STOLEN?! $2 Million In Rare Vintage Sports Cards From Major Auction House!
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- čas přidán 6. 05. 2024
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Today's story is how Memory Lane Auctions sent $2 million in rare vintage sports cards via FedEx to a Best Western hotel and then discovered that they'd been stolen from the hotel!
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Will these missing cards be found?
They will turn up ...I doubt they will be found until someone tries selling them to someone. I was in Law Enforcement for 30 years...someone will open up there big mouth about this and they will get caught,lol. I cant imagine shipping something like that to a hotel desk,lol...I'd hand deliver them.
@@baseballdave65 yeah people can’t keep quiet about $2 million
No. And if they do pop up by some miracle, it'll be way down the road. If they were aware they were stealing high end cards,they had a place to dump em for pennies on the dollar that wouldn't say a word. Idc how big the cards were...no different than classic artworks being found in a collection hidden away for years....someone will have those things stashed.
And not for nothing,BOTH are at fault. The auction house new better than to trust that type of shipment with FedEx and the hotel should have had all items for the event locked away until floor time was upon them.I smell a massive lawsuit.
@@bobtrottier8178 Can't file a lawsuit when most likely it's an inside job. Someone at the hotel new exactly what these cards were worth, and most likely if they have camera's they were probably turned off. But yeah someone always opens there mouth's when something this expensive is missing. Just look at the gold heist in Toronto last year were they walked away with 20+ million in gold bars than another 5.5 million in money. Something is fishy about this story and it always comes down to people close to this individual or the individual itself.
If you ship $2M to a Best Western, you're doing something wrong; should have stayed at a Holiday Inn Express, you'll feel smarter
Ha yep
Better breakfast too
Hilarious!!!😂
I would suggest either personally delivering 2M worth of cards with an armed guard, or by armed security., Definitely not by mail or courier? Not with our postal service.
No doubt. Lol!
And here I am scared to mail a $50 card off to PSA for grading.
Haha I know!
Which is the right way to think.
Right? lol
A good friend at a high end hotel chain just shook her head when we discussed. Best Western: That’s not surprising. Hotel employee involved: Not at all surprising. Who is at fault: Memory Lane did something really, really dumb. It was a high risk gamble to ship that way. Looking forward to hear if there is an arrest.
Only time $2M worth of goods is at a Best Western, the DEA isn't far behind
🤣
I would have guessed the IRS.
Next time they should ship to a Motel 6. Cause they keep the lights on.
7:25 I have worked with a jewlery dealer and know if the package value was over 250k, they delivered via armed delivery with a security service. Brinks was they used for sure. There was a couple thats very very reasonable. Its not some crazy priced service. I know they had a strict policy of not traveling with goods. Thats the worst thing one can do besides ship your stuff to a place of mystery people 😂😂😂
Exactly
There was a serious lack of judgement on shipping such high valued cards to begin with. Memory lane should not have auctioned these cards when they did not have possession of them.
People ship high value items all of the time. Diamonds, gold, cards etc. Every time someone purchases a high value card online it's shipped, or at least handled to some degree when placed in a vault. Their mistake wasn't shipping the cards - it was shipping and entrusting them to front desk employees of a two star hotel. And apparently they allowed anyone to sign for them.
Who ships something worth $2M via FedEx. Have a person in your company fly to the location and personally deliver it. Couldn’t cost more than $1,000 to do that. What a bummer.
I'd rather be alone than to feel alone. How in the world does one make the decision to ship two million dollars worth of cards? Absolutely beyond me as to why you wouldn't hand deliver something of that magnitude. I get nervous about a two dollar card coming from eBay, so I cannot imagine the stress and worry in between delivering.
Simple. A couple squirts of Kurt's spray into the air, and boom, the cards will reappear.
Magic!
Another simpleton letting Kurt live RENT FREE in his head
I get that not everyone gets sarcasm due to different disabilities, so I just want to point out that it was just a joke. Being called an idiot is a real kick to the grundle over a Kurtsy zinger.
I think Memory Lane was asking for trouble and probably trying to cut corners by shipping them like this. Never assume that your personal items are safe at a hotel or airport baggage. I thought this was common knowledge, but apparently not.
I don’t believe it! Who in hell shipping 2 millions worth of card to a cheap as hotel anyway. Fake story to me.
