Misdiscribed Lots At Kelleher Auctions, Aldrich Auctions

Hi, I do not understand, I've always had a good relationship with Aldrich. I will admit his prices are sometimes out of line, but no one forced me to buy his material.

Have always been very happy with the material and condition. You can always ask a question about condition if you have concerns.

Stampmaster

This is very interesting. I have only ever bid with Aldrich once- early this year, perhaps January or February when they offered a nice selection of foreign sets on auction. I won 3 sets and EVERY one had a problem- 2 were hinged (and very obviously so) and one had a key value with an obvious and undocumented perf fault.

I was not impressed. First and last time.

Since we are already on this subject, I had a really bad experience with another auction house that I have also used only once. Ron Leith, who has addresses in both Canada and the USA sold me a 3 lots and all had serious problems. Shame on me, but I missed something critical in the fine print. Any lot they sell that contains 9 or more stamps cannot be returned for ANY reason. Two sets I won were described as MNH definitive sets from Falkland Is and Mauritius, and both contained numerous hinged stamps including most of the high values. When I complained, they called up this obscure term- which conveniently protects them from any accountability on any long sets of 9 or more stamps. The vast majority of definitve sets have at least 9 stamps if complete. So basically they stuck it to me. Seriously, only a 'tard would have missed the hinging on these sets so obviously this kind of rip-off is a standard practice for them.

The third lot was for a scarce Falkland shade from 1939, which I knew immediately on examination was incorrect. The stamp was the 1944 printing, the most common one on this value. I asked them how they decided which shade the stamp was to which they replied it was described as such by the consignor. Although I had NOT bid with an understood extension, they offered me one which was good because as CJ said, I was prepared to make endless hay over this. In short order, I got a bad cert back from Murray Payne in the UK and got a very grudging refund.

If an auction house adds no value, e.g. by making a good faith attempt to validate an identification and/or document ALL pertinent facts like regumming or hinging, they are at best worthless and at worst corrupt.

Hi, I should have add I only bid or bought U.S. Materials from Aldrich, and have dealt with Aldrich for many years, and fully satisfied.

If I might make an observation. If there are dealers you are unhappy with, including Aldrich, then avoid them all together. Move on.

Good luck in your stamp collecting adventures.

I will be dealing with Aldrich again, waiting to see if he has more 1898 Revenue Material.

Stampmaster

STAMPMASTER ----That is a silly answer ........ You said "if you are unhappy with any dealer ,then avoid them all together " That means at FLOORTRADER STAMP AUCTIONS we can screw everybody once and they should accept it and move on .
That doesn't work for most people who read this board ........If and when you catch me screwing you ,which I will if that's the policy when dealing with stamp dealers . A good reader here will try to tell others about what happen in a truthful manor without all the crazy anger coming out .

Hi Floortrader,

I think he meant "altogether," not "all together," if I understand his comment correctly.

Big difference in understanding, if this is the case.

Jim

Thd long and short of it is that lots without late model certs need to be put on extension. Make this your policy and problem solved. Of course this only applies to lots of sufficient value to warrant such treatment. That qualifier should not matter much though given that a single stamp lot at a good size auction house will meet value requirements. Siegel uses $200 which is laughable for them given their propensity for stamps of small country GDP proportions.

Hello everyone,

Thank you for the robust discussion around my post. As a followup, I wanted to let you know that, as you suggested, I wrote a letter to the Kelleher auction house and enclosed the item and the cert. Without any other response, they issued me a credit on my card for the lot and later sent me a check for the shipping&handling charge.

I kept the second lot, which was also from Kelleher. In my original post I mistakenly stated it was from the same auction, however the lots were from two different auctions that happened on dates very close to each other. The second lot -- the one in which the lister called the stamp "Extremely fine to Superb, with 2016 P.S.E. certificate graded XF-SUP 95" but omitted the "REGUMMED" part, I ended up keeping. I wanted the shade, and I didn't feel like going through the trouble of dealing with them twice.

Thank you to all of you once again for your advice. Caveat emptor indeed with these guys.