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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;red_spork, post: 2853812, member: 74282&quot;]Alternatively, we as collectors can and should encourage new collectors not to patronize these inexperienced dealers and auction houses who consistently make mistakes. Far too many dealers and auction houses have the arrogance to believe that they can authenticate just about anything that a consignor puts in front of them and offer it for sale even if their expertise is with another area of collecting entirely and they all expect you to pay increasing buyer&#039;s fees and retail markups for this &quot;service&quot;. You see it all over Vcoins and eBay more and more with dealers offering coins across the spectrum without the necessary experience to do so. There are still plenty of knowledgeable and worthwhile dealers out there, but it seems like you have to wade through an increasingly deep pool of incompetent ones to find them.</p><p><br /></p><p>I really don&#039;t think collecting, at least on the lower end that most of us are in, can survive the economic hit it would take for dealers and auction houses to pick up outside consultants&#039; fees on top of their own markups and buyer&#039;s fees. I do however think we can make the market a better place for collectors by naming and shaming those whose incompetence and carelessness is a detriment to the hobby and who are not doing the work that their markups and fees should more than cover. Lanz with his eBay auctions full of toolies is one and Bertolami with their big-name auctions where seemingly every single bronze has been touched up to one degree or another are two of the most egregious but it&#039;s a much larger problem than that and we should not be afraid to name those guilty of this.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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