LeBron Exquisite /99 - altered & damaged

[Siberian13]

Originally Posted by Zacy87

I just saw the page and commented too. Not sure how he is defending him... doesn't make sense

Do you have to have an instagram account to view and read?

[Zacy87]

Originally Posted by Siberian13

Do you have to have an instagram account to view and read?

I dont think so unless the account posting is private

[mrdallas]

I am curious why with the mountain of evidence against BNC clearly (either himself or someone close to him) doctoring cards to get bumps in grades. Why anyone (specifically Durant, would so willfully stick there neck out to try and deter. Especially now.

Simple phrase "better to shut up and be thought a fool then to open your mouth and remove all doubt'.

[AbraCalabro]

Originally Posted by Zacy87

I just saw the page and commented too. Not sure how he is defending him... doesn't make sense

He's trying to refute stuff that has evidence backing it up. I don't know what the hell he's thinking. He's got someone else posting on there too, one of his real estate buddies.

Originally Posted by thenwhatjk

Abra, where do you find the time?

Also, when did the Mariota/Winston thread people come over here?

I kinda' don't want to admit this, but the time has come. I...am a robot.

Originally Posted by Siberian13

Do you have to have an instagram account to view and read?

Not at all. I don't have an account and I can see comments. Some accounts are private, so you won't be able to see those unless you have an account yourself and you're on their contact list.

Originally Posted by mrdallas

I am curious why with the mountain of evidence against BNC clearly (either himself or someone close to him) doctoring cards to get bumps in grades. Why anyone (specifically Durant, would so willfully stick there neck out to try and deter. Especially now.

Simple phrase "better to shut up and be thought a fool then to open your mouth and remove all doubt'.

Like Zacy said, it doesn't make any sense. I mean, surely that guy can read and see. There is evidence behind it all.

[Siberian13]

Originally Posted by AbraCalabro

Not at all. I don't have an account and I can see comments. Some accounts are private, so you won't be able to see those unless you have an account yourself and you're on their contact list.

Thank you. I figured it out. DurantKevin seems to really believe Eric is 100% innocent of everything.

[NoleinJax]

Originally Posted by Siberian13

Thank you. I figured it out. DurantKevin seems to really believe Eric is 100% innocent of everything.

Which is hilarious considering up to his post where he said he talked to him on the phone (Post #433) his view was "To me, this seems like someone who would trim. There is not nearly enough evidence to prove that he trims, but I've just heard too many people talk about Eric's greed; and hearing that he doesn't let a great guy in the hobby win 1 effing trade over the years really ticks me off." (Post #91). Eric must have one seductive voice.

[WHyFLy]

What was the exact date of sale according to worthpoint on the Lebron 87-99? I’d just like to get it for my records

[AbraCalabro]

Alright, this is my last contribution for the day. I finally got a chance to eat my lunch and I'll check in with you jealous haters and nickel card cult peasants later.

(found a random pic of another copy of this card outside of those discussed)

[WHyFLy]

I’ve been in contact with DevinKurant. According to him in which he’s had direct contact with Eric, he stated Eric’s purchase was of exquisite number 67/99 back in 2013. He also stated that he was co-signing the 87/99 Lebron back in 2013 before purchasing it in 2014. This still seems cloudy

Update: I requested the devinkurant send me a proof of purchase of 67/99. I own screenshots that confirm Eric purchased an RPA in 2013 for $14k. I’ll give you another update in a new post on this.

[discostu]

Silence is often damning. This case (or "these cases") is no different.

There are plenty of reasons for silence and deflection of the issue, but money is most certainly at play.

Certain cards become investments, and when certain investments are propped up with manipulation (physical or market perception) they stand to be toppled. This is where the hobby needs to be...be the gentle nudge to topple the house of cards (lame pun, but functional).

Grading has allowed 3rd party, manufactured validation (that the hobby has allowed and welcomed) to overtake the human eye and feel. Once slabbed, all measuring and first hand inspection of the cards is gone. It becomes impossible to compare size, surface, feel, etc. once that card is slabbed.

BGS and PSA want this story (and an infinite number of similar stories) to disappear as it clearly removes a lot of the shine of their own well-stated (often false) expertise.

Owners and dealers of high end graded cards want this story to be forgotten because they have too much money wrapped up in this artificially propped up market.

It's an ugly hobby that we all love.

It has a shady history that involves charlatans, hucksters and felons...and it still has everyone in between.

Anyone with a history in the hobby that stems 10-20 years could see the writing on the wall with graded companies hitting the scene. Almost overnight, people you wouldn't trust with someone else's money were setting up at shows across the country with stacks of high-end graded cards. Not hobby enthusiasts who just got into grading, but people that were running scams in other fields all of the sudden jumped into sports cards.

This wasn't by chance.

There was a sudden new market and new opportunity to capitalize on, and capitalize they did. From faking patches, to trimming and everything else...grading multiplied the shadiness in the market exponentially.

So...now what?

Know that BGS and PSA are marketed as experts, it does not mean that they are all experts.

Know that high-end dealers appear to be experts, it does not mean that they are all experts.

Know that all grading and authentication companies make mistakes. A lot of mistakes. On a daily basis.

Do your due diligence in everything. People want to and are willing to take advantage of you.

And lastly...the difference between a BGS 9 and a BGS 9.5 is just as likely as to be the result of a traffic ticket on the way to work as it could be anything else. Don't play the fool and pay the difference.

[the27guy]

Dear Blowoutcards members,

The situation that I find myself in is difficult for me personally and frustrating on several levels. It’s been a painful few days. I can’t remember the last time I logged out of the forum on both my phone and computer, but it’s been good to go away for a few days – though admittedly I’ve had a hard time not checking back every five minutes. As most of you know, this forum has been an important part of my life for several years, so watching my reputation burn has been exceedingly difficult. More so than most of you might imagine.

I almost posted on the night of December 18th but thought better of it. Several friends have advised me to completely stay away from the thread. I understand that advice. But I feel like it’s important to issue an apology for the mistakes that I made as well as share my side of the story. I’m certain that many members will not believe parts of this letter – but it is all true. You will be able to tell immediately that I put serious thought and time into this. One great lesson that this thread has taught me is to be sure you share all of the facts. Hopefully you will read where my brain has been throughout this thread and maybe be able to empathize with why I made the decisions that I did. I’ll answer the questions that have been asked of me here and via personal conversations here.