This is why for the last 5 years i only buy numbered cards so it can always be identified regardless of grading. Also, printing numbers are insane now, so numbered cards are the way to go for low to mid-range collectors 😁
Let me add something else. There was a dealer who had some inventory mailed to the hotel in advance and the hotel denied the package and it was sent back to the dealer's home. This left him with less inventory than he wanted at the show.
Was this after the theft maybe?
No idea of the timing .
Maybe ML should've shipped their clothes and carried the 54 cards.
lol yes!
I stayed two nights at that Best Western for the Strongsville show. It was not a very well run hotel, with all sorts of issues happening including an elevator breaking down, no heat in some rooms, no phones in some rooms, understaffed (bartender was also front desk person), and generally not a great place to stay. When I heard about this theft story, I was not surprised.
Yikes
I stayed there with zero issues
I can confirm this is a meh hotel. Went to the show the prior 2 years
At $100 per night, you need to adjust your expectations
@@BreakoutCards: haha... I had to re-read your comment twice! Initially, I thought you wrote "I can confirm this is a METH hotel" (which added up, given the story). 😃
Why didn't the Memory Lane staff just bring the cards with them to the show? Surely someone was going to staff the Memory Lane display.
That’s why they shipped them, so they could show them off at the show
you never travel with goods like that. In the jewelry and watch world, they use armored delivery for anything over 250k. The price isnt that different. The difference is the armored company takes it and hands it back to you.
im typing this and just heard him say something about armored delivery. I missed it typing but yeah thats standard
My guess is it’s a group of overweight middle aged lazy men. Insane you wouldn’t personally drive that much money worth of products to the place yourself
I cannot imagine not having it held at Fedex. I mean I do it with my PSA orders, why the hell would they not for a 2mil dollar package?
Well that's insane. I sweat sending a $500 or $1,000 item with Fedex. I wouldn't even be able to sleep sending that much via Fedex, UPS etc. I don't know what they were thinking!
Fifteen years from now....RARE ATTIC FIND WORTH 15 MILLION.
Yes!
So, a similar situation happened to me. I sent my Flawless Justin Herbert RPAs to a Walgreens because FedEx was going to deliver them while I was out of town. Everything was going to be on camera and tracked, so I felt safe. Well turns out another FedEx driver accidentally picked up the package when he should have left it. I had to eventually call the police and the package magically turned up again. It was an incredibly stressful situation for a few days 👀👀👀
Wow!
@@JunkWaxHero now I just use registered mail with the USPS. It is cheaper, under lock and key, and I know those people are not trying to jeopardize their pensions
Definitely an odd story. I can’t imagine the sick feeling memory lane must be feeling. Surely Best Western can determine who stole the box.
I always wondered and still do how some of these really high end cards are shipped around. Does Fed Ex really cover you up to $2 Million on shipping? I seriously wonder about that. If it was me I would be delivering them only in person to the person that was supposed to get them. Personally I don't have to worry about this, ha, but with these high-end auctions going on all over the place and more name recognition of these auction houses you would think they would employ better security measures.
My 2 thoughts, 100% not true. Who ships 2 million through fed ex? Dealing in that volume and value should have a driver, I mean 2k to ship a car in a hauler several states, I gotta imagine someone has thought of this before and the type of money these auction houses net each auction is in the hundreds of thousands.
Side note, Strongsville OH is a nice suburb and aside from traffic duty, they have nothing to do. Very low crime rate and sounds like some insider shenanigans.
FedEx facility is very close in Middleburg Heights, 1 exit north of Strongsville. 10 minutes from that hotel. That hotel was filled with collectors like myself. I swear I had nothing to do with it.
And picking up a package from FedEx at that location is secure. I feel all this could have been avoided very easily.
You think the whole story is a lie? Wild!
@@JunkWaxHero Just saying it is too much money to be this simple of a mistake. Insurance on 1 card or a lot at 2 million, it's the package/parcel that is insured in total. So any human in charge of 2 million and makes this mistake is where the story gets iffy. But people do make mistakes, I am more concerned with a company policy at this point with large value cards being treated like a 2023 Topps Chrome refractor worth 50.00, just my thoughts and like to always clarify based on the little information we have at this point.
Side note, it's very easy for a collector to have these in a PC long term and if they want to move them, it's easy to snap out and alter it to a lower grade/intentionally damage the card to possibly regrade. I have a feeling this story is just starting.
Those cards are gone and disappeared and won't resurface. Hopefully they find the cards but seriously we can say that there gone a ghost in the wind.
