Regency Stamp Auctions In St. Louis

I agree 100% with floortrader. I've actually written to the ASDA regarding the "man of the year" award and suggested it be taken away given the untold number of people that lost money because of this. I also wrote to Linn's suggesting they do a follow up to the article written by Kols, to let the readers know of those that have suffered because of Kols. Haven't hear back from either the ASDA or Linn's.

floortrader wrote: "Sorry Don ----I don't see it that way . There was a whole group around this one person who will suffer . Responsibility needs to be looked at for the damage he leaves behind .It sounds like this was a long time train wreck of many years . You don't go into debt over one or two auctions for millions of dollars .
Sorry to heard his medical condition and failing health but as we already understand this was a long time failing situation with the banks .
He didn't think to save his name and protect those around him ,his idea was to play "big man" and go out on top to the last minute . I am sure his financial troubles were already neck deep when he accepted his ASDA "man of the year" award . He is checking out and hurt a lot of people especially his wife because he wanted to be "big man" at the stamp shows ."

Kelleher is also moving to a new location this month. According to their materials it is larger and more modern etc. If Siegel and Kelleher are both upgrading, it's hard to blame the business. I'll be checking out the new Kelleher location in June to preview an auction.

When there is industry consolidation, you lose choices and overall the market is controlled by fewer companies.

Both of Siegel's addresses closely flank 5th Ave so unless there is a big difference in the amenities in each building, the cost per square foot probably isn't terribly different. Their lease may have been up with a landlord seeking a huge rent increase- a very common scenario in dense markets like Manhattan.

Forty-Eighth west of Fifth is likely to be at least somewhat less expensive then 56th between Madison and Park, a serious high rent district.

I'm going to come off as harsh and/or heartless here, but I have to call it as I see it:

Blaming the state of the hobby is just passing the buck. Regency/Superior has had a bad reputation in the industry for years with respect to paying consigners in a timely fashion. Additionally, they had turned into a quasi-Apfelbaum operation with large portions of their auction lots being either retreads or their own inventory, both of which were usually hyper-reserved. For the last decade (at least) opening bids/reserves at least in my area have been insanely high, and more often than not the same tired lots would reappear an auction or two later... at the same high reserves. Lather, rinse, repeat.

State of the hobby? No. Other entities are doing fine. Try mismanagement and/or incompetence.

To summarize that letter to consigners: "Sucks to be you."

Shameful.

P.S. The health of the owner is no excuse. This downhill slide began LONG before the health problems in question. People don't become unethical overnight. One can sympathize with his personal plight, but that doesn't in any way mean we should condone the manner in which the business was terminated or the business practices leading up to that event.

Man of the Year? HAH!

Regarding revenuecollector's message, that "letter to consignors" was actually an email to me from Kols attorney. I was continually receiving false promises from Kols in emails and even tried to engage his attorney directly, but his attorney never responded until I finally received that email.

Kols didn't have the courtesy to send to ALL consignors some type of email or letter explaining the situation. He's basically just hid under a rock, I assume thinking that all this would go away. To me, he's nothing but a scam artist who gladly took in my consignments knowing that when the items were sold, the payments made by the buyers would not go to me, but rather to pay down his debt.

Also, who knows how much assets (stamps, coins, collectibles, etc) that Kols may have taken out of the company for his benefit prior to the bank taking control.

Be interesting to see if Linn's publishes any letters disagreeing with Mr. Kols' article.

I'm not going to address the specifics of any one case - especially an ongoing one. I do, however, write at least 1,200 words a month disagreeing with that position.

The debate is over how we change, not whether we should. The one observation I made 18 months ago is that a lot of people were writing obituaries for the hobby. Today, that is far less so. We are all limited and liberated by our perspective. If my world was crashing in around me, I might think the same is true for everyone.

Scott, as a member of the APS, I find the whole situation with Regency a very troubling one.