Before I go any further, I want you all to know that I am sorry. I really truly regret not informing the forum of messages that were sent to me. I got a message from a friend a few days ago that really struck me. He said, “It’s not a good look. You’ll have your reasons for defending that guy. But we’re talking about arguably the biggest fraud in basketball collecting.” That last part stings. That I appear to have been here to help cover that up is tortuous. It’s literally kept me awake several nights this week. For better or worse, this hobby has been a part of my life for over thirty years and the relationships that I have made mean a lot to me and this thread has damaged the faith in me that I was worked to earn. Time wise, basketball cards have been the sole significant hobby of my life. So, having this be part of my legacy stings in almost every way that it possibly could. It will probably always be a black mark on me.

I know some of you are going to stay mad at me and again, I understand that. While that’s the case with several of you that I care about, it’s not lost on me that a few of you had axes to grind before this happened, so you came in with bared teeth. I get it. I don’t hold any ill-will towards you and I never will.

What is your involvement with Eric (BNC)?

Cards that I have sold ot traded to Eric- Looking through my records, t I first dealt with Eric in 2011 when I sold him a Russell Westbrook SPA. The first time that we exchanged emails was in 2015 around an Anthony Davis Immaculate Jumbo RPA. Since that time, we have exchanged 300-400 messages in total via email. The purpose of most of them are to reach out to each other for various cards or asking questions or advice. He purchased three separate Giannis Immaculate Acetate’s /34 from me that were already graded as 9.5’s when I bought them – I held those cards for a very small amount of time and was happy to make a quick $300-$400 on each when I flipped them to him back in 2016. I also traded him an Anthony Davis Immaculate Jumbo RPA for my Rudy Gobert 2013-14 Immaculate 27/99 RPA BGS 9 and cash.

I’ve tried (several times) to get him to help me figure out a way to get the Rudy Gobert Immaculate Logoman RPA 1/1 with inscription which he has available for sale but is owned by another collector. Eric, as I understand, is acting as consigner for a well known collector who is not a member of the boards. At the 2018 National I sold Eric several cards in person that I will mention below in the OTHER DEALINGS section.

I’ve also inquired twice about purchasing a Lebron Exquisite RPA, but each time the price that he’s asked is so out of my ball park that I have not even made a counter offer. As I have discussed in several other threads, I never believed that average copies of this card were six figures. Eric had one sitting here for a long time around $85k that he slowly raised the price of and is still available and has not sold. I have done many deals in the thousands and a few in the ten thousands. But buying a single card for any number over $50,000 is likely something I will never do and I have never done. I have never owned a Lebron but hopefully at some point we will see them at major non-ebay auctions and I will have a chance. Even then, the odds of me ever buying one is next to zero.

Cards that I've purchased from Eric- As for the two cards that I actually have acquired from Eric, one is the Gobert 27/99 mentioned above and the other is a Kevin Garnett 2004-5 Exquisite Auto Patch /100 that I bought directly from him for $440 on October 17th 2017. I don’t believe I’ve ever bought another card from him. I’m a well-known deal hunter. I always have been. Most of the cards that I own, I got a deal on. Eric does not sell cards at deal prices, so although I’ve always asked the question and done my due diligence with him, I’ve never thought he was well priced. I almost bought a 2003 KG Exquisite Numper Pieces. I have inquired about the 1998-99 Molten Metal Fusion KG, and most recently, the Karl Malone 97-98 PMG. We got close on the KG before he told me that he sold it to someone else. We haven’t gotten anywhere near each other on the KG Fusion Gold or the Malone.

Other Dealings – At the 2018 National, I met Eric in person for the first and only time. He was kind and pleasant to deal with as others have stated. Not overbearing or pushy like a lot of other dealers. As mentioned, his cards are nearly all, in my opinion, over-priced but that’s the national for you. He wanted to see the cards in my bag and he pulled out a number to ask about. Of course he pulled out most of my really high end stuff but I just told him that I had no interest in selling in any of that. In the end, I sold him the following six cards all of which were on the top 100 thread except the Ewing. The total back and forth took less than five minutes and since I truly loathe negotiating, I became even more of a fan of Eric.

Michael Jordan 1997-98 Finest Uncommon Embossed Refractor BGS 9.5
Clyde Drexler 1997-98 Fleer Metal Championship PMG /50 BGS 9
Scottie Pippen 1998-99 Fleer Playmakers Theatre /100 BGS 9
Patrick Ewing 2003-04 Exquisite Auto Patch /100 Ungraded
Michael Jordan 1997-98 Topps Chrome Refractor BGS 9.5
Michael Jordan 1996-97 Bowman’s Best Atomic Refractor BGS 9.5 (This last one I’m not 100% on but I think it was this)

I sold the lot of 6 cards for exactly $5,000. It was the only deal that I made at the National.

Before I left Eric’s table, he asked about my Giannis Immaculate Acetate. After telling him that in no way could I ever consider selling him a forth one of these, Eric said, “if I send that in…. I’ll bet we can get a 9.5.” The surface had a subgrade of an 8.5 and only needed a bump to a 9 to get a 9.5. I didn’t know exactly what he meant, so I am sure I gave him a puzzled look. He said something like, “I have a good eye for these things. Let me send it in. I still feel bad about those other 3 Giannis’s”. Remember I had sold him three cards just two years before for significantly less than the likely $40-$50k that they were worth at the time of the show. I agreed to let him take it. It’s a very strange hobby when you leave a potential $12k asset with someone you’ve just met in person for the first time. But I trusted him and his judgment.

He went to grab the cash for the cards and I responded that I would prefer he pay me with paypal. He looked surprised by this, but I needed to pay off my line of credit, and that’s why I was willing to sell those six cards in the first place.