For all we know that they are saying that there's a person of interest but that could be made up.
Well know that the hobby has learned a lesson, this happens at big convention and happened at a card show and roberto clemente rookie was stolen.
You might be right!
They were swiped, cracked out of the slabs, and went into hiding at a family members house.
I think a lot of these “established” businesses are still running by on outdated practices and don’t evaluate them until something like this happens. Might be a good lesson for everyone out there to look at your current practices and assess the risks and make changes. Too many folks don’t question why do we do it this way? When they do the answer is usually “We’ve been doing it that way for 20 years.” That type of thinking can really hurt a business.
There's so many crooks in this hobby wouldn't surprise me if Memory Lane staged it all to collect the insurance $. Thanks for the video!
Memory Lane needs to pay it out to the consignors
I was at and filmed the Memory Lane booth the day after. Spoke to them but never mentioned it, hopefully they will find the cards. Rare cards will be hard to sell. There should be video of someone carrying out the box.
I watched that video!
Unfortunately, if they find their way to the right dealer these cards will be easy to sell.
The cops found the guy who stole the cards! And retrieved all but, maybe 2 of them. Great news.
Indeed! I’ll cover it a bit on Monday.
How could they run the auctions??? That has to be borderline criminal.
Nah, no damages for anyone to claim
I'd say that if memory lane wasn't already on their way outta business, they are now.
I subscribe to 57 CZcams channels and you are by far my most favorite one.
That means a lot! Thank you!
Ironically, Memory Lane's auctioning of the stolen cards is going to help the owner(assuming that the cards are owned privately and on consignment with ML) to establish how much Memory Lane or Best Western owes them. Fedexing that much seems risky. The tell would be whether ML fully insured the shipment(does Fedex insure packages into the millions?...)
Those slabs will be cracked and the cards re-submiited for grading a few at a time over the next few years, they gone, sorry Memory Lane!
Good theory
The theft was 2 WEEKS before the auction. Leaks from the police and the motel staff poisoned this auction. Should have been shut down.
I have mailed to hotel I will be staying in. But I call ahead and the manager knows to place it in hotel safe. Most high end hotels have safety boxes available. My question is that it must have to be signed for and not just by a clerk.
The reason they would have allowed the auction to end is to have the up to date values 100%
Usually in a crime The police will hold the stolen items until after the court trial is over. Meaning even if the catch dude today it might take a CPL years for it all to play out. Those cards if found could be locked up in an evidence room for a very long time...
Imagine sending $2M to a $59 hotel brand.
My lawd people just make silly choices.
My top two endings to this situation: Either they show up in a weird place, just dumped because they see they are graded, traceable cards, or the people get caught trying to sell them somewhere, because they are traceable cards, that will have a large bounty on them for recovery.
Shrewd folks in the biz might crack them out and resubmit them to any grading company for new serial numbers....
@@popsmoke99 There is still the risk of internet detectives spotting them based on matching up identifying marks. Best would be to crack them , sit on them for 3-5 years and then send them in for grading through a bulk submitter one every 3-4 months, making a new account under the name of a friend of a friend. The other option after waiting for 3-5 years is to sell them at a busy card show, to different dealers. Obviously the rarer the card the more careful they have to be, they may have to "fence" those in some elaborate way.
@@blueodum always risk indeed. That's why I'll be very careful....:)
@@popsmoke99 I said the same exact thing.
Or they don't get caught. At all.
This sounds ridiculous to me. I put 90% on Memory Lane. Sending cards to a Best Western??
Pretty dumb!
Probably a good time to invest in the shipping insurance
Even if the cards were recovered, they would be held by authorities as evidence against the thieves. That hearing, then trial would likely be months if not a year down the line. No way “ recovered” cards would be available for auction. That is absurd.
I read a Net54 thread where attorneys were saying they’d be released pretty quickly. But by the end of the auction, probably not.
@@JunkWaxHero So net54 attorneys who know nothing about the case, claim said cards/ evidence would likely be released quickly. That’s quite a leap of faith considering the cards may very well never be found and there has yet to be an arrest. I can just hear the States Attorney directing evidence in a $2 million heist to be released to …who again??? No way the winners of those cards will see them anytime soon as I see it.
Im pretty sure I'm taking
something like that myself and it's never leaving my eyesight.
