Bruce
I am not attacking you and why you have that perception I just don't
understand. You are not my enemy. you are my friend, but that doesn't
mean I can't have disagreements with you over something, which is all
I have. disagreements
I only post facts. no conjecture.
I will be as gentle as I can be. It is only my personal experience,
and I never griped at you one time about it. I'm still not going to
be griping. I am only going to post a factual story, and so I don't
think that you should be angry about anything, but I think it will
add some perspective to you that I think is lacking right now.
Everyone can make mistakes. Incredibly, even I have made a few, but
fortunately the last one was february 29th, 1976.
I love ya like a brother. even brothers can have arguments. can't they?
it will take me a few minutes, I have to get some dates right for the
entirety of this story to be told correctly.
Rich
At 07:05 PM 6/11/2012, Bruce Hershenson wrote:
I can't promise how I will feel. I have never posted against you in
any way until now, and even now it was solely because of your
relentless attacks on me.
I don't see why you feel anything here is your battle. I am weary of
the entire endless bickering, but will not allow attacks to go
unanswered, so if you want all this to end, then let it end.
On Mon, Jun 11, 2012 at 8:55 PM, Richard Halegua Comic Art
<<mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]> wrote:
Bruce
I think I've had enough of this silliness
in the last hour, you accused me of smearing you on APF.
You may be my friend, but at some point, I just can't take it anymore.
I want your assurance, before I post a "Bruce isn't perfect story" I
do know, that you will not get angry at my post.
I am not disturbed at you as my friend, but I'm getting disturbed at
you as La Bruce and I'm not wanting to antagonize you, But I think
it's time for some leveling of the playing field
Rich
At 06:13 PM 6/11/2012, Bruce Hershenson wrote:
Was this addressed? Is there no chance the person who opened the
package did not enter all the contents?
If it was, then that really completely closes the matter, down to
an unsolvable puzzle.
If it was addressed, I certainly apologize.
On Mon, Jun 11, 2012 at 8:06 PM, Franc
<<mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]> wrote:
I can't believe Bruce that you're actually doing one more pass on
this. You have a great operation. I've bought many things from you
over the years and I was always very happy with your service. But
so does Grey. Constantly criticizing his operation, doesn't make
yours any better. It just makes you seem unprofessional. FRANC
-----Original Message-----
From: MoPo List [ mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of
Bruce Hershenson
Sent: Monday, June 11, 2012 8:15 PM
To: <mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]
Subject: Re: [MOPO] Kudaka and Lippincott
Grey
That was a great detailed reply. I just have one question (and
forgive me if this has been addressed in some way, because there
has been so much posted about this that I can't wrap my head around it all.
My question is, were you personally there when either or both
packages were opened? If not, how can you know that an employee did
not remove the more valuable posters that are now supposedly
missing? It seems that this is a loose end that I have not seen addressed.
In my operation, I have one person who opens absolutely EVERY
package (Clark) and he has been with me 10 years and I trust him
implicitly. I want him to open every single package so that the day
a dispute like this would arise (and it never has) then the ONLY
two possible answers would be that the person who sent the package
misremembered (or lied) or that Clark stole the items.
Do you either personally witness each package being opened, or do
you have a single employee who does this (as I do) or do you have
cameras recording the opening?
I do think your addressing this earlier would have been better,
because the combination of your remaining silent (and the offer to
settle) creates an appearance of negligence or guilt on your part.
Now you have certainly placed the ball back in Geraldine's court,
forcing her to refute your statements, or come up with additional evidence.
Bruce
On Mon, Jun 11, 2012 at 6:54 PM, David Kusumoto
<<mailto:[email protected]> [email protected]> wrote:
Grey -
* As one of the few who defended Geraldine's right to post - and
who knew the tactical reasons why you/Heritage remained silent -
and who also wrote and spoke to you personally about this train
wreck - I'm glad you finally felt unleashed to strongly defend
yourself here. Your response is clear, easy to follow and portrays
your role as a non-aggressor - whose every effort to resolve this
dispute was rebuffed. I wonder if the only outcome that would have
been satisfactory to Geraldine was a full retail cash settlement
and an admission of guilt.
* What bothered me was the small amounts in dispute in relation to
the big-dollar picture of Heritage's operations. When any person
takes his or her grievances public, it's almost always the court of
last resort, as most disagreements broil beneath the surface for
many weeks or months before exploding in public. The elapsed time
between the start of this dispute to today - was far too long, with
the "MoPo portion" of this dispute stretching more than two
months. I never like it when any entity starts to lose control of
a dispute - despite the besieged entity being in full possession of
the facts as it knows them. It's hard to ascribe intent to both
sides - when only one side is doing the talking. The analysis of
your motives by third parties was bothersome to me because they
were "testimonial" guesses - vs. what you and I have talked about
privately - and how it all matches up with your post below. The
relevance of third parties speaking on your behalf is that it
painted a bad picture to lurking collectors about which dealers
were taking sides against a disgruntled consumer/consignor - and
what adverse impact this might have on their reputations as
"customer-and-consignor-friendly" businesses.