Several weeks later I asked if he gotten the grade on the Giannis and he sheepishly replied that it had been regraded – and was actually down graded from a 9 to an 8.5. I was obviously annoyed and worried. He said, “don’t worry…. We’ll get this thing at least back to a 9 – I’m 99% sure”. He sent it back in and it now is a 9.0…. though the subgrade on surface is actually an 8 now, not an 8.5 like it was before. The other aspects of the card were always gem. I was done with the idea of resubmitting and asked him to send it back to me. To his credit, he submitted the card twice and shipped it to me and didn’t have me pay him anything ‘ just because he “felt bad” about how well he’d done on the other Giannis cards. What he said earlier in the thread about bumping cards is true. Lots of collectors do it and it’s a way to make money. It’s not something that I have done unless you count the Giannis card. I can provide the before and after pictures of the card – but bottom line, the only difference is the surface grade that is .5 lower than in was when from when I had personally sent it in.

Before I left Eric’s table he gave me a “buynicecards” t-shirt.

This section has displayed the entire extent of my dealings with Eric. I do not believe that I left any dealings out. Any suggestion that I receive or received some additional benefit from him as part of the words on this forum or as his defense is entirely untrue – that has been an assumption made here and it is wrong. Speculating about dishonest dealings that he and I have is extremely hurtful. They are not true in any way. There is no fact in it whatsoever. Eric does not owe me anything and I owe him nothing.

Why did you go after Jack (Rookies) in post number 21? That seemed very strange and aggressive.

For the benefit of everyone, here is what I said, quoted.

“Rookies,

I have copied and pasted the most crucial things you have said in your past couple of posts above.

You are well known in this hobby. Your opinion really matters. Now, having said that, you can't undo what you've posted about Eric (BuyNicecards) up above. You've said it, and I feel like we need to now find out what's happened. This is a delicate situation for several reasons.

From Eric's perspective - I wouldn't want to post in reply to you here because, well, at a minimum, it's damaging to the value of the #74/99 Lebron James Exquisite rookie. If he purchased the card already trimmed, then the value of his card is damaged. And if what you are saying above (that it went straight from you) and then he trimmed it..... That's realllllly bad. Not kind of bad. Really really bad. So it's important that you reiterate or clarify what's happening here. Was there someone else who it went to first? Or did it go straight to Eric? Because somebody trimmed it. Finding out who is important.

My experience with Eric has been positive. I say that despite him winning at every trade we've ever made. If he's not the smartest guy in the room, I don't know who is. But he's been fair with me. So hearing a suggestion that he's been trimming is not something that I'm going to buy without some very compelling evidence.

So, in my opinion, for Eric's sake (or detriment) it's now your responsibility to stake your reputation on this situation. It's that important. If I was in your situation, I would now, in full disclosure and transparency explain every detail of that 74/99.”

I agree that this post seems very strange because it seems like I am interrogating a guy that just accused someone else of wrong doing. Isn’t that backwards? Yes, it does seem backwards until you realize two pieces of knowledge that I had that weren’t known to the forum at that point. First, as soon as I saw Rookies claim in post #9 that Eric was a trimmer, I messaged Eric and received the following message back from him posted without edits–

“thanks for the heads up, I'm so excited to hear what everyone has to say
I'm not going to post this but for the record, card #74 was jacks aka rookie, he sold it to sohrob
aka toinfinityandbeyond, sohrob graded the card himself and I bought it from him as a 9

card 87 I bought in 2013 from sohrob ungraded, I have pics of it as such and i graded it myself,
I'm not sure where that guy got the pic but the edge does look better now, sohrob was pretty new to
cards at the time, seems very unlikely he was trimming 20-30k cards but who know

the BGS 6 ahmed bought as a BGS 6 on ebay and I bought it from him that way

the on on ebay isn't yellow, not sure where the guy comes up with this, the auto prob looks better
in the pic but its a 10 auto so not sure I need to disclose that its a 10 auto but not the best 10 auto lol

hope you and the fam had a good thanks giving”

Now consider for a moment that I trusted Eric and that Rookies (Jack) is also someone that I’ve dealt with and like…. I’m in a tough spot. Eric almost never comes to boards and although Rookies isn’t the most frequesnt poster, he had posted and was likely willing to post again. I felt that we were most likely to hear from Rookies. My goal at this point was to get Jack to mention Sohrob’s name. I wasn’t going to say it myself because I don’t generally tell the world (via the forum) about things that I’ve been trusted with. But from my first post, I knew this was going to blow up. And the goal was obvious – FIGURE OUT WHO TRIMMED THE CARDS AND OUT THEM TO THE HOBBY. As I said in post #33, “On another note, I don't ask these questions lightly guys. Someone is going to come out of this looking very badly. It's important that we know what happened. Stay on topic.” That was always the goal.

At some point I searched “sohrob” in the Blowout search bar and discovered that although his name had only been mentioned a few times ever on Blowout, twice it was by Jack (rookies) and it appeared that they had done some high end deals and were well connected.

https://www.blowoutforums.com/showth...ghlight=sohrob


Given Eric’s statements and the posts by Rookies about Sohrob, the most likely scenario seemed clearly to be that Jack was not telling the full truth about selling the card to Eric but that it had actually gone to Sohrob first and then Sohrob trimmed the card before grading and then selling to Eric. This is what I believed was happening.

Then finally in post #214 Jack admitted that Sohrob was involved but not at all in the way that Eric described. Here is Jack’s post - “Without reading further than I did I'll post. This is the last post though it doesnt involve me so I shouldnt be commenting BUT.......That context of that text that was brought up by chapman was told for me to be written by someone in the BNC camp. I do not remember who though I might be able to find. So I had to mention it was altered which I did. But asked to clear his name from this trimming or else I wouldnt get any cards ever again and be blackballed. I now am in a situation of not caring about that because I get plenty cards from other members and have made some good relationships in the hobby.

The lebron was involved in a trade. The 74/99...
It was a 3 way trade. The card was ungraded. I got the card ungraded. A friend bought for me on ebay because I didnt have an account way back when I started. So those with worthpoint I think then can go and see card was ungraded on ebay at some point. I dont uncase cards and never have.

