Nope, never bid on any of your 'charity'pieces. I've been in the gane for over 30 years and remember when you came onto the SW autograph scene when you asked for help authenticating some autographs, the Harrison Ford in the movie programme you purchased years back being one. You actually messaged me years back for authentication on the Ford and others
I'd love to see some of the JEJ you have called fake too. Just to add I don't buy fakes
if you were a 'genuine collector' then I'm pretty sure you would hold on to such pieces and not trying flogging them when the signer passes away.
Like I said, it is profiteering after someone's passing. Just because other's do it doesn't mean you have to.
James Earl Jones once said that he signed for free in the past because he wanted to make sure his autograph was so easy to come by that people couldn't make money off his name, yet people start selling right after he passes away.
It's also one many reasons why actors etc won't sign in public anymore, Hamill being one because he is sick of people making money off his kindness.
Either way, you are right - you can sell what ever you want. Whether or not it's done at the right time or way is up to you and if you deem it to be respectable then that's up to you.
I remember that too and while I had - like many others before me - been collecting autographs for decades before "coming onto the scene", I'd been woken up by being burned on Star Wars fakes, as I'm sure pretty much everyone got in their early days, so I made it a point to go looking for forums etc where experienced collectors hung out.
I thank you for the input back then. It was appreciated then and it still is now. As was the input of many others.
Yes, I know all about Hamill and Oz and others refusing to sign and the reasons behind it.
As for charity pieces - you'd have no way of knowing it was me who donated them to the charity as I usually prefer to be anonymous when doing so - unless of course I personally am selling an item and donating the funds to charity - which I may well be doing with some of the items I'm listing.
You question the genuineness of my collecting. Well I have been obsessed with Star Wars since seeing it as a 9 year old child and collected anything I could find to do with it until I out grew the toys and passed everything onto my nephew - only to start collecting again the following year. In fact my most cherished memory of my Mother was the day she bought me a Lyons Maid ice lolly with a C3PO mask. I dropped monopoly money into collecting as much Lyons Maid items as I could because of it.
I've pumped more than the value of a house into my collection and while I have enjoyed every minute of that buzz of finding the choice piece, or that one bit you're missing, there was always going to be a time when I knew it would have to be sold on for others to enjoy. In doing so, raising funds to look after my wife and I as we both have major health issues.
You accuse me of profiteering. I'm well aware of James' signing ethos, and it's not me that sets the market. Others do that.
I simply price my items below what I am seeing similar items sell for.
Considering lots of those are fakes and my items are genuine, I think that's more than fair. After all, I'm always willing to strike a deal for a reasonable offer -
but in that offer does need to at least reflect the market a little bit.
I never said you did buy fakes. I've seen you around for a long time and with some choice pieces - more than enough to recognise you as an experienced knowledgeable collector.
Oh and it's not just me calling them fakes either. I'm sure you hang out in other forums so will have seen as much yourself, as well as on Evilbay.
At the end of the day what I see is this - you're annoyed because you think I'm simply trying to milk a dead cow. I get it. I understand it. But it's simply not the case.
I sat and cried like a baby when the news of James' death broke, as I did with Carrie, Kenny, Dave and others. Star Wars is my life blood.
As much as I do not want to part with my collection, I have nobody to leave it to, so my items were always going to be sold when my health went South.
As I said previously, I was one of those calling for a period of respect, but that is being ignored and fakes are flooding the market and people are getting burned.
Timing and pricing are simply a question of supply and demand. The demand is now and I have the supply. Better to let people buy genuine items.
