Just a humble Japanese collector/dealer here, but that sounds like quite a lot of money you're expecting "someone" to fork over, let alone a publicity campaign for a standards group. Sounds like a shitload of money.
I have let my voice be known for my absolute revulsion for the guys like Thomas Loce, who to this day CONTINUE to have their wares up on eBay, only to cry wolf when they get caught trying to pawn those Pulp Fiction Lucky Strikes posters with the official "stamp" on the back. And I only use that example because it's one most people know of. They then start agreeing with the crowd that the stamp is fake, after trying soooo hard to disprove actions like Dan Rickard. Let's take a step back... Seems like old times, when just three years ago that I suggested the same thing to the poster community, albeit from the other side of the restoration business. The email below was sent out to all the MOPO crowd, and I received *ONE* letter of encouragement, a single letter, from the person who wrote the letter I am responding to, JR. BTW I have bolded #2 in my list, as it bears relevant interest here. The bottom line, going forward, is that talk is cheap and actually devoting time and money to a "campaign" is something that no one wants to do. PEOPLE ONLY CARE WHEN IT AFFECTS THEIR INCOME. Let me say that again. People only care when it affects their income. I expect a lot more fluff over the Dracula issue, and people like Loce and his accomplices will keep doing what they've been doing and making tons of money, being the King of Posters he is. What a joke. I don't expect anyone even stepping up to shout their opinions of the Drac incident from their soapboxes to really do anything. When it comes to shelling out for *WHAT IS RIGHT*, I don't expect anyone to do anything. Maybe I'll be proven wrong, but that is something I would love to see. I expect to see a few emails about this, maybe just one or two. I am honestly sickened that this community, for all the good they try to do, has no real love for the ENTIRE poster collecting/selling community, apart from their own interests (like Universal horror films, let's say). There are a few, like Ed and Sue, that really step forward and do something. I tried *THREE YEARS AGO* to start something that possibly could have prevented something like the Dracula incident from ever happening, and no one wanted to help, apart from JR. I didn't have the time, money or resources it would have taken for ONE person to do this, so it stopped there. If there are people who are genuinely interested in devoting even time to this, I would be happy to assist where I can and even take lead on as many issues as I can. But I don't expect anything to really come out of this; maybe JR and I will start our own business. :) ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: dsonesheets <[email protected]> Date: Fri, Jul 7, 2006 at 5:38 AM Subject: Re: The state of affairs - scamming, minty whites, reprints, eBay and the poster community. PLEASE READ!! To: [email protected] Well, since I brought it up a couple weeks ago with the Thomas Loce Affair (grins), I am in a boat with another potential scammer, you probably just read my other email about him. Could be a legitimate reason for his lack of contact for a month, but then again, I'm not feeling really optimistic lately. eBay is blatantly notorious for their lack of focus and direction on this growing problem. I think that most people seem to think that if they shelter themselves from scammers, then their community involvement in this situation is over. Usually they get burned once or twice, then start being real cautious. Even then, it's still not a guarantee that they'll never again get ripped off. I'm sick of beating around the bush and speaking in hush tones when talking about a specific seller that blatantly scams people. I am sick of the same people pulling the same shit and getting away with it. I think we would all probably be floored by the amount of money we're talking here too. So what do we do? I would like to open an honest dialogue with anyone that would like to get involved here. I'm not only talking about legal action against specific sellers that knowingly defraud people (I'm sure there's a lot we can do there), but proactive and long-term solutions as well! I'm talking about educating new collectors as well as old dealers - even the most knowledgeable person can sometimes be wrong about a poster. Continuing Dan's work would be another good idea (Dan, please email me - still haven't heard back from you). Convincing eBay to step up and get more involved with implementing policies that punish reprint dealer selling their wares as originals. Booths at conventions and shows (like the San Diego Comicon). Possibly working with Ed and Sue over at www.learnaboutmovieposters.com - they have incredible traffic coming through their site every month, and they're incredibly good and honest people. Literature / monthly newsletters that tackle the subject of authentication - we could have guest dealers submit articles every month on a specific poster or posters. There are tons of great ideas waiting to be explored. Remember, I have absolutely nothing against reprint poster dealers! They fill a very necessary part of the collecting community - what college student is going to spend $500+ on a poster he's just going to tack up on his dorm room wall? I would love to see a group of respected dealers that would be interested in aiding me getting some of these ideas off the ground. I am willing to get the ball rolling, and would love to hear from others about what I've discussed. I would like to see anyone interested with: 1.) Helping with a newsletter (electronic or snail mail? Let's talk about the options!). 