall of Fame plaque for less than $10,000. Anyway, I ate the $10,000 and returned the plaque to Monte. I realize it's awfully hard to get $10,000 back in good will, but maybe this will be a springboard for us in regard to Hall of Famers coming directly to us in the future."

Said Irvin: "I'm grateful to Josh and all the people who helped me get my plaque back and I'll never make this mistake again. The lesson here is: Be vigilant and make prudent decisions."

[worldchamps]

Do they buy fake autographs? Too me both of those Jordans look way off!!!!

http://www.webuytreasure.com/Basketball%20Memorabilia/Signed%20Basketballs.jpg

[ChrisCavalier]

From NY Daily News

BY BILL MADDEN
Sunday, May 11th 2003, 7:57AM

MONTE GETS PLAQUE BACK

Here's a feelgood story about one of the really good guys of baseball, Hall of Famer Monte Irvin, done bad by one of those predator sports memorabilia dealers.

A while back, Irvin, who lives on the west coast of Florida, got a call from a guy named Rick Kohl - "Broadway Rick" of Strike Zone Collectibles in Alachua, Fla. - asking him if he was interested in selling any of his memorabilia. When Irvin said he was, Kohl managed to talk his way into visiting the 84-year-old former Giants and Negro League outfielder at his house.

"Once he got in my house," Irvin related, "I foolishly let him rummage through all my belongings. All the while, he kept asking about my Hall of Fame plaque. When he finally found it in my closet, he tossed it on the pile of all the other stuff, and gave me $2,000 for it. By that time, I was confused and I just let him take it. Then I found out a few months later it was going on auction for $10,000. At first, I was embarrassed and ashamed that I'd been so gullible, but then I got mad as hell."

When Irvin's friend and fellow Hall of Famer, Joe Morgan, heard about it, he was equally livid. After going through some back channels, Morgan made an appeal to Joshua Evans, the proprietor of Lelands Auction House on Long Island, to see if there was a way to return the plaque to Irvin.
"Even though I'd paid $10,000 for it, I felt badly for Monte," Evans said. "It disturbs us when you hear about these things; where these old players are taken advantage of. The $2,000 was ridiculous.

"To give you an example, we sold Pee Wee Reese's plaque and got $18,000 for the Reese family, and we've never sold a Hall of Fame plaque for less than $10,000. Anyway, I ate the $10,000 and returned the plaque to Monte. I realize it's awfully hard to get $10,000 back in good will, but maybe this will be a springboard for us in regard to Hall of Famers coming directly to us in the future."

Said Irvin: "I'm grateful to Josh and all the people who helped me get my plaque back and I'll never make this mistake again. The lesson here is: Be vigilant and make prudent decisions."
That's a pretty neat thing Josh Evans did in returning the plaque to Irvin. We actually set up next to the Negro Leagues booth at the SportsFest in Chicago last year. In fact, Rob Steinmetz and I spent a good deal of time speaking with some of the former players and it was one of the more delightful experiences I have had at any show. Needless to say, Negro League players, as well as Major Leaguers, didn't see anything that resembled the money players are making today. Regardless of why Irvin sold the item in the first place, I'm sure he felt sick about seeing the plaque being offered for way more than he was led to believe.

Again, that's a really good thing Josh did. Really glad to see it.

-Chris

[Vintagedeputy]

BRSL came to Richmond last year so I snuck down to check them out. I saw 2 guys who couldnt care less sitting around reading and playing on a laptop. One had an antique toy cannon in front of him. I sat there for about 15 minutes in the lobby to see what "treasures" came through.

As I was getting ready to leave, an old gentleman arrived carrying 2 jerseys. Curiousity got the best of me and I stopped him and spoke to him about the jerseys. He was a former Negro League player and had 2 modern day repro jerseys that he wanted to sell. A few minutes later, he left with the jerseys still in hand.

I guess their treasure hunt went empty that day.

[JimCaravello]

Thanks Rudy - you can see how attentive I am these days by the lack of posts I have made recently and how I completely missed the thread you linked in above. Living near Opie and Andy down here in "Rawlie", you typically don't see the term Game Used thrown around - especially in the local paper..........jim

[JimCaravello]

Oh - and by the way - forgot to give a HUGE thumbs up to Joshua Evans on the Irvin plaque - don't see that happen very often ( especially in the sports memorabilia hobby ).............