kingjammy24
04-22-2008, 06:23 PM
some blurbs from a couple of articles:
"In Indiana, dealer Bill Daniels’ lawsuit against Mastro Auctions and PSA/DNA, the hobby’s top autograph authentication service, also raises questions. Daniels spent $20,000 for a lot of autographed photographs at a December 2004 Mastro sale; when he received the photos, most were damaged, with bent corners, creases and smeared signatures. During discovery, Daniels and his attorney S. Andrew Burns say they learned that PSA/DNA authenticator Zach Rullo, whose signature was on the letter of authenticity that accompanied the photos, was one of the consigners. "That's a conflict of interest, absolutely," Burns says.
The quality of that authentication is also an issue; Burns says records indicate a three-man team that included Rullo spent 16 hours over two days poring through the 56,000 items offered in the 2004 auction. That's just a few seconds per item, the attorney says. "That's not enough time to move the photos from one stack to another, never mind compare the signatures to exemplars or review the quality of the photos," he says."
i've done the math on various auctions and have repeatedly found that the pros couldn't possibly spend more than a few minutes per item. mastro has of course found the solution to this. don't attach any specific name(s) to the items so collectors have no clue who looked at or how much time was possibly spent. it seems they took the idea from AMI's "100 percent team!".
"I have no problem defending the authenticators," Hunt said. "Many times they're crucified for missing a clubhouse signature on a baseball. Of course, that's the one you hear about. You don't hear about the twenty (non-authentic items) that were caught before they made it to the marketplace."
authenticators aren't crucified for missing a single clubhouse signature on a ball. they're not crucified for making small, complex errors. they're crucified for not doing basic due diligence; for not checking rosters, for literally making up stories to support items, for failing to notice the most obvious of issues, for authenticating items they have absolutely no expertise in. in short, they're crucified for the same things that folks outside of this industry would be crucified for; gross negligence.
lou lampson at the PCCE:
"One of the biggest limitations I have is that when you look at 300 or 400 pieces over the course of three or four days, you're rushing," he said. "Time is money. I'm not saying it should be that way but you just have to do the best you can under the time constraints."
some of these auction houses seem to be absolute wizards of time management. they couldn't possibly print the catalogs 3 weeks after the consignment deadline. they couldn't possibly figure out a way to extend various portions of the timelines. we can get a man on the moon but these poor folks can't figure out a single way to ensure that items are given enough time to ensure that collectors aren't ripped off. the auction houses are at the mercy of the auction gods who hand down unrealistic timelines.
what a complete farce. they must think people are absolutely stupid to think they can't control the process timelines. i also suppose lou's forced to accept these wildly outrageous terms (400 pieces in 4 days). the poor man has no control over what contracts he signs or terms he accepts. if i went to a company that said they needed me to perform a wildly unrealistic amount of work in an extremely short amount of time, my first response would be to walk out the door. why intentionally set yourself up for failure? the only reason would be if you didn't care about failure.
sure, time is money. so are errors. so are garbage items that are dumped onto collectors because lou fully agreed to conditions that he knew would likely result in errors.
"Even working eighteen hours per day for four days would indicate that under such a scenario, each item is being authenticated in approximately 15 minutes. "I couldn't do it," said Hunt later. "Not without making a mistake or leaving a gap where there could be a mistake."
rudy.
"In Indiana, dealer Bill Daniels’ lawsuit against Mastro Auctions and PSA/DNA, the hobby’s top autograph authentication service, also raises questions. Daniels spent $20,000 for a lot of autographed photographs at a December 2004 Mastro sale; when he received the photos, most were damaged, with bent corners, creases and smeared signatures. During discovery, Daniels and his attorney S. Andrew Burns say they learned that PSA/DNA authenticator Zach Rullo, whose signature was on the letter of authenticity that accompanied the photos, was one of the consigners. "That's a conflict of interest, absolutely," Burns says.
The quality of that authentication is also an issue; Burns says records indicate a three-man team that included Rullo spent 16 hours over two days poring through the 56,000 items offered in the 2004 auction. That's just a few seconds per item, the attorney says. "That's not enough time to move the photos from one stack to another, never mind compare the signatures to exemplars or review the quality of the photos," he says."
i've done the math on various auctions and have repeatedly found that the pros couldn't possibly spend more than a few minutes per item. mastro has of course found the solution to this. don't attach any specific name(s) to the items so collectors have no clue who looked at or how much time was possibly spent. it seems they took the idea from AMI's "100 percent team!".
"I have no problem defending the authenticators," Hunt said. "Many times they're crucified for missing a clubhouse signature on a baseball. Of course, that's the one you hear about. You don't hear about the twenty (non-authentic items) that were caught before they made it to the marketplace."
authenticators aren't crucified for missing a single clubhouse signature on a ball. they're not crucified for making small, complex errors. they're crucified for not doing basic due diligence; for not checking rosters, for literally making up stories to support items, for failing to notice the most obvious of issues, for authenticating items they have absolutely no expertise in. in short, they're crucified for the same things that folks outside of this industry would be crucified for; gross negligence.
lou lampson at the PCCE:
"One of the biggest limitations I have is that when you look at 300 or 400 pieces over the course of three or four days, you're rushing," he said. "Time is money. I'm not saying it should be that way but you just have to do the best you can under the time constraints."
some of these auction houses seem to be absolute wizards of time management. they couldn't possibly print the catalogs 3 weeks after the consignment deadline. they couldn't possibly figure out a way to extend various portions of the timelines. we can get a man on the moon but these poor folks can't figure out a single way to ensure that items are given enough time to ensure that collectors aren't ripped off. the auction houses are at the mercy of the auction gods who hand down unrealistic timelines.
what a complete farce. they must think people are absolutely stupid to think they can't control the process timelines. i also suppose lou's forced to accept these wildly outrageous terms (400 pieces in 4 days). the poor man has no control over what contracts he signs or terms he accepts. if i went to a company that said they needed me to perform a wildly unrealistic amount of work in an extremely short amount of time, my first response would be to walk out the door. why intentionally set yourself up for failure? the only reason would be if you didn't care about failure.
sure, time is money. so are errors. so are garbage items that are dumped onto collectors because lou fully agreed to conditions that he knew would likely result in errors.
"Even working eighteen hours per day for four days would indicate that under such a scenario, each item is being authenticated in approximately 15 minutes. "I couldn't do it," said Hunt later. "Not without making a mistake or leaving a gap where there could be a mistake."
rudy.