That is why I tell our consignors that an
inventory is for THEIR benefit and not ours.
We actually DO keep all consignors' items
carefully segregated until they are marked
in three different ways, so that we have a
triple-check system that results in our not
losing items. We HAVE had a small number of
minor items misplaced over the years, and we
have paid those people for those few items
(and when they were later located, as they
always are, we have offered to let the owner
give the money back and have the items, or we auction them as our consignment).
I still insist that if this were true, there
would be at least several others with the
same complaint, and others with legal
actions pending. It makes no sense to be a
one-time occurrence, unless there was an
employee stealing, but then they would
continue, unless they were discovered and fired.
Bruce
On Tue, Jun 5, 2012 at 11:28 AM, Dale Dilts
<<mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]> wrote:
I must be missing exactly how taking an
inventory before sending would actually help?
I could write up a nice long list of stuff,
only send half of it, and then claim they
lost it, how much sense does that make and
in court who exactly is going to win that battle.
Making a list and taking pictures might make
you feel real safe, but sending no list at
all covers you just the same. Yes it would
allow you to reconcile your list against a
sales list, but other than that, pretty
worthless as there is no proof what actually
ever enters the mail stream or once opened what is done with it.
If you are going to consign anything, you
simply take the risk of your property
leaving your hands with potentially no
return. Like it or not, trust is still a
must in any business that is not done person to person.
From: MoPo List [
mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Carlos Duenas
Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2012 10:55 AM
To: <mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]
Subject: Re: [MOPO] Rudy Franchi, Heritage, no Inventory
Hi all,
I guess it would be sad to agree that "trust
no one" is the best rule. I have send
posters to Christies in London and took the
time to make an inventory (because there
were only a few items they wanted, they only
took posters worth over US$250). Even
sending the inventory which was very small
they didn´t send the inventory of what they
received and misplaced one of my posters
which they found after I complained because
they did not add it to their following
auction. On the other hand, I have sent
hundreds of posters and lobby cards to Bruce
Hershenson, I asked if I needed to send an
inventory; they said no, I trusted them and
so far they haven´t misplaced anything (and
not making inventories has saved me many
hours of work). To be frank I don´t have
the memory to know if everything I had sent
to them has been auction or is being held
for a later auction, but I trust them and if
there were item that were special (valuable)
I would remember them the same way Geraldine
remembers her good posters that are missing.
Just to add more salt to this e-mail I would
like to share an experience that I find
funny: the same poster I sent to Christies
in London, a 1964 NM My Fair Lady(which sold
for about US$800), I offered to Christies in
NY and they said they didn´t want it
because of its low value, nevertheless, a
few days later a man from that auction wrote
to me saying that he would buy the poster
from me if I wanted. I also offer that same
poster to Heritage a few years ago and they
said the poster wasn´t good enough for their auction.
I very much appreciate Geraldine sharing
with everyone what happened to her, it think
is fantastic and cheap learning from others´ experiences.
Mainly for ethical reasons I think auctions
should have standard procedure to treat all
customers in the same careful and respectful
manner no matter their age or origin or if
they are dealers or collector but also for
their reputation because there are groups of
people like us (mopoers) that would share
the good and the bad for the benefit of all.
Best,
Carlos
From: "Walton, Jeffrey"
<<mailto:[email protected]> [email protected]>
To: <mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]
Sent: Monday, June 4, 2012 12:51 PM
Subject: Re: [MOPO] Rudy Franchi, Heritage, no Inventory
I concur wholeheartedly
.you just canât
ship a buncch of posters and claim foul when
no inventory on your part was done no matter
if you trust that identity or not. When
shipping a bunch of poster I always make an
inventory and send along a copy of the
inventory as well. So when Grey or Bruce
compares the list and there is a discrepancy
there is at least a record. What would have
happened if the parcel was lost in the mail,
then try to stake a claim with the insurance?
The X-files said it best âTrust no one.â<
From: MoPo List
<mailto:[email protected]>[
<mailto:[email protected]>mailto:[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>] On
Behalf Of Richard Halegua Posters + Comic Art
Sent: Monday, June 04, 2012 3:31 PM
To: <mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]
Subject: Re: [MOPO] Rudy Franchi, Heritage, no Inventory
Geraldine
reading your posts as a outsider makes me
wonder about some of the things you mention in your emails.
Are you trying to get a resolution, or are
you just trying to disparage Rudy Franchi and Heritage?
Also, do you or do you not think that your
own actions are a partial contributor to your angst??
Don't get me wrong.. I'm not attempting to
disparage or attack you. I understand you
have a dispute, it was not to date settled
in your favor and that makes you angry.
But some thing that you wrote puzzles me.
Your own lack of an inventory specifically.
2 weeks ago, I consigned a large collection
of my own to Profiles in History for their
July auction. I have a book collection or
hardcover Photoplay editions in dust jackets
dating from 1913 to the 1940s with additional items up to the 1990s.
I have known Joe Maddalena for a reasonably
long time and we have done deals on both a
personal level and via his auction house.