The sad thing about this, it really says more about us as a society than it does about the actual standard of logistical transport in 2024, because in the 1950's a man named Harry Winston had something he needed to go from NYC to Washington DC, specifically the Smithsonian Institution, he figured USPS registered First Class mail with a bit of extra insurance would be all he needed. So he packaged it up, got his stamps & posted it, then a couple of days later it the Smithsonian was in possession of the Hope Diamond (it's worth around $350+ million dollars)
This is a shady situation. Unfortunately a lot of people who have these types of cards just follow directions that auction houses request them to do.
Why the h*ll would you not just carry 54 cards worth so much on the plane with you??? I worked at a hotel for years... a lot of people running around not making a whole lot. Good news is people who don't make a whole lot will do something stupid and likely be caught. They DEFINITELY won't be able to keep their mouth shut, which is where most people go wrong.
Did he even communicate with the Hotel before hand that the package was high valued and needed to be secured and locked up?
Even if they recovered the cards wouldn’t they be considered evidence in the criminal case. They wouldn’t see those cards for quite some time!
Good question. I read on Net54 that the cards would be released quickly.
Hopefully these cards are authenticated in such a way they can be effectively traced back to the thief…and therefore possibly recovered without too much damage
Even if shipping was the option to go, like you said, picking up at a Fed Ex distribution site would have been the more secure route to go. I'm actually a fan of Best Westerns and use them often , but who in their right minds would trust the employees there with merchandise worth more than the hotel itself. We're not talking about a 4 atar fully staffed hotel with conceirge service and security staff. This is such a bad look for Memory Lane. I would be surprised if anyone who is aware of this would ever consign with them, ever again.
If i have 50 cards worth 2million then I am carrying that around with me everywhere
Whatever the result, and whoever was to blame... this is not great PR for 'Memory Lane'.
That was very dumb move on Memory Lane. While it may be common to receive packages that way why not pick up the package at a pickup location like you said. I always pick up my PSA orders from Fed Ex location, I don't trust them to deliver to correct address or maybe even someone walking by your house when they stop and just let them sign for your package.
Exactly
If the cards are graded, they are traceable IF AND WHEN someone tries to sell.
A lawyer would say to put value on the items u would most likely need buyers or current values on items so either way they probably would run the item for proof of value. The the hotels side u would most likely call them and tell someone. Then call for proof of delivery. And safety of item. U never know what or if someone could do something like that. I hope they don't get burned but mostly in value like this that happens
imagine being someone that doesn't flinch when deciding the best option to get 2 millions dollars worth of cards to another state is by sending in a fedex box.
Baseball card heist! 😮
I can't say I'm mad at Memory Lane, it has nothing to do with me. It most certainly makes me shake my head, though.
I may have to try out those semi-rigids, if you honestly think they are the best ones you've found. What do you like about them/find different?
Hey Kin,
Thanks for asking. Maybe I have sausage fingers, but I have a difficult time safely sliding a card into a semi-rigid from other companies. The only other good one I’d compare them to is CSG, and I’m not even sure CSG still sells them, plus these are a lot less expensive. They’re just higher quality and easier to use, in my opinion.
I thought all of Pennysleever’s products were good (I tested a dozen or so), but really loved the semi-rigid.
@@JunkWaxHero Thanks for the additional feedback. I am converting my collection from toploaders to semi-rigids so I may have to order some of these to give them a try.
Well, that settles it, time to switch to Motel 6.
Hi Mike. That is one crazy story. I hope they find the cards. It would not be easy to just sell these high end cards. Like someone said below, this is now a criminal case and those cards will be held by the police. Please keep us updated on this story.
I will!
I hope whoever has it doesn’t try to sell it for 25 years and get them graded one each year … or destroy the card finders keepers
Sounds like it could be a future Attic Find Friday 😂
Hahaha!
The values could be far lower than previously valued at so it’s the smart option for them
The hotel should not have known what was inside
What a horrible auction house this needs to be known everywhere
Come on, simple collectors can keep more than 54 cards in a zion case and get to and from a show but memory lane had to ship 54 cards. That's a small amount to bring along in person.
I get not wanting to leave it at a Best Western, but what was Memory Lane supposed to do? Put a rep on a plane with a briefcase handcuffed to him? Shipping companies and insurance exist for a reason.
Have it kept at the FedEx facility
@@JunkWaxHero Agreed, but some people are saying it shouldn't have been shipped with FedEx in the first place. Which makes me wonder how they think the cards should get there.
@@martincaidin4166 yeah, I mean, I’d personally drive $2 million worth of cards. But that’s not realistic for a business located in California when traveling to Ohio.
