Insurance Scam?! On the Memory Lane Auctions Heist And YouTube Comments

On last week’s top video I talked about the news that Memory Lane Auctions shipped 54 cards worth $2 million to a Best Western hotel ahead of the Strongsville card show, and they were subsequently stolen from the hotel counter:

Most of my videos get around 2,000 views. Most of my videos get sane, logical, positive comments. But when one of my videos leaks out beyond that ecosystem, I get the crazies. In this case, dozens of commenters alleged that the heist had to be an insurance scam. The problem is that their theory wilts under the most basic of questioning.

To avoid outing any specific commenters, I won’t post screenshots. I did ask the first couple of people how the insurance scam would work, and neither of them had a reasonable answer.

Who is committing the scam? Memory Lane or Best Western? How do they cash in?

At least this person asked instead of declaring:

If he responds to my questions, I’ll report back here.

Here’s my understanding: Memory Lane collects the insurance money and needs to pay it out to the consignors who sent them the cards.

It’s that simple!

Memory Lane can’t keep the insurance money. Best Western shouldn’t be involved in the insurance money.

So are the consignors committing insurance fraud somehow?

I’m totally open to the idea of this being insurance fraud, but no one has made a reasonable case yet. And I’m a believer in Occam’s Razor, which basically says that the simplest answer is usually the correct answer. The simplest answer here is that Memory Lane was stupid, not complicit.

So you tell me:

And just for fun:

Guess The Grade!

A Tom Brady Rumor Emerges

A few weeks ago Cllct published a story about a disastrous Tom Brady signing. Last week a source close to the Brady camp told me that his team is concerned about lawsuits stemming from that appearance. I wonder if Paul Lesko has added Brady to his morning lawsuit search yet.

Update From A Recent Attic Find Friday

Remember a few weeks ago when I did the Attic Find Friday about the Harry O’Brien collection that was set to benefit the University of New Hampshire? Well Jake of Wax Pack Wisdom did a video where he provided a ton more information about the auction, the auction house, and his pickups from the auction:

YouTube Comments Of The Week

Upcoming Videos

I might do a video where I talk through my Baseball Card Hall of Fame ballot. My friend TJ Is Online (go subscribe!) invited me to do a collaboration video with him on this topic, but the only night that I can do videos is Sunday, and doing one on Mother’s Day wouldn’t be advisable.

I have almost the entire month of July off from work, and am tentatively planning a card shop visit series, where I post a video a day for X days from a shop around New England. We’ll see. More things like that during my month off. I’ve never had more than a week off at a time, so I’m really looking forward to this.

Channel Highlights From the Past Week

I have now recorded two episodes with Chris Sewall for a series he’s set to release soon. Very fun. And we talked about recording another episode of our talk show that ended about six months ago when he moved back to the States. That might happen next week.

I did one of my more fun Attic Find Fridays in a while:

The sad fact is that Attic Find Friday is winding down. I’m on the verge of rolling out a new series that will last two years, if things go to plan.

I also did a fun video about how PSA 2 1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr. cards are selling for more money than PSA 7s:

Chris Sewall then did a video that featured the same story:

And Eddy from Eddy’s Cardboard Chaos (go subscribe!) then emailed me with this craziness:

An SGC 9 is currently for sale for $29.99. A PSA 9 recently sold for $10.50! A PSA 10 sold for $60. But there’s a market for weird miscuts like the one above.

And long-time subscriber Karl sent me this old video of a guy doing a PSA reveal of 51 1989 Upper Deck Griffeys. I won’t spoil it for you:

My Pickup Of The Week

I will likely be asleep Sunday night by the time this auction ends, so as I write and schedule this I don’t yet know if I won this item. My max snipe bid was $141.09. 🤞🏼

Here’s another item that I bid on (snipe: $231.09) but didn’t win:

Links:

Here’s the story from the Attic Find Friday:

And another interesting memorabilia theft story:

And some good news: they caught the scumbag who stole and destroyed the Jackie Robinson statue:

Guess The Grade Answer