The deal was lebron card was X amount ungraded and not depending on the cards grade. It was previous graded a 9/10. I said just by miracle if card grades a 9 you owe me 3k extra and if card grades a 9.5 you owe me 10k extra. TO which was agreed. This card and this 3 way deal was involved with myself, eric, and sohrob. I was getting a 9.5 lebron 03 LL some other cards and cash. I sent out cards, Eric in return was going to send to BGS ASAP. Card graded a 7.5 or 8 actually I think texts from sohrob said (so my memory was wrong on the 7.5 grade). So I wasnt going to get any money added. Which I said oh okay fine. Then card pops up as a 9/10 and is trimmed. On BNC website. You let me know where I went wrong. I got the texts from Sohrob confirming all this. From 2014 or whenever it was. Including more recent texts with me asking where my 3k was because card got a 9/10 grade. Which was hit back with a "he got lucky bro he sends in lots of cards"”

This post from Jack was good and bad for us because now the board at large knew that Sohrob was involved… but we still had entirely different stories about the deal. At this point in the thread any insider knowledge that I thought I had was now murky and I was at a loss. Either Eric or Jack is lying at this point. Either it was a three way deal as Jack said or Eric purchased Sohrob’s collection including the #74/99. Those are the only options.

One reason I re-hash all of that is that at the time, I felt that Sohrob was the likely trimmer… and getting Jack to bring his name in was key. I felt like that was a really important moment for the thread because we now knew the entire group of individuals who could have trimmed the 74/99 or were a part of it. I feel like post #21 and others that followed led Jack to feel compelled to post again. In other words, I didn’t mean to go aggressively at him, but I felt that his previous posts weren’t entirely accurate and I wanted to give him a chance to restate something different, which he did.

Why didn’t you post the information that BuybuyMJ sent you?

This is where the apologies must unfortunately be made. I messed up. I did not provide you all with information that is absolutely key to this case. The reason that you didn’t have it for weeks was because I did not share it with you. I am incredibly sorry for this mistake. You have no idea how much regret that I have.
At this point, everyone has a choice to believe one of two reasons as to why I neglected to post the information that BuyBuyMJ sent me.
Option #1 – I held it back to protect a friend.
Option #2 – I did not believe it was a valuable piece of the puzzle.
I am unable to let you inside my brain, but I can assure you that the reason I did not post is that I did not believe it was a valuable piece of the puzzle.

Most of you have already judged…. I understand. But allow me to paint the picture of why I believe I missed the meaning behind the most damning evidence against Eric to date.

This thread absolutely took over my life for a few days. Look at the times that I started posting at and stopped on the 27th and 28th. I stopped for a while on the 29th and then couldn’t stay away. The thread consumed me. Here’s a line that some of you aren’t going to like but it’s true… I have a family and a demanding career, and neither of those things got the attention they deserved for several days, but especially the first couple of this thread. On the first day of this thread, I posted 32 times. On the second day 27 times. On the third day 14 times. In between all of that, I’m texting, instant messaging and talking to many people about the thread. We’re talking hours of time on this but not always on productive behaviors. Mostly explaining/defending myself, answering random questions, and brainstorming on what probably happened. Everyone is asking me what I know and what Eric is saying. Oh, and I was basically acting as the go between for the forum for Eric the whole time too.

Near the end of that three days, at a time when I think most of us thought we weren’t going to find anything else out… People had questions for me. I’m one of the few people who actually knows both Jack and Eric and Eric’s not answering questions on the thread, so why not ask me? Many of the questions were about why I wasn’t 100% on the theory that had been widely accepted that the three guys originally colluded to trim and grade the card. I was entirely in self preservation mode at this point. I was not thinking about Eric. I was not actually thinking about who trimmed what anymore. I was bummed about it and was just thinking about me. More importantly (despite what people want to hear) I was also ready to let go of this and get back to the more important priorities of my life.

Then at 10:36 PM on 11/29 as I’m about to go to sleep, I receive the first message from BuyBuyMJ. I recognize his name and remember selling him a high end Davis back in 2015-ish which went smoothly.

When I open the message, I admittedly skim it. I don’t mean any offense by this, but it’s long and not easy to read (kinda like this post) and I just wanted to get the main point and move on. I see that it’s about the Lebron’s (like the dozens of other messages I had received over the previous three days) and that he seems to feel like he has valuable evidence. Then I read this line which I believe is the only indictment on the first email. BuybuyMJ says, “And I read your post that you had a conversation with him and heard that he bought it as graded BGS 9. Boom.” At this point, I look at the attachment. What is attached? A picture of #84/99. The card that I had hardly looked at in the first few days…. And I know that Eric has stated he bought raw. At this point, I feel terrible that BuyBuyMJ has spent all this time writing up this long letter thinking that because Eric owned it before it was graded and after, that he is a liar because Eric said that he had bought it graded…. But I knew that Eric had said from the beginning that he bought #84 card raw.

Let me make sure that this makes sense… because that last paragraph is confusing. But I want you to understand it because it’s the reason that I didn’t understand how important this piece of the puzzle was. What I truly believed that BuybuyMJ was communicating was that Eric was lying about buying the card graded. Read the quoted lines in the above paragraph. That is 100% what I believed. I didn’t even look at the corners or edges or anything else. I didn’t. The only thing that I looked at was which card it was and when I realized that he had misunderstood the thread, I felt bad that he had spent so much time. But I was also ready to stop thinking about this.

I responded accordingly while he was still writing the spillover of his initial message ….

“I believe it’s the other one that he’s stating was graded when he purchased it.”


Then I received the second half of his message which unfortunately doesn’t clear up my misunderstanding. You can go back and read it on post 1048 – (and here I’d add another apology. I should not have posted his messages here. I assumed that he’d be okay with that after coming in and telling the story, but I assumed wrong and I apologize to him for that).
Unfortunately, this second message doesn’t add any clarification and I’m left with my same understanding.
I then get this message in response to my first message –

“Isn't it 87/99 people & you mentioned there? Am I missing something?”

