Whether Bob comes forward or not (and I don't think it matters to most of us;
it's been so many years) -- I can personally vouch Bruce's timeline.
Many years ago I consigned a batch of posters to Bruce, before the fury about
"minty white inserts" reached its peak, culminating with the "Professor Powers"
hoax. Bruce sent one of my posters back with apologies, an insert to
"Apocalypse Now," expressing extreme skepticism about its authenticity. This
was a surprise and the first time I had to confront the issue and the integrity
of my own collection. Speaking for me only -- Dan Rickard's and Bob Brooks'
work rose above the poster collecting horizon from about 2001-2003 -- and after
many months of doubting their work -- I sent the insert Bruce rejected -- to
Dan for his inspection, never telling him that it flunked Bruce's "stink test."
Dan got it, and a short time later he also blew it out of the water with
details too compelling to ignore. It was fake. He sent it back and I gave it
to my old boss, a big "Apocalypse Now" fan, and I told him it was a repro. He
didn't care and hung it immediately in his home.
I suppose an apology matters to Bruce from a personal integrity standpoint --
but in my view, he doesn't need it because the minty white insert controversy
never hurt him and it's old news. He was on it and I was never aware of who
said what about whom. All I know is my own experience and personal timeline
grappling this repro issue and my involvement with Bruce AND Dan. What's great
is after all these years, our hobby has evolved whereby we now have near 100%
consensus that the minty white inserts are fake, if not very suspect. This is
reflected in plunging values for certain titles in this format.
But the experience also illustrated -- how inserts that are "genuine originals"
-- when properly marketed and documented by honest sellers for buyers -- can
still command good money. It usually starts off with sellers pre-empting the
"fake insert issue" head on so buyers know that sellers are aware of it and
will offer refunds accordingly. Today, fewer people argue the merits of "fake
minty inserts." Some MoPo members have even called out -- publicly or
privately -- sellers who have mistakenly (or on purpose) -- posted suspect
material -- and it almost always creates a response, whether it's a heated
defense, a capitulation/acknowledgement of error, whatever. Thanks to sellers
like Bruce and others -- we've since moved on -- armed with magnifying glassses
and the like -- to tackle the newer revelation that bogus "minty white lobby
cards" -- could also be in our collections, like locusts in our wheatfields.
Oy vey.
-kuz w/the news.
-----Original Message-----
Date: Fri, 7 Nov 2008 18:55:28 -0600From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]: Re: E.T. BIKE
POSTER - Can we clear up another difference of opinion?To:
[email protected]
In thsi spirit of "clearing the air", I thought this would be a great time for
Bob Brooks to confirm or deny something he has posted repeatedly, namely that I
(Bruce Hershenson) at one time defended the "minty white" inserts as genuine,
and that it was only after Bob and Dan exposed them as fakes that I changed my
tune and denounced them.
I am not calling Mr. Brooks a liar, but I have no memory of the above events
happening, and I am wondering if it is possible that Mr. Brooks is either
mis-remembering the series of events, or perhaps confusing me with some other
person.
I ask him to produce the evidence of his repeated statements to the above
sequence of events (posts from forums, my e-mail club, private e-mails, etc).
If he can, I will publically apologize to him for ever having doubted him, and
for ever saying these fake inserts were real. If he can't, I don't care if he
apologizes, but ask that never again post something along these lines, since he
would have no factual proof of what he said.
I know that I was first warned about these inserts long before Bob or Dan ever
posted about them, for I was privately contacted by two major dealers who were
offered them soon after they first appeared (were printed), and who turned them
down and who called me to warn me about these fakes. According to Bob's memory
of events, I would have had to then go on and begin defending these after that
time, which seems to me to indicate a clear memory lapse on his part.
I am very much hoping to settle this, because I think there are clear "bad
guys" in this hobby (who repeatedly sell fakes as real) and I think it hampers
efforts to stop them or at least slow their criminal behavior when some of the
"good guys" fight amongst themselves.
Bruce
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