2.) Dealers (hopefully Power Sellers) that can help us start opening a serious dialogue with eBay on the subject. THIS IS HUGE! Let's keep on them until they really want to hear what we have to say and start addressing the problem. * 3.) Starting a coalition similar to Learnaboutmovieposters, but with an emphasis strictly on authentication. There are enough experts here, why can't we form a group that recognizes and taps into that talent and experience? * 4.) Anyone able to assist in the legal side of things - how can we assist someone who needs help in a mail fraud case? What organizations / law enforcement bureaus can we engage? 5.) Administration - I can't do it all alone - anyone interested in helping on the back end. 6.) How can we get the word out to people outside the collecting community? Does anyone have any news and media outlet contacts? This could be helpful with #2 and putting pressure on eBay! 6.) Help with getting the word out - I would imagine that some of you dealers have a huge customer contact list - let's use those resources to get the word out to our clients (Just to be clear - I'm not interested in getting your lists for my personal use!). 7.) People who can help starting to flag dealers selling reprints legitimately, and dealers who sell them as originals. Even if you can contribute a name or two, then we can start asking those dealers for verification and their policies on reprints. Remember that we want to be fair, be courteous and respect others. I expect this to be an ongoing project. Even if it's a Master List that we can keep online somewhere that lists dealers on eBay and their policies - if they don't want to talk with us that's fine, we just let everyone else know that. Thank you for taking a few minutes to read this. Please take some time and think how and if you can contribute. I am very serious about this initiative, and will spend as much time as necessary to help my fellow collectors and dealers. Whether this is a hobby or how you make a living, we all love movie posters (and lobby cards and everything else). We can start here and make the community stronger and more enjoyable for everyone! Feel free to call me, I am around most of the day, but also have a day job Sun-every other Wed. I will get back to you! Best regards, Steve Zammar [email protected] www.dsonesheets.com 303/478-3973 On Thu, Oct 1, 2009 at 12:08 PM, James Richard <[email protected]>wrote: > OK, finally. Quite a few days late and a couple hundred thousand dollars > short, but at least he's stopped blowing smoke and trying to shift > responsibility to someone else. There's hardly any sacrifice in giving up > his authentication service at this point, as I kinda doubt he was going to > be making much more from that operation in the future. > > Still, he has apologized in no uncertain terms now and let's face it -- he > is a long-time, very talented and highly-regarded restorer. He has performed > -- and should continue to be allowed to continue to perform -- a valuable > service for poster collectors. > > Tell you what, John, take the lemons and make lemonade. Because of all > this furor, you are in a position to say to the others "Look what happened > to me. We have establish formal standards and an organization to back them > up." Make it your personal mission to spearhead the campaign for formal > standards for the restorations industry, including the placement of > Identification seals done in ink on the back of the linen stating which > restoration/backing service did the work -- and containing an in-house > "restoration serial number" as part of that seal which anyone could > reference in a phone call or e-mail to whomever did the work (or simply post > the information on websites). As part of the guidelines/rules, the > restoration operation which did the work and placed the seal on the back > would be required to keep a permanent record of this unique "restoration > serial number" along with a detailed description (preferably including > photos) of exactly what was done to the poster while it was in their > possession. > > No more of this "client confidentiality" when it comes to backing and > restoration. Those days are over. If a client doesn't want it known that > work was done -- and how much -- to his poster, then that has to now be > considered a red flag. No more of this "we don't have to make this public, > since it's only for my own viewing pleasure and I'm going to keep it in my > own collection forever." > > And it will probably be necessary to go the extra step of creating a formal > guild or "underwriter's laboratory" which would only issue its Seal of > Approval to those restoration and backing operations which agreed to abide > by these guidelines. And to launch a publicity campaign to make the entire > community aware of the fact that they should only do business with those > operations who are authorized to display the Seal of Approval. I believe > that Ed and Sue of LAMP would be glad to help with such a project -- and I > would think that at this sad point all of the reputable backing and > restoration operations would be glad to join you and cooperate with such a > formal organization to protect their own interests. > > > 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. > > -- Steve Zammar [email protected] owner, ds|onesheets 303/478-3973 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.