* I apologize that many people interpreted my defense of
Geraldine's right to post - as equivalent to a condemnation of
Heritage generally and of you personally. From the beginning,
having talked and met with you and Heritage co-chief Jim Halperin
in person, I've always felt it impossible to believe that you're
capable of intentional (or even unintentional)
maliciousness. However much I defend a person's right to post, in
the end, as John wrote, it's always more clear how things really
are - when we can hear both sides. My apologies again and my best to you. -d.
----------
Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2012 15:01:47 -0500
From: <mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]
Subject: Kudaka and Lippincott
To: <mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]
I feel I must now respond to Ms. Kudaka's bizarre accusations of
"missing or stolen" posters, and the ongoing discussions about her
accusations on MOPO.
Many of your know me personally, and know how hard I work to
maintain my credibility and reputation. I have taken thousands of
consignments in my eleven years with Heritage Auctions, and have
sold well over $50 million in movie posters. In all that time, I
cannot recall anyone ever accusing me or Heritage of stealing their
movie posters before this! In fact most of our consignments come
from repeat sellers and their friends, and I believe our consignor
satisfaction ratings compare favorably with those of any of the
world's auction houses.
Here is a link to all of the documents we just sent to Ms. Kudaka's
attorney, including a letter from Heritage's attorney, in answer to
her inquiry as to how her husband and her posters were handled
while with Heritage:
<http://movieposters.ha.com/images/Lippincott-060512.pdf>http://movieposters.ha.com/images/Lippincott-060512.pdf
Ms. Kudaka's accusation that items were lost or stolen are
contradicted by the evidence. Other than Rudy Franchi's referral,
all of my initial dealings were directly with Mr. Lippincott via
telephone and emails. Prior to receiving her complaints I had no
contact whatsoever with Ms. Kudaka, who, it seems, remains very
confused concerning the business her husband did with Heritage.
For example, she states that from their first consignment we did
not inform them that a Clockwork Orange poster would be sold at a
later date than their other posters. In fact, a schedule was made
at almost the very same time as her other posters were inventoried
and both of those were mailed to them, as seen in the documents
within the link. In a phone discussion with Mr. Lippincott, soon
after the first consignment arrived, I informed him that Heritage
had just sold a slightly better condition R-Rated revamp campaign
poster for Clockwork in the previous November of 2009 auction
<http://movieposters.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=7014&lotNo=89585>http://movieposters.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=7014&lotNo=89585
and therefore I thought it best to wait until July of 2010 to sell
the one he had sent me. I explained that running one right after
the other may not be the best way to get a better price. He told me
he was happy to do that and indeed that is what we did: In July of
2010, a few months after we'd auctioned the rest of their material
(in March of 2010), we auctioned the Clockwork poster
<http://movieposters.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=7025&lotNo=83150>http://movieposters.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=7025&lotNo=83150
for a very solid price. Now if that is not looking out for a
consignor, tell me what is?
Ms. Kudaka now claims they did not sign an agreement to sell that
poster. Again, she is confused, as Mr. Lippincott signed a Master
agreement which covered the sale of any of their material for one
year (among the documents linked to, above).
She then claims that she and Mr. Lippincott mailed us material from
which several posters went missing. However, as you can also see in
the linked attachment documents, several days after mailing us an
unsolicited consignment, Mr. Lippincott emailed me a list of what
was mailed. The spreadsheet, again in the linked documents, shows
exactly what was mailed from Mr. Lippincott to us, and on that
spreadsheet there is no Get Carter one sheet nor a John and Yoko
one sheet that Ms. Kudaka now claims were sent. She is simply
wrong, as easily seen by the spreadsheet.
In fact, after realizing that the two posters she later claimed
were sent to us had not arrived, I asked in an email to her why she
thought those had been sent. In response, she emailed back,
"Charley jots the list down on a legal pad of what is going out."
Ms. Kudaka still apparently didn't (and perhaps still doesn't)
realize that Mr. Lippincott had already sent me the spreadsheet,
and they were not jotted down there.
