Regency Stamp Auctions In St. Louis

This thread is going in several different directions at once, and the communication has been unclear at best. Between the unclear wording and lack of quoting to see who is responding to whom, it's getting hard to keep track of different peoples' intent.

I agree with revenuecollector. In the recent posts, someone maintains that APS must conduct its own investigation in concurrence with any legal investigation underway. I disagree. Another maintains that APS must be investigated itself and another brings up old history from the somewhat remote past concerning other infractions. Someone else thinks the credibility of the APS is now on the line. Really?

Unless one of the posters actually has/had consignments in the past year or two with Regency, did not get paid, and it seems that may be true for one person, no one else has a direct valid opinion concerning Regency. It's time to back off for a while and let whatever legal proceedings are underway take their course.

REALLY ! "no one else has a direct valid opinion concerning Regency" REALLY !
Well this is a chat room for friends and collectors and we welcome the openness and always enjoy reading everybody's input .
Sure we all can speculate about where this is going and who is invouled and what can happen ------But we should never say your opinion isn't valid

Just for the record -----I do have a financial interest in this matter with Regency . I don't need or want to disclose it here .

I find the topic interesting. I had no direct involvement and would be interesting to know if APS was involved to the extent they have lost money. Of course, it will take time to find out.

I do not find anything surprising where someone continues to do business with someone even though they may be behind on payments.

To those that did consign stuff, what was their appeal over other auction places - financial terms?

Floortrader: you missed my point. There has been a lot of speculation surrounding the demise of Regency; and lots of what I would consider to be loose talk. You have a stake in the outcome; fine; and wisely, you're not disclosing it.

"sure, we can all speculate where this is going.....I find the topic interesting"... Sure, it's human nature to hang around a disaster of any kind. Reminds me of the Indianapolis 500, ran every year in my home town. Half the attendees go for the accidents and wrecks because they're more exciting than just watching a bunch of cars go around a 2 1/2 mile oval (unless one is inside the first turn for the constant young people party. I was inside the turn once in college and I saw very little of the race ). Would Regency as a company have any attraction were it not for the speculation about the demise? Probably not.

As for those without any kind of stake in an outcome, who cares? I have no stake here and my opinion, about the demise of Regency which I've kept to myself, isn't directly valid. Same for the other "loose talkers," particularly those with an opinion that the APS should do something now, or lose credibility. As I've already said, let the legal proceedings play out.

Climber Steve,

I was not associated with the SPA either but there were lessons to be learned from it. Supposedly, the court records are sealed so the full story has not been told.

I am a member of APS so have that basis for interest too. Now, I hope someone does not say this is just board matter and the membership does not need to know.

Huh? Never thought I'd be called a "loose talker" here, but I accept that is your opinion (and possibly shared by others). But...

Does that mean nobody should express their thoughts in this thread unless they have a financial stake in the situation at Regency? Does that "financial stake" criteria apply to all threads, or only this one?

This is an open forum where we are entitled to express our opinions, and are entitled to agree/disagree with opinions expressed. As far as I know, the rules only forbid personal attacks against other forum members.

Revenuecollector stated:




Agreed. The timing of the posts also makes things confusing. I'll bow out of posting here, but not because I believe in censorship of opinions or grading/qualification of opinions. I am interested in reading about what's happening with Regency, and the results of any stakes/involvement/resolution with the APS. Hopefully, everything will be resolved in a manner that benefits all parties and the hobby in general.

k

I'm one of those with no DIRECT financial stake in Regency's woes, but every collector has a stake in how this is handled.

As khj states:



The key to this is transparency on the part of all involved, to the extent that the courts will allow.

My concern is that if nothing comes from the leaders of the key organizations (ASDA, APS), the only thing that will come out will be the outcries from those who lost everything.

What 3 ways?
1) APS consigned lots to Regency
2) Regency paid (or was supposed to pay) a fee to APS for holding the auction at the AS summer shows
3) but I'm not sure what 3 is - advertising by Regency in the APS journal?

It is about time that there was some kind of industry wide type of optional auction insurance to prevent total consignor losses if the consignee becomes bankrupt. This should be at least the minimum that can be done to somehow compensate collectors since the loss is not only about money since trust and good will are very important. Unfortunately, there are very little instances in general where the big guys look after the small guys since the big guys usually look after each other.

Also, for many collectors, their philatelic material is more than just something material to them with a dollar sign since many do form a personal familiar relationship bond with their collections which they have passionately built their own way with much effort over time. Some even have a hard time having to split their collections when selling them or even having to sell something special because they need the money. There is heart break for many if their beloved collection is stolen, lost, destroyed, damaged, mismanaged, disrespected, etc. These feelings are things that we don't always admit but they are there and that non-collectors would not understand. Our collections are a reflection of ourselves. If this wasn't true, we would not devote so much time, energy, effort, detail, research, study, etc. to it.

And who pays for this "insurance"? If not the consignor, then it will simply be passed on to buyers, and buyer's premiums are already obscene at 18-23%.

It would be paid by the consignor and by the consignee. If the consignor chooses it as an option then the consignee would also have to pay. The buyer would not have to pay for it.

Regardless of what your collecting interests are, when you buy material, you are financially investing in dealer overhead. It is one thing if you keep your philatelic budget down to the level of your cigarette and beer money assuming you do not use either. However little you or your heirs get for your collection it is a better return than selling empty beer cans and cigarette pack wrappers. Plus, you have experienced years of enjoyment in our hobby.

The more serious collector spending bigger bucks on key items is now faced with a new economic reality. You may well never recover your investment when you sell let alone make an economic gain.

If the value of your consignment is large enough for the auction firm to consider you a customer worth the trouble, you could request a copy of the firm's latest P&L and balance sheet, under non-disclosure agreement. If they decline, that would tell you something. You could also pull a Dun & Bradstreet report.