Noble Spirit Auction On San But You Bid On Ebay

They are likely testing out if their bidding from SAN directed traffic makes a difference since they now have to cover SAN costs.

I bid about 1% on one of their sound GB lots and am high bidder. I put the bid in as a 'place-holder' and expect to be outbid within the hour. I suspect the bidding is lively on this material. Whether it is eBay-driven or SAN-driven is anyone's guess. If they have shill bidders then that may explain the activity, but it seems too early in the cycle for shill bidders to be busy.

The knock on Noblespirit is the same as that on NYstamps amd other similar outfits: they put on airs about being serious philatelists, but nothing could be further from the truth. They are either utterly clueless or completely predatory; they throw crap against the wall hoping that rubes will buy it. They prey upon the novice and the unknowledgeable. Cut from the same cloth as Posner, Anthony's, the late Bill Langs and Aldrich.

I always assume the items aren't what they are claimed to be, or have extensive hidden faults.

I've often wondered how NS gets so many collections consigned to them. I don't see them advertising for collections in the manner of a dealer like Robert Friedman. What is their channel for funneling so much material to them?

I love the term "shovelware." Is that a thing? Or just introduced on SCF? Either way, it's brilliant and very descriptive.

WNS is only as big as it is because they started on ebay long before most.

During the long time that ebay gave them out, NS harvested the email addresses of everyone who bought from them and they send out marketing (containing both look at this great stuff we have and please send us your stuff) emails to their list over and over.

I second what revenuecollector wrote.

I just looked at a NS ebay listing for a rare Russian imperf. It is trimmed and also used. They were never sold for postage and no used copies are known. What a joke. Makes me a bit nauseous.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/373245752659

A real 406b:

Is the Posner referred to here Gary Posner? Although I've never stopped at their booth or purchased anything from them, the head of the PF recommended them to me when he was examining my better U.S. stamps that I was submitting to the PF for expertizing at an APS show. Or is there another Posner?

Yes it is. Their ebay listings include glaring fakes, and their response when approached with evidence to that effect is a bland "I stand behind what I sell" brush-off.

It would be interesting to get Michael Cortese's comments om NobleSpirit as he works for them and also co-hosts the "Conversation with Philatelists" videos.

Would you really expect someone to speak candidly about their employer?

Well, I used to. Didn't do me a lot of good career-wise.

Point well taken, and Rog brings up a good example to illustrate your point.

To date, I've only thought of NS and similar ebay types (NYstamps, etc) as purveyors of lower-end material - worldwide collections on Harris album pages, random box lots, etc. Wouldn't think of going to them for the high-end stuff.

I still maintain that there is an important and healthy market for these chepaer items, and such sellers play an active role in recirculating material that forms the basis of these types of collections.

There's a fine line in any hobby between specialized knowledge that comes from years of research and effort, and elitism - and we must remember a lot of folks have the interest but not necessarily the time or resources to dedicate to building up a pricey, specialized collection (and thus being a true 'philatelist' in the view of many).

With respect to the higher end material - the kind Rog linked to - I agree that these ebay sellers are generally out of their depth, potentially willfully so. Happy (from the point of view of the seller) accidents ("we don't have time to research each high-end piece given the volume, so *shrug*) must happen all the time.

I suppose I never thought of these guys as high-end dealers, but putting myself in others' shoes...if I have more cash than experience and am looking to add (say) some Russian rarities to my collection, I'm going to get into trouble. And I see now how they might 'pass themselves off' as the real deal.

At the end of the day, it *is* up to the buyer to conduct their due diligence and understand the item they're shelling hundreds/thousands out for. But obviously the sellers are culpable here as well.

I'm no fan of dealers in general. Shocker.
Anyway Posner seems fine to deal with if you are buying certified items. I think he generally corrects mistakes. He has an enormous supply and I think putting him in the late Langs category is a reach. Langs pushed everything he had as gold as priced it as such. Another one Id add to the crook list is Apfelbaum who I recall was involved in bid rigging back in the day.

The Lenin 3r stamp could be a trimmed perfed stamp with a bottom fantail.I think that could explain the cancel.
In the Journal of the Rossica Society no.79 1970 an article "The Lenin Rouble Stamps" by K. Adler and
A. Cronin they do mention top fantail types but say other types may exist.

I got a collection (accumulation) from a guy recently. 40K+ stamps most were 1880s-1930 US. Just before I talked to him, he had been contacted by a buyer from NS.

Before even looking at it they were already playing it down and wound up offering/pressuring him to take less than $200 for the lot while trying to make out like they were doing him a favor. They were rude and acted astonished that he refused, then continued to badger the guy. He said they wouldn't budge on their offer.

This is the only direct experience with NS that I've heard from anyone.

Note added: the guy who had the stamps was not a collector and knew very little about stamps. I think they saw that as predatory opportunity.