However, regardless of my relationship with
Joe, when I consigned this collection to
them of 800 books and related items, there
is no way I would have let these items leave
my possession without an inventory.
For 2 weeks prior to them leaving my
warehouse, I photographed each and every
item in this collection. Yes it was done in
part so I could have file images of these
items for my image archive, but it was also
done so that in case of any disputes, I
could prove to Profiles what I gave them.
This is not for the protection of myself and
for the protection of Profiles. How could I
dispute any issues without having such an inventory in my hands??
Did I do this time consuming job for my own pleasure??
No Ma'am
I had plenty of other work to do, and such a
task only added to my weekly work schedule
right at a time when I was actually busier
than I had been in months, and anyone who
knows me knows that my work schedule is
always completely full and that I haven't
been having lots of playtime in my wonderful
city of Las Vegas. It actually left me with
just one day to get ready for Cinevent, and that one day wasn't nearly enough.
Joe may be my good friend and I trust him
100%, but I do not leave it up to other
people to protect my own interests, as much
as I would like to when I don't have any
time. If I leave it up to someone else to
protect my interests, I really don't feel I
can blame the other party no matter how many
assurances I have that I can. Furthermore,
if such a situation were to land me in a
lawsuit attempting to claim some sort of
duress, what portion of such duress is my
own fault for not protecting myself??
I do remember the days when a handshake deal
was a bond, but I have also felt the
betrayal of a handshake deal not being
honored, making me wish I had done what was
necessary to protect myself before any
issues arose. Not completing such an action is no one's fault but my own.
So the question becomes, "IF" your claims
are true, what responsibility do you think
you have in not having done what was
necessary to protect yourself? Do you think
this was a failure on your behalf, or do you
think that you have any responsibility at all?
If you were to sue Heritage, what proof
would you use to prove your case?
Admittedly, you made no inventory, Charlie
is 82 and you are also at an age where
things become less clear to the mind -
through no fault of your own.. It just
happens as people get older. It will happen to me as well probably.
I have thought at times that something is
missing and believed I had given it to
someone, only to later find said item in my
inventory, generally somewhere that it
doesn't belong, at which point I was forced
to apologize to that person who I thought screwed me.
You did not do what was necessary to protect
yourself, how can that be the fault of Heritage?
Rich
At 06:15 AM 6/4/2012, Geraldine Kudaka wrote:
Rudy, this list is not just for dealers.
There are a lot of people who lurk here who
are interested in movie posters. They are
not professional dealers in the business.
Some may be non-poster business people
interested in selling off collections
acquired from either a lifetime of working
in the industry, or inherited them from dad, who passed on.
This is also a public list which
non-subscribers go to for archived information on how to sell their posters..
As a noted movie poster expert, these
uninformed sellers need to know that you
will encourage them to send their collections "post vite" to Heritage.
You will not tell them that they need to
protect themselves by doing a photographic
inventory and log of their posters before sending to Heritage.
You will not warn them that Heritage's
inventory process is suspect and their
software probably some home-user Access-like
database program. (Here, I'm referring to
security differences between programs like
Quicken and true business accounting
software which do not allow you to change entries without leaving a trail.)
You will not tell them that heritage will
not return posters they do not sell.
You will simply funnel them to Heritage -- for your commission.
For this reason - among others - an esteemed
seller on this list posted a wish that you were dead...
Need I remind you I defended you? This was
before I sat down and went though our
Heritage file and discovered what was really
going on. This was before I went online and
found that Heritage has been accused by
others for stealing items submitted for consignment.
Last -- if you think you have spent "a huge
amount of time" on this issue, get real.
Suggesting we comply with Heritage's offer
of selling without commission fees is
certainly not an email that takes a lot of
time to write. After Grey threatened us with
legal action, we have spent far more money
on attorney's fees than you have... That's a
hard financial cost on top of the value of posters sent to Heritage.
While I appreciate your suggestion we go
bankrupt "sueing everybody involved", I will decline your advice.
In the start, I said this list is not just
for dealers. My emails are for the lurking public, now and in the future.
From: rudy franchi <<mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]>
To: <mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]
Sent: Friday, June 1, 2012 10:41 AM
Subject: [MOPO] Reply To Geraldine
It seems that I can't post to MOPO without Geraldine popping out like
a cuckoo bird on a spring. This has gone beyond rational discussion.
I've spent a huge amount of time on this problem and Grey has
spent the equivalent of days in hour after hour of trying to reach a
satisfactory conclusion. Perhaps Geraldine should just sue everyone
involved. After she loses, she can appeal it all the way to the
Supreme Court where it will go down in
judicial history as "When I've Got A
Hammer vs. Everything's A Nail." Meanwhile, I will continue to
occasionally post here and just put up with the tirades. On some of
the stock market discussion boards I visit, one can put a particularly
annoying person on "ignore" so that their posts won't show up in your
message box. Would that we could do that here.
Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web
Site at <http://www.filmfan.com/>www.filmfan.com
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