Very soon after I received Mr. Lippincott's unsolicited, second
consignment, I phoned him and explained that the posters he mailed
were not of enough value for a Signature auction then asked whether
he would care to sell in a weekly auction or would he rather I just
mail them back. He replied something to the effect of, "I don't
know but will let you know soon." I guess my mistake, if there was
one, at that time was that I did not contact Mr. Lippincott again
to remind him that I still had his posters in a secure spot and to
ask him again what he wanted us to do with them. By the way, an
unsolicited consignment, for those of you not familiar with the
term, means a potential consignment that was never discussed with
us or approved by us prior to being shipped.
Ms. Kudaka claims we did not handle Mr. Lippincott's second batch
of material in an appropriate inventoried manner. The answer as
seen in our letter to her attorney is that the consignment was
unsolicited and was never accepted by us as a consignment. It
remained in a box marked with his name on it until it was finally
returned. We typically don't make an inventoried schedule unless we
agree to take the consignment. In fact the only reason we did not
return the packages unopened, as unsolicited consignments are
normally handled, is that I recognized they were from Mr. Lippincott.
Furthermore, we did not mail back the posters in her same packaging
material as she claims since usually when inspecting material
mailed, one must open it to look at it. In fact, I feel sure that
the packaging that we used to return all of her posters was more
secure than the packaging they were mailed to us in. All of the
posters on the spreadsheet that Mr. Lippincott sent to us were
returned, as can be seen by our mailing documents. We also mailed
back a French Grande for Star Wars that was not mentioned on their
list, which we knew belonged to them.
My offer to donate to charity the value of the posters they
erroneously thought they had sent to us was purely an attempt to
get through a hurdle which I felt sure was just a fact of their
recent move, and perhaps their confusion from that ordeal, as she
had mentioned to me in an email. At that time I had hopes of doing
further business and proving our ability to them. Sadly my offer
was taken by Ms. Kudaka as some sort of admission. Since then, she
has gone on and on, on this chat group and who knows where else,
maligning my and Heritage's reputation.
Apparently a few others on this forum have been trying to use her
confusion to their advantage, though I'm happy and grateful to see
us defended, too.
Meanwhile Ms. Kudaka continues to post her wild accusations using
hearsay, speculation, and imagined conversations, trying to imply
wrongdoing. I could offer further emails between the parties but I
truly hope it won't be necessary to waste my own and everyone
else's time any more.
Heritage is a fairly large enterprise and of course has dealt with
a relatively small number (given its size) of false accusations
from time to time. I view them as attempts to take aim at a larger
corporation, but I suppose they are defaming me as well. I have
never intentionally deceived or misled anyone in my dealings, nor
would I work for a company who does. In fact I would gladly offer
sworn testimony under oath as to the truthfulness of all of the
attached documents as well as to the issue of whether I received
the two posters in question.
Sorry again for the long email but any accusation that Heritage or
I would pilfer, mishandle or neglect someone's consignment is
either an ignorant mistruth or a malicious lie. Have we ever
misplaced a poster before? Yes, but very rarely, and on those very
few occasions, Heritage has always settled quickly, fairly and in
an amicable manner with the consignor.
Thanks for reading this. I hope I don't have to say much more about
it, other than to again express my very sincere gratitude to those
who have defended Heritage and me on this forum.
Grey
Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at
<http://www.filmfan.com>www.filmfan.com
___________________________________________________________________
How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List
Send a message addressed to:
<mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]
In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L
The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
--
Bruce Hershenson and the other 26 members of the eMoviePoster.com team
P.O. Box 874
West Plains, MO 65775
Phone: <tel:417-256-9616>417-256-9616 (hours: Mon-Fri 9 to 5 except
from 12 to 1 when we take lunch)
<http://www.emovieposter.com/>our site
<http://www.emovieposter.com/agallery/all.html>our auctions
Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at
<http://www.filmfan.com>www.filmfan.com
___________________________________________________________________
How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List
Send a message addressed to:
<mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]
In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L
The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
--
Bruce Hershenson and the other 26 members of the eMoviePoster.com team
P.O. Box 874
West Plains, MO 65775
Phone: <tel:417-256-9616>417-256-9616 (hours: Mon-Fri 9 to 5 except
from 12 to 1 when we take lunch)
<http://www.emovieposter.com/>our site
<http://www.emovieposter.com/agallery/all.html>our auctions
Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at
<http://www.filmfan.com>www.filmfan.com
___________________________________________________________________
How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List
Send a message addressed to:
<mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]
In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L
The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
--
Bruce Hershenson and the other 26 members of the eMoviePoster.com team
P.O. Box 874
West Plains, MO 65775
Phone: 417-256-9616 (hours: Mon-Fri 9 to 5 except from 12 to 1 when
we take lunch)
<http://www.emovieposter.com/>our site
<http://www.emovieposter.com/agallery/all.html>our auctions
[]
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.
