Of course I echo Sue's feelings
As far as Grey Smith, John Petty and the rest of the movie poster &
comic book/art divisions I have nothing but respect for them. They do
such a great job & by proxy, such a great service for the hobby, that
you have to feel sorry that at least on some small level, it reflects
on these folks. The guy at Heritage whose job it is to vet these
items has clearly done a poor job, especially in light of the fact
that I know this story was also reported last summer
In so far as LA Props.. Clearly their intention was to defraud & I
suspect they will be filing a bankruptcy sometime soon because their
company will in all likelihood be charged criminally by Texas and
probably Mississippi authorities for auction fraud, misrepresentation
etc. as well as being the likely target of a civil suit by Heritage.
Buyers cannot sue LA Props because they have no contract with LA
Props and so bidders can only sue Heritage - if it were to get that
far. It is clearly in the interests of Heritage to clear this issue
out by giving refunds to all who ask - even if their purchases are
not suspect and did not source from LA Props. Heritage in turn would
sue LA Props, or submit losses to their insurance company.
But you have to ask.. how many other people did LA Props sell to over
what period of time?
Also, if LA Props has a store of truly real Hollywood props, they
have devalued these items by connection to themselves
By the way, I have also heard that Profiles in History has also been
accused of similar issues in their auctions
it's a real sh*tstorm
Rich===============
At 01:56 PM 2/7/2008, Susan Heim wrote:
Very good post Freeman. It is a shame that the shadow is now cast
on Heritage with all the hard work and honest effort in most of
their divisions and, unfortunately, you will have people that hear
this story and it will affect their decision to consign anything to
Heritage. As this story unravels, I'm sure even more will come to
light. My question is the legal ramifications to this company LA
Props. Obviously there was an intention to defraud. The owners or
perpetrators are guilty of criminal activity. There has to be
something more that can be done to them other than just suing
them. I'm wondering how they thought they could get away with it.
Perhaps greed was just too much and they couldn't stop continuing to
pass off these items to an obviously willing auctioneer.
I have had nothing but wonderful experiences with Heritage and
Grey is one of the most upstanding people I have ever known. I'm
sure this incident will make all at Heritage "over alert" at this
point and I, personally, would not hesitate to consign something to them.
Sue Heim
www.hollywoodposterframes.com
----- Original Message -----
From: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: <mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]
Sent: Thursday, February 07, 2008 11:33 AM
Subject: [MOPO] Heritage Auction's Prop Bust
You know, I hate to see Heritage get caught in any scandal what
with the hard work of our buddy Grey dedicating immense effort to
get his poster auctions to the caliber they presently enjoy as well
as many of the other divisions that have worked hard to plant their
tent pole auctions including coins, comics, Americana, jewels,
minerals, antiques etc. But the guy running props was warned time
and again on his listings by people I know personally, as well as a
website for props that undertook astonishing documentation that
called into question a shocking number of their so called certified items.
On this one website, one intrepid member knew the user ID LA Props
would use to purchase items on Ebay. He could actually trace items
purchased on Ebay (this is a non-specific example) but say a simple
cowboy hat would be purchased, exact item would later be
"authenticated" as John Wayne's. I know that sounds incredible but
this individual sited numerous situations exactly like this. These
findings and calls into question would be arrogantly ignored by the
director at Heritage props much to the frustration of dealers who
specialize in such items knowing such a scandal could hurt the hobby
as a whole. How many even know LA Prop is not even in California?
The guy at Heritage should be terminated, he was warned and
challenged time and again and now his declarations of protest in the
press are a joke. He knew, he knew the entire time. The
implications hopefully will nipped in the bud unique to this
individual and LA Props. But Heritage will have their work cut out
for them on future endeavors. What's the saying, "lay with dogs you
get fleas, or in this case, ticks." It's fraud on the grandest
scale and a shame for an organization that has worked so hard to be
one of the best.
freeman fisher
8601 west knoll dr. #7
west hollywood, ca
90069
310-6579426
----------
Who's never won?
<http://music.aol.com/grammys/pictures/never-won-a-grammy?NCID=aolcmp00300000002548>Biggest
Grammy Award surprises of all time on AOL Music.
Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com
___________________________________________________________________
How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List
Send a message addressed to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L
The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com
___________________________________________________________________
How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List
Send a message addressed to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L
The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com
___________________________________________________________________
How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List
Send a message addressed to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L
The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
