Siegel Offering The Edward Morton US Collection In April

Everyone is allowed to offer opinions and vent, the rules only disallow personal attacks and excessive drama. Some of the most viewed threads are those which contain topics which support a wide variety of opinions. And our diverse membership certainly helps in generating lots of differing opinions but ultimately our common ground is philately.
Don

@rev, I fully understand your perspective, but the original post didn't express it in a generalized way (like it might, but might not, apply to this auction, collection or collector). Instead, it plainly asserted that the collector must have merely bought his way into the collection, with no facts provided to support that. Mr. Morton has multiple master's degrees and identifies himself in his online professional biography as a serious philatelist. He apparently has "... serious philatelic knowledge" and "...spent years doing research," so your frustration appears misplaced here. I think that's why you're getting some reactions here.

I agree with recollected stated feelings about the potential effect of grading on breaking up multiples in search of that one highly graded specimen. But that is not a person like Morton doing it. Braking up blocks or slicing multiples so that portions of four other stamps surround the best centered, can only been done from an economic motive, creating a stamp that can achieve a higher grade than it would as a single or breaking up a block for example to sell as singles when attempts to sell the block intact either was unsuccessful or impossible or too costly to a potential buyer. In neither of these situations does philatelic knowledge play a role; only economic realities and greed.

If a collector assembles a highly graded collection by buying individual singles that are either highly graded at purchase or acquired ungraded but subsequently highly graded and he has not mutilated material to achieve that purpose, I could care less what his philatelic knowledge is otherwise. I would salute him for assembling the collection and preserving items intact for future collectors and generations to enjoy.

Funcitypapa - Grading was not mentioned until your post. Is that the issue with the Morton collection?

The amount of snark in our hobby has always bothered me. For whatever reason, some collectors like to trash those with the resources to acquire valuable or rare material, accusing them of being philatelic philistines or lacking knowledge. Even if true, so what? The material -- in this case the Morton collection -- can speak for itself, and I for one am delighted to have the opportunity to examine it, even if most or all of it may be beyond my reach. Shouldn't that be sufficient?

Non. "Quand les pauvres n'auront plus rien à manger, ils mangeront les riches".

Rodgcam: Didn't rev collector in the last posting of page 2 of this thread mention grading as doing, in his opinion, irreparable harm to the hobby? As an aside, I have no issue with Mr Morton or his collection.

Yes, GeoffHa, "eat the rich!" Or at least about their stamp collections!

Those nasty rich and the filthy money that they inject into the hobby. The nerve!

The discord generated by this thread is interesting, I have seen in other circles...

Misplaced criticism seems about right.

It seems Mr. Morton has patiently put together a beautiful collection, well done Sir.

Perhaps the debate is better focused on Siegel, the firm marketing the collection. Some would say their approach (highlight trophy pieces, graded certs and provenance) is exactly how they wish to see buying opportunities presented, others find it tired and predictable, yet others resent that it creates bidding competition between philatelists and trophy collectors.

One thing I'm certain of - Siegel should be delighted with all the free positive reviews and sale plugs the OP posts here!

I agree with archerg, this thread is following the current socio political divide seen in the world today. There is no real value in debating that since it typically results in bad feelings that have nothing to do with our hobby.

I also agree with archerg about the free advertisement for Siegel. I wonder why none of the major philatelic organizations or auction firms advertise here? It is not like it is a big cost, there are ways to advertise here for less than the cost of a dinner. A firm like Siegel might also find benefit with affiliate links too, but they do not seem to do this kind of online advertising.
Don

So here in lies the rub.

Customers are not always right. This is what separates many businesses and their success. What we, as customers, say we want is often different than what we actually want. Truly understanding customers requires listening, but also careful observation and product testing. Customers would say one thing, but mean another. When they said they wanted more choice, they actually meant they wanted fewer, yet more curated choices. When they said they wanted to be inspired, they first wanted to be educated.

After running this many auctions, Siegel probably has a good handle on how they present items. Even just creating the market of buyers and sellers, is no small feat, with super deep pockets.

Resenting bidding competition is silly. If you want the item, you need to pay more than anyone else in the room. It's that simple, and that's the big rule. If you don't respect that, then maybe bidding at auction is not for you.

If you find their means and methods tired and predictable, call them up or go visit. Tell them what you think constructively. I'd imagine, if you had thoughts that were well organized and constructive, perhaps they would take your ideas under advisement. But complaining without doing anything about it, is just silly. Plus there are so many other auction firms out there, if you don't like Siegel, go somewhere else.

People can resent all they want... frankly, they can go kick rocks. Siegel's primary obligation is to maximize the return for their client/consignor, whatever the method (as long as it is ethical) regardless of whether it's via trophy items or graded certs (as much as I dislike them). At the end of the day, it doesn't matter whether you, I, or any other sideline collector approve. It's only the market and the auction results that matter.

All the rest of it is old people shouting at clouds... which we do.

P.S. STAY OFF MY LAWN!

I wish we had a "like" button.

You mean like teenagers, like, have, like, built in?