And attached to his message are two screenshots where people ask me about card #87 earlier in the thread and I reply. One is from Starvela and the other DevinKurant. The one where I respond to Starvela is concerning the other three cards that #87 was graded with. While that’s important, I wasn’t sure how that applied to the card that he said he had bought graded. We were always told he bought and graded #87. Then I look at the other screenshot where I’m replying to DevinKurant and I read that I actually mistakenly told the forum that Eric bought #87 graded. I can’t tell from the screenshot which post it was, but I’m sure someone can find it. Now my heart sinks. I messed up. Because of something that I said, this poor guy thought that Eric said that he bought #87 graded.

At this point in the story, I feel bad. Not only has this guy spent a ton of time researching this stuff, he did it thinking that I had said that Eric had said that #87 was purchased by Eric already graded. Now read back at Eric’s first email to me “card 87 I bought in 2013 from sohrob ungraded, I have pics of it as such and i graded it myself”.

So I respond to BuybuyMJ, feeling terrible that I’ve led him astray while I was confused between 74 and 87. This was my response-

“Thanks for all of the background. It’s super helpful and I definitely won’t tell anyone. See post 26 - that’s the one I’m talking about. There are pictures there of the before trimming. Sorry that some of those posts were super confusing. That’s why I kept telling those guys to stop switching which cards they were talking about.”

To that last point, it was confusing. If you haven’t been here for most of the thread, the last few paragraphs have been confusing. Right? That’s one reason early in the thread I tried to steer everyone to #74. I knew that we knew all three parties on that one…. I felt like that one would lead us to who trimmed the cards. I felt like I knew far less on #87.

That was all that I heard from BuyBuyMJ until I saw his post on the forums that he had made another email that I had not seen before. Why hadn’t I seen it? That’s the question that seems to be so indicting to me at this point. It seems like I held back that final email intentionally because that’s the one where he is SUPER CLEAR. The message did not come through my email. It was in the eBay app though. I just missed it. And without that message, you can see from my prior emails what I thought BuybuyMJ was trying to tell me. I understand that you may not believe that, but that is what happened.

Why have you done so many other bad things 27guy?

It’s frustrating to see so many threads from 2, 3, 4 and 5 years ago brought up against my character. You just can’t please everyone. I’ll happily admit that when I was younger there were some mistakes that I made. In the 2014-2015 era it felt like I wasn’t really allowed to talk about stuff I liked without being ridiculed. Frankly, Ninjacookies has used this thread to bring up many old beefs. I think it’s too bad that he and others dislike me as much as they do. Much of what he posts has value so overall, I’m glad he’s a member here and active in the hobby. I’ll happily address each of the issues he mentioned here.

1. I bought 2012-13 Flawless basketball rookies /20 because I loved the idea of rookies /20 and although I was comfortable keeping them for a long time, I thought they might take off in value and I talked about that not AFTER I picked them up but before. This is an important distinction from a pump and dump. You don’t pump before you buy…. I have been transparent about what I’m buying and selling from my beginning here – but some people still feel like that’s off-putting. Beckett actually picked up the story of me doing that set and the cards blew up. I had an opportunity to move the five cheapest ones for (what at the time was) a huge gain for me. I hung on to Lillard and Kyrie for a while longer. I kept that 1/20 Davis for a lot longer. But I’m largely sorry for how I dealt with first year flawless. I talked about it A LOT here and looking back I likely effected the value of it. That’s what happens with really rare valuables. One person can change a value of something. I regret how much I spoke about those, but I do still really like the set.

While I was talking about Flawless so much (as a relatively new user here) guys like our former member Paul, and Ninjacookies really let me have it. I made a lot of enemies in those first few months. I actually made a lot of friends too but again, I wish that I woudn’t have spoken about the product as much as I did. That was a mistake.

2. Right after Flawless, I bought a ton of Anthony Davis high end because I thought he was big time undervalued. It was right before he took the league over and his cards went bananas. I was flipping the gains that I had on Flawless into the breakout star of the league. I slowly moved out of Davis after having talked about him a ton on the forums. Again, I actually thought I’d move into his stuff and have a guy I really wanted to collect, but the values exploded. It couldn’t have been better fortune for me. I suddenly had a very large gain that I almost felt was irrational not to cash in on. I remember when I started selling, a lot of people here were shocked because he was playing so well. I largely moved those cards all too early and left a ton on the table but I felt like it was the right thing to do. I now had a nest-egg for buying a lot of the cards that I always wanted.

3. Gala. I actually bought a Lebron and a lot that had an Anthony Davis off ebay last week as I’m dipping my toes in on the idea of doing the /79 set again. I know that not everyone loves it, but I do. I have said this several times on the forums that I sold the partial gala set so that I could fund the beginning of the Eminence base set. A couple days ago, after three years, I finished the Eminence base set. It’s /10, so technically not as rare as Gala /8 but the whole set is /10 and it’s not rookie based. It’s got probably 35 of the best 50 players of all time in it. They’re all autographed and I love that set. I don’t understand what claim someone

4. The Zach Lavine situation is a funny one to bring up. I wanted to buy it. I was glad that I grabbed it. Then, again I saw the range that stuff was selling in and I was happy to take my quick gain. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. I used the funds to buy a certain Wilt Chamberlain Autographed rookie from a member here – which I really really really wish that I still had.

5. The Giannis thing is also a weird thing to bring up. That card is not available for sale. But in saying that, I’ll likely be accused of something.

Why did you identify UNKLBNZ as a trimmer but were unwilling to do the same thing to Eric?


I personally found three different instances where Unklbnz bought a card in one condition and then later sold the card in a higher grade where the card had clearly been trimmed. Finding actions such as these and reporting them to the masses in the greatest value for the forums. But that is very different than where we were at the beginning of this forum. You don't indict someone without being able to make a clear verdict. The unklbnz case was clear to me in each case. Eric's has been more murky.

Do you believe that Eric knew about the trimming now?

I think it’s very likely that he knew about the trimming, yes. It’s almost impossible that he didn’t. Do I know it? No, I don’t. The thing that gives me pause is that we always knew, from the beginning, that the Sohrob collection was a huge purchase of several hundred thousand dollars. For all I know, all of those cards were doctored and sold to Eric.

Do you believe Eric trimmed the cards?

