Dario, you bring up an interesting point I had not thought of. What if someone involved in this as a restorer is arrested? Will all the posters in that person's possession be seized as "evidence"? How long before those posters are released, and what if the person who sent the posters to the restorer does not have a printed signed receipt from the restorer, and the restorer claims the posters as their own property?
For that matter, what if an auction house is closed down over this? What will happen to items on consignment at that auction house? These questions are not far-fetched. We all know of several restorers who vanished in the past several years, taking their customers' property with them, and few ever got their posters back or restitution of any kind. And just a few months ago, Mastro Auctions, the number one sports memorabilia auction in the world, was closed in the midst of an FBI investigation into fraud allegations. These are just two of many "aftershocks" that may be felt from this earthquake. It is reasons like these why this matter is so important. In just three months I *HAD* intended to hold my Winter Mini/Major auction, with mostly linenbacked posters. Even though I have *NEVER* sold a single fraudulent restored poster, and even though I have *NEVER* used the restorer in question, and even though I have *NEVER* had a single consignment from the sellers named thus far, I still must wonder whether the ripples from this scandal won't come back on me. My position is that we all need to find out exactly who was involved in this (my gut feeling is that no more than a dozen dealers, auction houses and restorers combined were involved, and possibly far fewer than that), so that the other 99.9% completely uninvolved rest of the hobby will not be tainted by it in any way. And certainly everyone with any kind of collection needs to care, because if this isn't completely exposed, then the resale value of all posters will surely be affected. If we can determine that this matter was perpetrated by a very few people, and that no one else was involved, then the damage to the hobby will be greatly contained just by those facts alone. Bruce On Sat, Aug 29, 2009 at 5:17 PM, Dario Casadei <[email protected]>wrote: > *Up until late last night I had a few fellow friends and collectors > email/asking me for a name. So I am glad it is now out in the open as I > kindly refused to name that name. > > Trust me it was and still are a shocker for me. > > I know I know, innocent until proven guilty, but I still strongly suggest > that anyone that publicly endorse their site in some shape or form ( link, > accolade, testimonials) > > Might want to consider removing such until it is all cleared. I would hate > to find out that someone road off in to the sunset with a suitcase of > posters. > > End of the day, I hope this is just a silly nightmare and Jamie is cool and > we can all get back to posters. So I hope. > > Best, > dario. > > * > > Bruce Hershenson wrote: > > There has been much private speculation on the part of many collectors > as to which restorer allegedly created the fakes which defrauded so many > people, including most major Universal horror collectors. And those who have > known who it was have continued to refuse to name that person, forcing some > people to publically announce it was *NOT* them, to keep their good names > clear. > > These days, lawsuits are not filed with paper, but they are also filed > electronically, and they are available for public view. > > Go to * > http://dockets.justia.com/docket/court-miedce/case_no-2:2009cv13405/case_id-242141/ > *<http://dockets.justia.com/docket/court-miedce/case_no-2:2009cv13405/case_id-242141/> > and > see the lawsuit that was filed two days ago, which names some names (but it > also includes a "John Doe" and a "Jane Doe", which means that more names > will be forthcoming). > > I wish those involved in this would simply tell exactly what happened, so > that the air can be cleared, and all honest dealers, restorers, and auction > houses will no longer have a cloud over their heads. Once the truth is > known, even those who had a relatively minor involvement (like dealers or > auction houses which unknowingly acted as middlemen in the sale of some of > these fakes) will surely find that having the truth out there will be better > than waiting for it to be dragged out over a period of months. > > I am so happy this matter is not being mishandled as the minty whites were > (where no one did anything), which resulted in the criminals never being > brought to justice, thousands of collectors being defrauded of hundreds of > thousands or millions of dollars, and a black cloud hanging over the hobby > to this day. Let us all learn from that giant mistake and not put our heads > in the sand and hope this will just "go away", because if we do that, our > entire hobby will suffer greatly. > > Bruce > 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.