I would hope that the APS is taking a hard look at what has happened here. I don't have all the facts, but from what has been discussed here, I don't see how the APS can afford to ignore this. If it is a case where everything was above board and the illness David Kols is suffering from was the cause, it should be established as such and left.

If, on the other hand, there were less than honest dealings and the APS ignores it, the credibility of the organization is immensely damaged, both now and going forward.

This is a delicate matter for both Superior-Regency, David Kols and the APS which deserves a full accounting and actions as appropriate. If anyone here is with the ASDA, I would also highly recommend they work with the APS to get to the bottom of this situation.

I look forward to hearing more as the story progresses.

Looking at everything that is stated here and known, I do have one further recommendation for the APS/ASDA. The level of trust collectors have with auction firms is vital to both the collectors and the auction firms. Situations where consignors lose everything because of the collapse of a firm are just unacceptable.

While the banks and other fiduciary entities involved in the business side are key to larger organizations, something should be done to ensure that the consignor's property isn't seized or that the funds received from sales are not attached. After all, the consignors property was and IS their property. Just because it happens to be in the holdings of a financially troubled company shouldn't abrogate the collector's rights as the true owners of the property.

I'm also not a lawyer, but it would seem to me that any property claimed by a company which they did not have free and clear title to should not be subject to any bank's holds placed upon that business.

So, my recommendations are:
(1) Both the APS and ASDA should be doing whatever they can to restore the property to the owners.
(2) That the APS and ASDA work with their legal experts to develop acceptable terminology to be used in any loan agreements to protect the property of consignors from being seized by the courts or banks and used to offset the losses or potential losses by the bank. The first group who should have access to any funds should be the collectors whose property was either seized or the funds received from the sale of that property had been attached by the banks or courts. Again, I'm not a lawyer, but this seems to be just plain good sense.

In my previous post on this matter, I mentioned the need to protect the trust and image of the APS. Efforts along the lines mentioned here would go a long way to show that the APS is truly the collector's organization that it is, both in good times and when something goes awry.

Again, I'd be very interested to hear thoughts on these suggestions.

It should be held in a trust account and not general revenue. Once all sales proceeds are dispersed to the rightful owners, then and only then should the auctioneer be able to move money to his general revenue account.

That would eliminate slow payouts to keep the company afloat, problems would be recognized a lot sooner.

Any money leaving a trust account illegally should be exempt from Bankrupcy as it should be a criminal act and charges should be laid as well.

It would eliminate a lot of what happened in Australia and now this one as well.

I don't have all the legal jargon but sale funds should be treated the same as a lawyers trust account. It is not their money to play with as they please.

Until this is done and enforced, it will only be a matter of time until more go under.

If they want to purchase merchandise to resell, it should be done with their money, not consignors money.

Nice idea Dutchman ---But it wouldn't work because of the dark side of the stamp auction business. Let me explain it with a personal story .
Back around 1993 I went to Greg Manning's Stamp Auctions in New Jersey. At the viewing of lots I picked out about $12,000 in lots I wanted to buy but I only had $8,000 in cash ,that was a problem . I went to Greg to discuss it ,since he knew me somewhat ,he said no problem .
I asked him why was he so quick to approve the take what you want and pay when you get back to Chicago . He told me too many stamp dealers buy lots at auction and don't have the ability to pay for them and it takes months to collect the funds. But he was well aware I was buying for entertainment and it was just a matter of selling off some stocks in the stock market for him to get paid ..........so I am sure Regency was using what should be customer/consignor segregated funds to finance dead beat customer purchases

Even if that were the case, I do not think it justifies taking someone else's property to satisfy another customers debts. This is not a good sound business practice. I know it happens all the time in many businesses.

floortrader:

If buyers don't pay, you sue them same as in any other business.

It is high time auctions are run the way a business should be run, and not as a social club.

They can justify what they do any way they want but in the end, the consignor gets the shaft.