I don’t know if he did or it Sohrob or other connections of Eric did. I wish they’d all come forward and tell us what really happened as I believe several sources likely know way more than they have told us here.

Will you buy from Eric again?

I don’t think so, but that’s not a big deal for me. I wasn’t likely to buy from him again before this. As mentioned, he’s pricey.

I’ve been hurt by this. Even if Eric did buy all of his altered cards from Sohrob, I think it’s his responsibility to say that at this point – the hobby deserves that. Now, you could defend Eric here by saying “how does Eric know that Sohrob didn’t get those altered cards from somebody else?”. The key to all of this is in the two Durant’s. Eric has to know the story on those. At least #87. I don’t see how it’s possible that he doesn’t know who trimmed that card. Maybe I am missing something – but I don’t think so. He either trimmed the cards or knows who did. I believe it’s his responsibility for the good of the hobby to explain that here. Why doesn’t he? One of two options. Either he’s protecting a friend (likely Sohrob) or he’s protecting himself as the trimmer. Either way, he should tell us what happened for the benefit of our hobby community.

I would like Eric to come back and tell us everything he knows. What I’m most frustrated by is that he hasn’t come in and explained how the #87 card was altered after he initially had it for sale and it's current state. He needs to do that.

On December 15th I emailed him the following after seeing BuyBuyMJ’s breakthrough post –
“Hey man. I’m sure you already heard....

A pretty damning post was just made about your other lebron.

I don’t know how you’re going to explain that one. But the nail is probably in the coffin in most people’s minds if you don’t have a really awesome story. I would not hesitate to post what happened. “

His response…

“Hey Adam hows it going? What happened? I did all the digging into those cards in my end that I could I do t really know anything other than what I had said”

My response to that –


“Go check it out. I can’t afford to be the middle man again, but go check it out. Someone has a picture of you selling 87 before it was trimmed. Not good. “

And his last message to me, on December 15th at 9:26 PM…

“yea i see what ur saying, I'm honesty not sure, its possible I was selling on behalf sohrob at that point, I know for certain that I never owned personally it prior to the date that I said, I actually located a pic of the lot I bought when i first got it the lot its not the best pic but the edges
of the card are clean. Regardless I think they presented the evidence on the both cards that something happened, I said I didn't do
anything to them and still stand by that, and I said I will handle it properly if it ever get to the point that they are to be sold and I will.
I guess that they don't like that I didn't give concise info about how I will present it but honestly its hard to know at this point what the best way to go about it may be when that time comes. Its seems that they are not going to rest until they do as much damage to me as possible
and honestly to me at this point they have made it clear that it doesn't matter what I say don't say its not going to be enough, so not really sure what else to do. I could attempt to respond again like i did before but I don't have anymore info that i had then and we saw what happened
last time. i appreciate your efforts regardless if you want to hate me or not deal with me or maybe you are in position where you are
not able to I understand and respect that.”

You guys can make of these posts what you want…

It’s frustrating when you give someone the benefit of the doubt on a public forum and then the forum continues to find damning evidence. I get it…. Eric didn’t ask me to be his defense, but I believed in him and have (of my own fault) been hung out to dry. My reputation has been damaged because I 1) believed him and 2) neglected to present the forum with the BuybuyMJ evidence.

He does sell cards on consignment for people. Like the guy I mentioned with the Gobert Logoman auto. I’ve done the same thing for other collectors. That opens you up to serious criticism. When someone sends you something to sell, and then you send it back to them, and then in the end they sell it to you, it seems to the outside world that you likely owned it the whole time. That’s not necessarily the case here. I don’t know.

I have tried to present the answers to all of the questions that have been asked. I know I’m going to get some “You’re a liar…. You were only trying to protect Eric” posts. I hear that. If I was in many of your shoes, I’d probably believe that. As I mentioned - one of my friends said, “it does not look good”. I know that. I get it. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I did not mean to withhold anything important though. I just missed it guys.

Will you come back to Blowoutcards? What’s next?

I don’t know if I'll come back to Blowout. I might. Like I've said, I love this place. But it is a painful thing to hear people who you respect call you a liar and it hurts to know that other silent readers believe you are. I don’t so much mind it when people think that I’m stupid. I do mind greatly when people think that I am dishonest. I would rather throw my collection in a lake than lose my integrity. I do not lie. I do not intentionally mislead. I do not act in a way that I can’t answer honestly to. That doesn’t mean that I’m perfect. No one is. But my mistakes here were unintentional.

A man’s reputation is what others think of his integrity – he does not get to determine his reputation: that’s for others to decide. But your integrity is yours. Only you know whether you have integrity. I try to always be honest with others and myself. I will continue to do that.

I’ve learned some (albeit expensive) life lessons.

1. Present the facts in a public forum. Opinions are valuable but you have to be careful with them.
2. Make sure if someone sends you something that they think is important that you fully understand why. If you don't understand or have time to really look for it ask questions or tell them you don't have time. Be honest rather than acting quickly and without clear understanding.
3. Don’t worry as much about what everyone thinks as you do about the ones that really matter.
4. My judgment as to who I can trust is truly imperfect.

I’ve said countless times that the Blowoutcard forums are an incredible resource for our hobby. The learning that can be done here could occupy years of your life. If I do decide that this is the end of my time here, just know that I really did have a great time getting to meet so many friends.

Thank you, to those of you who took the time to read the whole thing. I know it was long. I think I said everything that I wanted to. Best wishes to all of you.

[Starman101]

Adam,

Don't sweat it dude

Contrary to some in this thread I really dont think you've done anything really wrong here

You had many good experiences with this seller but that doesn't mean the guy will always be legit

As others have posted Eric's silence to clear his name speaks louder than anything anyone has said or done regarding this whole fiasco

The Trivumerate Illuminator thread I started last year was THE ONLY time I ever called anyone out on BO and it was for good reason as based on my experience the guy to me was just doing something deceiving

I got red flags from him a while back and his wrongdoings pointed out in this thread is not even shocking to me in a way

Anyways just want to let you know I appreciate your posts / threads and contribution to this forum and this doesn't change that at all

I LOVE the Cardboard Chronicles episodes with you and Josh (Ive watched every episode and love them all btw. lol) and can tell you are a true collector and a great asset to these boards

I share the same passion for the hobby and I know when someone is the real deal

I could PM you this but felt it was important to post this where all can see it as I know there are many that feel the same

No worries bro

Obli di Obla da

Life goes on

Steve (Starman101)

[theLUCKYshow]

I believe you man and I do hope you come back.

