Apfelbaum Cleaning Up Their Act?

I have never dealt with them but I do peruse many dealers/auction houses to see what their wares are in regards to Poland & Poland-related material & I do make judgements on a dealers integrity by what they have & how they describe it. One current listing which stands out -

Poland Collections
Latest Scott Catalog Value: $600.00
Stock Number: 397795
POLAND-PROVISIONALS Small group of mint and used WWI era issues, arranged on stock pages. Included are (Fischer) Przedborz mint #1-2 (perf), 5-6 (imperf), Zarki used #1-9, mint Polish Legion and more. Gen. VERY FINE, mint og (Fischer 2022 zl)

The "more" includes several interesting cinderellas known throughout the Polish collecting fraternity which retail for $4-$10 each. However the Przeborz, Zarki & Polish Legion stamps are forgeries, easily checkable on the net nowadays.

The most interesting part of the description, though, is - "Latest Scott Catalog Value: $600.00". No it isn't. None of the items they show are listed in Scott's. As we used to say when I was a youngster "that's a fib".

Stock Number: 397795. Pics from Apfelbaum's site

I had a look at this and other threads on the board and now I feel like I dodged a bullet

Another firm to add to the 'do not buy from' list, although the list is small.

I see a lot of ebay sellers misrepresenting scott catalogue value especially showing NH value for hinged stamps.

In all fairness, I think that is due to how they have their e-commerce software configured rather than intentional deception. I believe it is configured to display "Latest Scott Catalog Value" for ALL listings. It says that for Canadian revenues, which are valued by Van Dam, and Mexican revenues, which are valued by the MEPSI catalog. The numbers are accurate, just the descriptor is wrong.

I'm guessing that field descriptor has to be defined globally, rather than on a per-listing basis.

I think it would have been better to have used "Latest Catalog Value", omitting any reference to Scott.

One poster above wondered aloud if this firm has always been like this or if things went bad once the founder was no longer running it. I was not active in the hobby way back then but I think it unlikely this level of shadiness is anything new. This has the feel of something systemic. I'd have to assume they were sketchy back when Earl was running things; that was before the internet, etc and perhaps it was easier to get away with it.

I almost hope I am wrong. Earl gave back a lot to Philately. He wrote a fine column for the philatelic press and served on the APS board at one time.

There are many folks who have simultaneously contributed and been detrimental to the hobby. But I do not believe that being a good contributor then gives one a license to be a jerk.
Don

No it doesn't. What I was saying was that Earl did indeed contribute something to the growth of the hobby. He is not the first in Philately to leave behind a checkered legacy.

I was looking at their net priced listings. Good Lord, even those are sketchy. Time and again this gem of a description appears in most listings:

'Fair Wholesale Value - defined as a price at which a stamp dealer buying this lot at this price should easily be able to double his money'

Problem is- most lots with this comment are stuff no one is interested in. Huge boxes of foreign FDCs, etc.

I agree with that. Like in another aspects of life, sometimes position or knowledge breads elitism and arrogance. These often dominant groups.

It seems like we are denigrating the grandfather based on the actions of his grandson and the corporation bearing his name. Earl died in 1985, and it is my understanding that he turned over control to his children many years before that. His son Martin was killed in the Pan Am 103 - Lockerbie bombing. His grandson John is the one that got caught in the bid rigging investigation and that runs Apfelbaum Inc. today.