I've personally had a $25K card, and I decided to hand deliver it to a reputable auction house. Cost me $1K in total, no big deal. This way is guaranteed...
We live in strange times if the victim is the one to blame for theft.
Who is to blame? The thief, of course.
There are some other parties who made it easy for the thief. Let's not forget, though. There is a criminal to blame here. Everything else is just degrees of culpability for the insurance companies to figure out.
Yep
In today's world its not surprising it happened but also with all the cameras around I would think they would catch it on video.
Memory Lane says no one knew. Several record prices on some of these cards says perhaps a few folks knew.
and I don't want to send in $100 cards for grading because of trust.. lol
lol
How exciting ! Let's jump back into this theft!
lol a bit of an awkward transition
Those sons a bitches at Merril Lynch always screw up !
There was a guy who took a fb group for 83 Oz of Gold over 200k!
Why is Memory Lane shipping cards for one of their auctions to a Best Western? This story makes absolutely no sense. Oh well,,,,hope the winning bidders eventually get their cards/slabs. I think they will be found. If I'm selling a card over $10k (it will never happen....probably) - I'm hand delivering it. Thanks for the information
To show them off at the Strongsville show
No way man…those cards are LONG gone.
Did anyone check OJ's alibi?
Can't blame him this time
Knowing the cards are missing and continuing the auction is probably criminal.
IMO fedex and ups in general are known for stealing cards from shipments. Most people won’t even use them for this reason. So a high end box of rare vintage baseball cards should have not just been signed for but also verified that they were actually delivered in the first place. I don’t know anyone in their right mind that would trust a shipping company like that to deliver a box of cards and if they did why to a best western? Seems like a low end place to send them to. Sounds like maybe an insurance scam from the start. A high end box of cards being shipped on a delivery service with a bad reputation to a low end chain hotel to go to an auction that I never heard of before. It all sounds very suspicious but maybe there’s more to the story but that’s my take on the information provided in the video.
Fedex? Don't they use brink trucks for something of that value? Insanity.
Right??
Well that tells you to stay away from trash Memory lane
its an inside job or something is off. had to be insured. prolly just tryting to get insurance to pay out high end prices for super expensive cards that are not very liquid in a down market
Who committed the fraud and how did they benefit from it?
Is there a published list of the stolen cards? Employees at that Best Western are on their phones, in the office lounge, making 10 bucks an hour.
I blame the hotel chain
I haven’t seen a list of cards yet
@@JunkWaxHero so awful to imagine losing that box…🤢🥴
Memory just cut down their customer base. People in that market want results for their investment. Playing games with million dollar clientele is not very smart.
Craziness
🎉
54 cards 2 million dollars it riding with me in a bag carried on my chest so they never leave my sight. 54 cards don't take up much space
Never ever ever ever send Fed Ex they hire contract drivers, UPS on high end really white gloves them through get locked in at every stop, USPS never send. Might as well just drove it, and hand delivered to the dealer.
I've never had a problem with UPS. By far, the go to company IMO.
@@robdemare8250 yeah they put high value on it and the package runs at the back of the truck and locked up at the manager cage at the facility.
Soon as I started watching this,if started to smell like insurance scam.
Perhaps best western did not know the shipment was worth 2 million. My guess is that they would have taken special precautions had they know, They also would not do it for free. If I owned the hotel I'd had an armed guard holding the box at memory lanes expense.
Yeah good call
Well when I heard Best Western…lights out party is over kids
Wait a minute….. two million dollars worth of cards , signed for by a clerk , and it gets stolen…. It’d be more surprising if it wasn’t stolen.
Hotel is a dump not surprising
I stood at a Best Western last week and found a couple of 52 Topps Mantles,Honus Wagner T206 and 2 Jordan Rookies..lucky me..I also took some bar soap..
Who’s to blame: THE PERSON WHO STOLE THE BOX
When are people going to learn that schitt happens? It sucks, but it is what it is.
Is that the same Ken Goldin that bilked Scoreboard out of a ton.
I have an alibi!
Suspect number 1!!
That's so.stupid to ship to a hotel . Makes no sense
2 million and no courier service? Insurance fraud
after hearing this, I'd deliver the box personally, by car.
Yep
I'm 70 years old, a former USPS letter carrier, for a $2 million parcel from my experience, do it yourself, as I stated above, not to blame FedEx, I'd prefer delivering it hand to hand.