Ji

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

[Noah]

Originally Posted by the27guy

Why did you go after Jack (Rookies) in post number 21? That seemed very strange and aggressive.


So, in my opinion, for Eric's sake (or detriment) it's now your responsibility to stake your reputation on this situation. It's that important. If I was in your situation, I would now, in full disclosure and transparency explain every detail of that 74/99.”

Would you explain every detail? Would you stake your reputation on this situation?

Oh the irony on these boards

[PKIPP]

@27Guy

Glad you posted this, totally understand why you needed to take a break for a little bit. I think almost everyone would've needed to. I genuinely believe you're a good dude, and though you made mistakes in this situation, I'm not going to hold that against you. You're not the one who trimmed the cards after all.. But more importantly I believe you when you say you had no personal gain at stake with regards to your dealings/relationship with Eric.

I'll say it for you since I know it is not your personality.. Eric put the situation on you and hoped you could talk the situation out of existence, he is clearly guilty and that is why he won't come back and post here, and also quite frankly allowed your reputation to take a hit in an effort to save his own behind. You were being a true friend, he is anything but a true friend for his actions, or lack thereof. If Eric had any care for anyone but himself, he'd have come in here and told the boards to leave you outta this. I understand you made a choice to speak on his behalf, but he was basically taking advantage of you being a good friend.


I've valued your opinions, your passion for the hobby, and appreciate your collection and your kindness to everyone on here since my first day on this board. Love talking Jazz basketball with you, and hoops in general. And I'll continue to do so. You've got a friend here pal. And I'm sure many others will be understanding too. Not everyone will, but I think over time most ppl will remember who you really are, and that is a true collector and supporter of the hobby.

[mrdallas]

I read the entire post from Adam but I found this to be insert to be most interesting

Before I left Eric’s table, he asked about my Giannis Immaculate Acetate. After telling him that in no way could I ever consider selling him a forth one of these, Eric said, “if I send that in…. I’ll bet we can get a 9.5.” The surface had a subgrade of an 8.5 and only needed a bump to a 9 to get a 9.5. I didn’t know exactly what he meant, so I am sure I gave him a puzzled look. He said something like, “I have a good eye for these things. Let me send it in. I still feel bad about those other 3 Giannis’s”. Remember I had sold him three cards just two years before for significantly less than the likely $40-$50k that they were worth at the time of the show. I agreed to let him take it. It’s a very strange hobby when you leave a potential $12k asset with someone you’ve just met in person for the first time. But I trusted him and his judgment.
Several weeks later I asked if he gotten the grade on the Giannis and he sheepishly replied that it had been regraded – and was actually down graded from a 9 to an 8.5. I was obviously annoyed and worried. He said, “don’t worry…. We’ll get this thing at least back to a 9 – I’m 99% sure”. He sent it back in and it now is a 9.0…. though the subgrade on surface is actually an 8 now, not an 8.5 like it was before. The other aspects of the card were always gem. I was done with the idea of resubmitting and asked him to send it back to me. To his credit, he submitted the card twice and shipped it to me and didn’t have me pay him anything ‘ just because he “felt bad” about how well he’d done on the other Giannis cards. What he said earlier in the thread about bumping cards is true. Lots of collectors do it and it’s a way to make money. It’s not something that I have done unless you count the Giannis card. I can provide the before and after pictures of the card – but bottom line, the only difference is the surface grade that is .5 lower than in was when from when I had personally sent it in.



So after he already got three of Adam's 9.5 Giannis Acetate's, he send the fourth in for regrading twice (FOR Adam) and it gets downgraded?? Only increasing the value of the three Gainnis Acetates that BNC owns. Just sounds like more BNC shady stuff IMHO

[gomiamigo]

The utter and complete absurdity of continuing to defend the biggest proven fraudster in the history of basketball cards as 'pleasant and nice.'

Why don't you write Bernie Madoff a letter congratulating him on his superior investment returns from 1980-2007 while you're at it?

And now the story of buybuyMJ's email has changed from 'his english wasn't the best' to "I read it late at night and didn't pay enough attention to it" even though it was super clear what he was saying.

You buried the truth. You sat on it for weeks when the entire forum was clamoring for exactly these details. Why you continue to defend BNC as a great guy, and repeat his lies about not knowing anything about the trimming [!!] boggles the mind.


FTR, we did a deal years ago, it went smoothly, and I've never had it in for you as you accuse others.

[shindo03]

First and foremost, Adam definitely messed up here on being the middle man, he just shouldn't have been involved in the first place. He should have known both the pros and cons of being involved (although there are many more cons as we can see from this thread). Once you make the choice to involved, you can't conveniently say "oh my life was so busy and demanding, so a piece of the puzzle just slipped my mind."
That's the burden you take once you decide to be in the middle. He shouldn't have taken on the whole middle man thing without knowing he would have to be super careful in regurgitating any information. I'm really a nobody on these forums but I'm seeing a giant trend of newer members taking every opportunity to mob up on a situation and villainize very quickly. There is rarely any empathy on this forum.

I welcome all on this forum, but I really don't think that Adam should be made into this super villain. Anyone that has been on this forum knows what Adam looks like (so no need to put his pictures up on here), we know he was beckett famous, we know he did a podcast, we know cards are his life, and we know he got his co-workers (whom were not in the hobby) involved in breaking card. We know Adam and we know cards is his life and wouldn't burn down is reputation for this thread. And about speculations that he pumps and dumps. Unless you were around since 2011, there shouldn't be any speculations. He pumped Flawless before it released and while he was trying to complete the set, same with Gala. He just loves rare TRUE rookie cards, I find it funny you guys blame 1 person for Flawless diamond hype, Gala hype, and even that guy for Harry Giles hype. It's not 1 person.....next thing you know we're going to blame 1 person for Prizm Silvers hype falling and etc.

