I DID NOT STEAL THIS CABINET

[Raphael]

It has come to my attention that another member of this Forum has made an accusation on Facebook about my having "stolen" a cabinet from him at the last Stanton Auction. (I do not participate in Facebook at all).

Anybody who has attended one of these auctions knows that the Stanton system is based upon 100% trust and good faith. A successful bidder is encouraged to remove his items ASAP, even before paying for them. In about 20 years of attending these auctions, I have never once previously removed items that were not mine and this is the first instance of a (possible) mistake.

Anybody that knows me is aware that I will always admit a mistake if one is made. I honestly thought I had won this lot and placed it in our van. The auction ran three days and not a word was said. When I settled my bill, there was a "mahogany bowfront cabinet" listed and I assume that was the cabinet in question here.

If there is an occasional glitch in the system, Steve Stanton and his crew will always straighten things out. In fact, Steve called me a few days after the auction and there was a follow-up invoice adjustment. I recall there was something said about which cabinets I actually purchased. Steve was satisfied that I had gotten what I had won.

Now, fast forward several months and this accusation has surfaced. The accuser does not have the wherewithal to call or write to me; instead he uses the cowardly Facebook route. The reason he has not been in touch with me is because he cheated me out of almost $2,000 some years ago, and simply doesn't have the you-know-whats. In fact, a few days ago, he went around my back and tried to circumvent my distribution agreement with Eduardo Portilla in Peru regarding sales of wood horns. (He was not successful).

So, there you have it. I will discuss this matter with Steve Stanton today and hopefully he will intervene.

Raphael

[Raphael]

I talked to Steve Stanton today and he advised me that the accuser received a full refund on his auction invoice and was not charged for the cabinet. If he thought he won the lot, that is between him and Stanton and must be resolved at the time of the auction, not 3 months later accusing me of wrongdoing.

To clarify another misstatement on the Facebook post, I never received any email from the accuser.

Raphael

[JerryVan]

Not suggesting "fault" on either side, but since you've decided to air this here, I'm left to wonder, if he paid for it, and you're in possession of it, why wasn't it shipped to him, instead of having Stanton void his sale and refund him? Since he paid for it didn't it belong to him?

[Raphael]

As I said, I legitimately thought that I bought this item. I was bidding in person, and witnessed the auction conclude with my high bid. It was paid for. No request was ever made for me to reverse the sale. And as I’ve stated, this was a 3-day auction, and this was an early lot. There was plenty of time to straighten out the situation. In fact, my son and I had two vans packed to the gills and I still had to leave some stuff behind for Stanton to hold on to. I would have not minded at all acquiring the extra space.

Raphael

[phonoworks]

First of all, let's establish the known facts. I was in attendance at the Stanton Auction May 4th, 5th, and 5th. I was the high bidder on a mahogany music cabinet, and Raphael happened to be the under bidder on this item. The cabinet was tagged with my bidder number, the cabinet was on my invoice, and I wrote a check for the cabinet. On Saturday, towards the end of the auction, I looked for the cabinet and found it to be missing. After an exhaustive search, all parties agreed that the cabinet had been removed by someone other than the rightful owner. One of the workers said he saw someone leave with the cabinet on Friday night after the close of the auction, but didn't know who it was.

This was immediately reported to Steve Stanton and all other staff. As I have a good relationship with Steve, and because he is a man of integrity and honesty, he said he would reimburse me for the cabinet, even though he was really under no obligation to do so. I thanked him and told him that I will be searching for the cabinet on a variety of forums, websites, ebay, etc. to see if this individual would have the nerve to post it.

To clarify a few statements made by Raphael, the item he claims was on his invoice was NOT. Payment was NOT made for this cabinet. These facts were substantiated by Steve Stanton in a phone call at 11:00 am MST today, who also indicated that it is IMPOSSIBLE for the same item to appear on two different invoices. Secondly, Raphael claims that there was plenty of time to "straighten things out" since it was a 3 day auction. Well... there was nothing to "straighten out" until later, when I discovered that the cabinet was missing, having been loaded into a vehicle by someone other than the purchaser.

In regards to his statement about "waiting [for] 3 months [before] accusing me of wrongdoing", the answer is quite simple. I didn't know where it was for those 3 months! I didn't think to check Raphael's website to see if he was the on who took the cabinet!! For whatever reason, Last Thursday, I decided to look on his site and almost fell out of my chair when I saw the cabinet. In regards to my "cowardly" posting on Facebook and my "fear" of contacting him.

He claims that I never sent him an email. I DID send an email on Saturday, July 22 at 8:02AM, stating that I had found my cabinet on his website, even giving him the opportunity to return the cabinet at the next Stanton auction, where I could pay him for it and assume possession. Please see attachment of email sent. To be clear, there was NO response to this email whatsoever.

In regards to my Facebook post, I had initially posted the missing cabinet on the Antique Phonograph Enthusiasts Page in the hopes that someone might find the cabinet or the perpetrator or both. With a membership of over 9500, it seemed like a good place to start. I was unaware that Raphael does not participate in Facebook. I suppose he is implying that that I was afraid he might find out what I wrote if I had posted on another platform?? At any rate, he appears to have seen my 2nd post on Facebook, but never saw my initial post about the missing cabinet.

Now, in regards to the bad blood between Raphael and myself... I purchased a Mermod Frères music box from him for $25,000 about 15 or so years ago. Shipping was to be in the neighborhood of $600. I asked if I put it on my Fedex account if it would be that price. He indicated that it would, so I provided him my account number. When I received the invoice from Fedex, the charge was over $1900. I called Raphael about the discrepancy and wanted to know why it was so much. He said something to the effect that it was the difference in the type of accounts we had. He was rude, belligerent, and uncooperative. I emailed the following day, suggesting that there was a misunderstanding regarding the shipping and asked if we could split the shipping charge. He responded defiantly, angrily, and in a very insulting way told me that I should have known better, I was trying to extort money out of him, etc. and flatly refused any kind of negotiation, So, I called up Fedex and asked what my recourse was. I explained the situation to the representative and she told me that the shipper was ultimately financially responsible for the payment. So, I told her that is what she should do.

If it was merely an issue of the shipping dispute, I might have let it go. But the music box itself had issues. All four feet were missing as were the wooden rails that support the cylinder drawer underneath the box. So, the drawer had no support and just sat on the table underneath the box. When I mentioned this to Raphael, he said that the feet were frequently removed from these boxes so that they would generate more volume and that it was "normal" for the drawer to basically fall out of the bottom of the box. When I questioned this explanation, supporting my skepticism with pictures of other identical machines, he again doubled down on the story. To his credit, he did write me a check for $300 to at least have the feet reproduced, a check which bounced when I tried to cash it.

Finally, I shall address the accusation of trying to circumvent his arrangement with Eduardo Portillo regard the distribution of wood horns. I have done business with Eduardo in the past and have purchased several of his horns. I was in need of a few horns, and since we have a relationship already, I asked him if he could sell me 2 horns directly instead of going through the hassle and expense of Ebay. He emailed back and said he had an exclusive deal with Raphael and could not sell directly to clients in America. I told him I do not have a good relationship with Raphael and would prefer to buy directly from him, BUT if he had an exclusive deal with Raphael, then I understood he couldn't. So I went back to Ebay to purchase the horns, not realizing that the Ebay listings were also covered by this agreement. Eduardo informed me of this, and that was that... So much for my insidious "attempt to circumvent the exclusive distribution agreement."

If anyone would care to see my email correspondences with Eduardo, I will be more than happy to provide them.

I hope this clarifies the situation for those of you who had the fortitude to get through this.

Thanks,
Don Henry

[gramophone-georg]

"The more I get to know people, the more I love my dog."- Samuel Clemens

[poodling around]

"The more I get to know people, the more I love my dog."- Samuel Clemens

"Life's too short to stuff a mushroom" - Shirley Conran OBE

[JerryVan]

As I said, I legitimately thought that I bought this item. I was bidding in person, and witnessed the auction conclude with my high bid. It was paid for.

Raphael

But not by you apparently...

[Raphael]

You have just proven me correct about the email you allegedly sent. Take a look at the outgoing email address - it's one that I don't have, and never have had. And why I never received that email.

Your statement about the Mermod Frères incident is also error-riddled. You delayed payment contrary to our agreement and I had a huge crate stuck in my garage indefinitely. When I insisted you keep your part of the deal, you told me to send it on your FedEx account, for which I have no control over their rates. You called me late at night while I was in bed, cursing and screaming about the FedEx bill, then you stiffed FedEx and I got stuck with the payment. That is why I stopped payment on that $300 check. But all this stuff is water under the bridge and we now have the cabinet matter at hand.

I have my proper email address and phone number on my website. You could have communicated with me at any time. I have made no attempt to hide this cabinet from public view; there was no intent to defraud involved.

If ANYBODY at Stanton's had asked me about the cabinet, the issue would have been resolved right then and there. Steve Stanton or Michael Bleich never raised the issue, and how was I supposed to know there was a problem when I thought I rightfully won the lot and there was a mahogany bowfront cabinet right on my invoice?

Lastly, if anybody thinks I'm going to steal a $550 cabinet they have rocks in their head. I have the means and wherewithal to have purchased every lot in that auction, and your methods of solving this problem are unacceptable.

Raphael

[zipcord]

" (I do not participate in Facebook at all)."

it appears you have a Facebook account