Pretty simple summary: Adam bit more than he could chew. Cards is his life after his family. And his character is being questioned by this thread and on very subjective posts about him and his past altercations on blowout. "Ohhhh Adam is definitely pulling the wool over on people's eyes over these past years cause I knew all along he was a bad bad man because I knew he was pumping and dumping." Like you guys make him out to be like this meticulous manipulator, like Haiku or Attyball. Sorry, but he's not. He's just way to involved in the hobby and screwed up, let's not be moronic and make it seem like people's conspiracy theories of him pumping and dumping further make it evident that he's some genius puppeteer.

[Deadshot]

Originally Posted by gomiamigo

The utter and complete absurdity of continuing to defend the biggest proven fraudster in the history of basketball cards as 'pleasant and nice.'

Why don't you write Bernie Madoff a letter congratulating him on his superior investment returns from 1980-2007 while you're at it?

He was kind and pleasant to deal with as others have stated.

He was describing how he felt at the time. He can't go back in time and change an impression/feeling.

The Giannis grading scenario seemed rather incriminating to me. He should have mentioned it earlier, but at least it's out now.

[theLUCKYshow]

Originally Posted by the27guy

On December 15th I emailed him the following after seeing BuyBuyMJ’s breakthrough post –
“Hey man. I’m sure you already heard....

A pretty damning post was just made about your other lebron.

I don’t know how you’re going to explain that one. But the nail is probably in the coffin in most people’s minds if you don’t have a really awesome story. I would not hesitate to post what happened. “

His response…

“Hey Adam hows it going? What happened? I did all the digging into those cards in my end that I could I do t really know anything other than what I had said”

My response to that –


“Go check it out. I can’t afford to be the middle man again, but go check it out. Someone has a picture of you selling 87 before it was trimmed. Not good. “

And his last message to me, on December 15th at 9:26 PM…

[I]“yea i see what ur saying, I'm honesty not sure, its possible I was selling on behalf sohrob at that point, I know for certain that I never owned personally it prior to the date that I said, I actually located a pic of the lot I bought when i first got it the lot its not the best pic but the edges
of the card are clean. Regardless I think they presented the evidence on the both cards that something happened, I said I didn't do
anything to them and still stand by that, and I said I will handle it properly if it ever get to the point that they are to be sold and I will.
I guess that they don't like that I didn't give concise info about how I will present it but honestly its hard to know at this point what the best way to go about it may be when that time comes. Its seems that they are not going to rest until they do as much damage to me as possible
and honestly to me at this point they have made it clear that it doesn't matter what I say don't say its not going to be enough, so not really sure what else to do. I could attempt to respond again like i did before but I don't have anymore info that i had then and we saw what happened
last time. i appreciate your efforts regardless if you want to hate me or not deal with me or maybe you are in position where you are
not able to I understand and respect that.”

This to me is another piece of evidence that makes me believe Adam is telling the truth in regards to buybuymjs messages. If Adam had known about the meaning of buybuymjs messages, wouldn't he have communicated that already to Eric? Why would he be acting like he just found out this bombshell to Eric?

[GeechQuest]

Originally Posted by gomiamigo

The utter and complete absurdity of continuing to defend the biggest proven fraudster in the history of basketball cards as 'pleasant and nice.'

Why don't you write Bernie Madoff a letter congratulating him on his superior investment returns from 1980-2007 while you're at it?

And now the story of buybuyMJ's email has changed from 'his english wasn't the best' to "I read it late at night and didn't pay enough attention to it" even though it was super clear what he was saying.

Maybe your definition of proof is different from mine....

[tmar214]

Post seems to line up in part with why not much info on BNC operation will ever come out. Most of his transactions are private dealings off eBay. He’s an asset for people trying to sell big cards or acquire big cards. No one is going to want to call cards they own in to question.

I mostly read 27guys post as.

1) I’m very sorry and this has caused me some hardship

2) My dealings with Eric have gone well and I am financially incentivized to have him like me.


Don’t think 27guy is overly at fault and at least we see in to why people who do business with BNC aren’t in a hurry to share cards they acquired from him in private deals. Figure for 27guy sharing the history of the acetate giannis devalues it at least a little.

[gomiamigo]

Originally Posted by Noah

Would you explain every detail? Would you stake your reputation on this situation?

Oh the irony on these boards

+1000

[shindo03]

Originally Posted by gomiamigo

The utter and complete absurdity of continuing to defend the biggest proven fraudster in the history of basketball cards as 'pleasant and nice.'

Why don't you write Bernie Madoff a letter congratulating him on his superior investment returns from 1980-2007 while you're at it?

This is why I can't stand the threads anymore. At that time he didn't know BNC was a fraud. If you met Ray Rice after a football game prior to his elevator incident, and he was totally nice to you, signed a jersey for you and was polite. And then later on hypothetically a reporter asked you after the incident, "Hey, we know you met Ray Rice earlier on this year before the elevator incident, what'd you think about him?"

And you answered: "Oh he seemed like a really genuine and nice guy, but I can't believe what he did in that elevator." Does that mean you're defending that guy????? Adam is just saying based of his experience BNC has been nice to him. Do you think scammers are mean to people? Especially when you're trying to move six figure type money. Like if you were scamming people would you just be a jerk to send red flags to yourself??????

[theLUCKYshow]

Originally Posted by shindo03

This is why I can't stand the threads anymore. At that time he didn't know BNC was a fraud. If you met Ray Rice after a football game prior to his elevator incident, and he was totally nice to you, signed a jersey for you and was polite. And then later on hypothetically a reporter asked you after the incident, "Hey, we know you met Ray Rice earlier on this year before the elevator incident, what'd you think about him?"



And you answered: "Oh he seemed like a really genuine and nice guy, but I can't believe what he did in that elevator." Does that mean you're defending that guy????? Adam is just saying based of his experience BNC has been nice to him. Do you think scammers are mean to people? Especially when you're trying to move six figure type money. Like if you were scamming people would just be a jerk to send red flags to yourself??????

This is waaaaay too rational for some people to digest.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk