1918 BoSox World Champ Ball Up to Bat at Auction

Signatures compromised, but historic game play the real value to collectors

Boston Red Sox fans may want to think about breaking into their piggy banks for this one. A baseball used in the last game of the 1918 World Series between the Sox and the Chicago Cubs is going on the auction block next month. The ball is part of an 1100-lot event hosted by Sportsworld Auction.

The ball, which has never been on the market, belongs to the elderly son of Fred Thomas. Thomas was a third baseman for the Red Sox and kept the ball all these years. His son, Warren, said the ball had signatures including, Babe Ruth's autograph, but over the years of use by kids playing catch with it, the signatures wore off and were eventually traced over. Experts say it's not the autographs that will bring value to the ball, it's the historic game from which it was used.

According to CardCornerClub.net, "It is not the signatures then, that will bring value and attention to this item, but rather, the historic game from which it comes and the clear provenance."

The Red Sox won the 1918 World Series and did not win another championship for 86 years, until the 2004 series against the St. Louis Cardinals.

The auction goes live online on April 10, with half the lots concluding May 18 and the balance on May 19. Also up for bidding will be an enormous, graded collection of hundreds of T-206 tobacco cards, including multiple copies of Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson and many other Hall of Famers; the 1967 American League Championship ring from beloved Bosox broadcaster Ken Coleman; a collection from Dave "Boo" Ferris (Red Sox star pitcher of the mid-'40s): and hockey collections from Wayne Cashman, Gary Doak, Wayne Carleton and Don Awrey, including all three of Awrey's Stanley Cup rings and Cashman's 1972 Summit Series jersey; and much more.

Photo of ball as pictured on Scoop Diamond Galleries.

Mozilla & eBay Announce Euro Pact

Deal is a collaboration on new technology approaches

Mozilla and eBay International AG today announced they are working together to improve the online auction experience for people in France, Germany and the United Kingdom.

In an official release, Mozilla and eBay said they are collaborating on new technology and approaches to enable eBay users to stay up to date with their auctions more easily from within Firefox regardless of where they are on the Web.

"We are excited to work with eBay to improve the online auction experience with Firefox," said Christopher Beard, Mozilla vice-president, marketing and product management. "Firefox provides a robust platform for integration with leading Web services, which we’re pleased to extend through our partnership with eBay."

"We are thrilled to be working with Mozilla and to explore a great opportunity that benefits both our communities of users," said Harald Eisenächer, vice-president and chief marketing officer for eBay in Germany. "Our work together will help the great community of Firefox users more easily use eBay and stay up to date with their auctions."

Mozilla and eBay will provide more details on their collaboration in the second calendar quarter of 2007.

Will this partnership yield benefits for eBayers who browse with Firefox in the States? eBay spokesperson Catherine England told Ina Steiner of AuctionBytes: "We'll be announcing more details about our collaboration with Mozilla later this year. We don't have additional details to share at this time."

For the uninitiated, Mozilla's Firefox browser is popular with those who have found it less prone to crashing than Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Its architecture has given it a reputation for being more secure that IE. We really love Firefox here at ATR. As you see on the left of the page just below our contact info: "This site is best viewed in Mozilla Firefox or Safari. Internet Explorer CSS layout problems are not supported." We don't quite know what all that means, but for the best ATR experience, we recommend Firefox.

eBay Improves Favorites Searches, Makes Changes to CE Specs

A few tidbits from the company announcement board

A couple of items on eBay's General Announcements board caught our attention, so we though we'd pass them on to you.

The first is word that the company has streamlined the Favorite Searches process and made it easier to save those searches. If you buy similar items regularly, this is a feature you likely already use. Now, if you sign up for a Favorite Searches e-mail, eBay will do the work for you.

If you buy or sell consumer electronics, be aware that the company is making changes to the Item Specifics within several CE subcategories. The company says the changes will allow sellers and buyers to select a wider range of product brands, as well as product lines and other features.

Feds Nab Member of Transnational eBay Crime Ring

FBI says woman is part of "elaborate scheme" to defraud $350k

A woman involved in a crime ring to defraud eBayer users of more than $350,000 has been apprehended by the FBI. The Bureau says Mariyana Feliksova Lozanova is a Bulgarian member of a transnational criminal ring involved in an "elaborate scheme" designed to trick prospective buyers into wiring her money. She has been charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, according to the Sharon Guadin writing for Information Week.

The woman, whose aliases include Gentiane La France and Naomi Elizabeth DeBont, allegedly conned prospective buyers on eBay into sending her money for major purchases, like motor vehicles and boats, that were never delivered, according to a release from the FBI, which investigated the case.

According to the FBI report, Lozanova and others in the "crime group" allegedly participated in a scheme to advertise the expensive merchandise for sale on eBay. When potential buyers from the United States showed an interest, they were contacted directly by e-mail from the purported seller. The victims were then instructed to wire transfer payments through eBay Secure Traders, which has no actual affiliation with eBay. The FBI contends it was a ruse to persuade the victims that they were sending money into a secure escrow account pending delivery and inspection of their purchases. Instead, the victims' funds were allegedly wired directly into one of several bank accounts, controlled by Lozanova and her co-conspirators, in Hungary or Slovakia.

If convicted, the woman faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for the wire fraud conspiracy and 10 years in prison for the money laundering conspiracy. In addition, she also could be required to pay fines totaling more than $500,000, as well as forfeitures and restitution to the victims of the scheme.

Scroll down for more on why auction fraud is now the #1 online crime.

(Image from The Raw Story web site)

NEXT, IN A RELATED STORY:

Ken Lay's Enron Desk Comes Up Short at Auction

Reserve squelches bidding for pricey desk

As long as we're kinda on this crime and punishment theme, we couldn't help noticing the follow-up to the auction of the Enron desks - the desks from which the late Ken Lay and the incarcerated Jeff Sklling ran the company and steered it into its doom and the ruin of many.

Designed by Gensler Architects and made by Brochstein's with a Makore Pommelle veneer, the desks were put up earlier this month as part of an auction to benefit Saving Animals Across Borders. The desks failed to garner the kind of bidding desired - with Lay's apparently coming up a dollar short.

Ironically for a story about anything related to Enron, a little hidden money was the deal breaker here - the reserve.

As The Houston Chronicle reported earlier this month, the desks were to start with a $25,000 minimum. On Sunday, the paper noted that Lay's desk did indeed start at that price, but it had a reserve price of $25,001.

Only one person came up with the minimum bid. When faced with the prompt that reads "reserve not met," they apparently opted out.

"I wish I could just e-mail this person and tell them 'just one more dollar,'" Sean Hawkins of Saving Animals Across Borders told the paper.

Let this be a lesson to you: reserves impede bidding. They are sometimes a necessary option, but use them wisely. One little dollar kept this major auction from a successful closing. Imagine what an inopportune reserve could cost you.

Date for Simpson Book Rights Auction Set

Sacramento, California judge orders sale on April 17th.

Going, going, gone. That might be how a reporter or commentator once described one of O.J. Simpson's amazing football runs - one of the many that helped land him in professional football's hall of fame. On April 17th, that will likely be the last words spoken before the rights to "If I Did It" transfer to a new owner. Authorities today ruled that April 17th will be the day the rights to the quasi-confessional book be sold to the highest bidder, according to Reuters.

The book, in which Simpson explains how he might have committed the killings of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ron Goldman, has been the subject of a legal battle between the former NFL star and Goldman's family.

The book and companion TV interview were never released amid public outrage.

Notice of the auction to be held by the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department has been sent to publishers, Hollywood studios and talent agencies, Goldman family attorney David Cook said, according to The Associated Press.

Auctions of Counterfeit Wine Means Sour Grapes for Vinters

Study estimates that 5% of auctioned wine is fake; new labeling techniques urged

An FBI counterfeit wine investigation of top auction houses and collectors may inspire more makers of high-end wine to approach their packaging in a similar fashion to other highly copied items such as currency and software. That is a summary of what was reported yesterday in the North Bay Business Journal.

The publication, which serves the North San Francisco Bay area and the surrounding "wine country" counties of Napa, Sonoma and Marin, cited results of a study that found that 5% of the $167 million in auction wine sold "was misrepresented."

As we discussed in our ATR-cast on March 7th, skyrocketing wine prices and the ease with which such identifying markers as labels and boxes can be copied and produced has created a growing market for counterfeit wine.

Jerome Zech, CEO of WineBid.com, is quoted as being in favor of some technology being incorporated into wine labels to make bottles more easily traceable. However, he is not in agreement that the financial losses are as bad as the story portrays.

"That number is ridiculous," Zech said of the claim that about $8 million in auctioned wine is bogus "That is a lot of wine. We see thousands of bottles a year, and only a handful are suspect," he told the publication.

Auction by U2's Edge & Other Rockers to Help Big Easy

Guitarist auctions "favorite" ax to replace musical equipment in New Orleans

Giving 'til it hurts is one of the litmus tests for charitable donating. Sometimes that means putting a few extra bucks in an envelope or writing a bigger check than we feel comfortable signing just so we are sure that we have made a sacrifice in service to others. For a world-famous rock guitarist, for whom money is almost beside the point, giving 'til it hurts apparently means parting with a beloved instrument. But since the goal of his giving is to keep the musical heart of one of the world's great music cities alive, it must be the kind of parting that will surely be a sweet sorrow.

The Edge, the guitarist for U2, announced this weekend that he is donating his 1975 Gibson Les Paul to an auction by Music Rising, a charitable foundation he founded with the goal of replacing musical instruments and equipment lost to Hurricane Katrina.

The cream guitar (photo from AP via Yahoo) is one that has played a significant role in his career, said David Evans, who has spent the past 30 years creating and expanding his unique style and sound as U2's The Edge, in an official release.

"I wanted that Steve Jones 'Never Mind The Bollox' sound, so I got the same guitar right down to the color. I never could get that sound, but I found a bunch of songs in this instrument, and have used it extensively ever since, on tour and in the studio," he said.

The Music Rising web site estimates the guitar could fetch as much as $80,000 when it hits the block the "Icons of Music Auction" slated for April 21st at the New York Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square.

Bandmates Adam Clayton donated a bass guitar, Larry Mullen gave a pair of tom-tom drums and Bono donated a pair of Emporio Armani sunglasses.

"It's some great poetry to ask the people like myself, who've earned a good living from rock 'n' roll, to donate items to an auction that would help protect and stave off the decline of the music culture in the Gulf Coast," he told The Associated Press.

A pair of sunglasses worn by John Lennon is expected to fetch between $4,000 and $6,000, while the estimated value of an early Elvis Presley recording contract is roughly $5,000. In total over 200 prized items donated by stars from Madonna and Bob Dylan to The Beatles, Led Zeppelin and the Grateful Dead - even a saxophone signed by former President Bill Clinton - will be on the block. A special exhibit of many of the auction items will tour Dublin, Los Angeles, London and New York. the event will include an online component as well. the live and online events are hosted by Julien's Auctions.

"Music here is as much a part of death as it is of life," renowned New Orleans jazzman Sidney Bechet once observed to an uninitiated spectator to one of the city's famous jazz funerals that The Edge says captivated him as a young musician. ATR hopes this auction is about the eternal life of the music in the City That Care Forgot. Sho'nuf.

Dated Ordered for Simpson Book Rights Auction

O.J. attorney says judge's order will be appealed

A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge on Friday ordered that a date be set for the auction of the rights to "If I Did It," the controversial, hypothetical "tell-all" by O.J. Simpson.

As reported on Yahoo! News and elsewhere, Judge Gerald Rosenberg ruled that the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department set a date for the publication of the book, which allegedly describes how Simpson might have murdered his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman in 1994. Simpson was acquitted of the murders in 1995 but was found guilty in a wrongful death civil suit brought by the Goldman family.

The Goldmans have been trying to collect from Simpson on that $33.5-million judgment. Last week, Rosenberg ordered that the rights to proceeds from the book - the publication of which created a firestorm that cost HarperCollins chief Judith Regan her job - be turned over to the Goldmans as part of satisfying that judgment.

Rosenberg ordered the auction in Sacramento County since HarperCollins is headquartered there. He said he viewed the company as a "surrogate" for Simpson and ordered the sheriff's department there to set an auction date as soon as possible.

Simpson's attorney, Yale Galanter, said he planned to appeal the judge's order.

Anna Nicole's Diaries Bring $500,000 on eBay

Buyer plans to sell information, photos to the media

The ongoing epilogue to the life and times of Anna Nicole Smith played itself out on eBay on Thursday. A German bidder shelled out more than $500,000 (and a 20% buyer's premium) for the two diaries the late model and "reality" celebrity wrote in 1992 and 1994.

As reported on MSN (from an AP story), the buyer wished to remain anonymous but said he would sell information from the two hand-written diaries then resell them both by the end of the year.

The "soap opera value" of the dairies could be worth more than $1 million alone, including the rights to publish photos of the pages, Thomas Riccio of Universal Rarities, the California company that handled the sale, told the AP.

Though this latest bit profiteering off of the late Ms. Smith strikes us as just a tad unseemly, it somehow fits with the tawdry manner in which she and so many would-be loved ones around her regarded her in life. Search Anna Nicole on eBay and you wonder who will be next to cash in. Alas.

Auction Fraud Tops FBI's '06 Crime 'Net Crime Report

Online auctions schemes rank higher than "Nigerian letter fraud"

When it comes to online crime, auctions are the new fraud favorite. The FBI's just-released 2006 Internet Crime Report reveals that just under half of all Internet crime complaints last year concerned auction fraud.

Last year, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) processed 200,481 complaints that "support Internet crime investigations by law enforcement and regulatory agencies nationwide." Of these, the IC3 referred 86,279 complaints to various law enforcement agencies around the country. Internet auction fraud was "by far the most reported offense" with nearly 45% of referred complaints.

That total means that online auction fraud now beats out the tried-and-true "Nigerian letter" scam - wherein one is asked to transfer funds to assist a financier in the African nation, with the promise of a high return upon the resolution of his momentary liquidity crisis (yep, people fall for it) - as the web's crime topper.

Though the 2006 totals reveal a 10% decline from 2005, the total dollar losses are up - $198.44 million last year vs. $182.12 million in 2005.

The report is worth a read, especially if you are a big e-commerce customer, and even more so if you run an online business. More than just the security of your transactions is at stake; your ability to compete and grow is compromised - to the benefit of the Big Guys. As Steve Swoda observes on his blog, the big winners in all this, beside the crooks, are the big merchants with well-established brands online:

"The problem is that the big winners in a "scary" Internet are the huge brand names that already dominate the Internet industry (you know all the names). Unfortunately, the big guys know this, and so they view this problem as something that gives them a long-term competitive advantage over the emerging Internet businesses."

To underscore the threat, Ina Steiner of AuctionBytes reported earlier this week on a growing new fraud that uses the "Ask Seller a Question" feature on eBay as a way to harvest email addresses. With the FBI IC3 report citing e-mail as one of the primary mechanisms used to commit online fraud, it pays to proceed with caution. Hey, we've got your back.

New Global Header Design Announced by eBay

Also: Pre-order feature on Half.com to return

The header that displays at the top of eBay pages has been re-designed, the company announced yesterday. The new header has been designed to ease search and navigation, according to an announcement by Jenny Copper of the company's Buyer Experience Team posted on the eBay General Announcements board.

Among the features offered by the new header are a new "categories" link which the company says will give customers quick access to eBay categories and specialty sites. A bigger search box front and center and quick links are among the other features offered by the new header. Beyond this, Copper noted some of the change was for cosmetic reasons only.

"Last but not least, we felt it was time to give the header a fresh new look. We hope you like what you see and find the navigational tools overall more useful," she said.

In the "what's-old-is-new-again" vibe that drives much of eBay's business, the company announced the return of the pre-order feature on Half.com. Pre-Orders give buyers the option to place an order using preset item and seller criteria (such as price, condition, and feedback ratings).

"For example, you could use pre-orders to state that you want to buy a new copy of the latest James Patterson book at $15 or less from a seller with 98% or greater positive feedback, Half.com's Raj Reddy noted.

"Sellers can then look through these pre-orders during the Half.com listing process, as well as elsewhere, to see which ones they may be able to fill. If a Patterson seller matching your criteria is willing to sell at your price, the order is automatically placed!"

Look for the implementation of these changes in the next few days.

(Header jpeg from eBay)

Stefani Announces Charity Auction for VIP Concert Hook-up

Singer giving back to kids in her O.C. community

Leaving "No Doubt" that she's "Cool" and "Hela Good," Gwen Stefani announced this week the "VIP Experience Charity Online Auction to Benefit Children's Charities" as a part of her upcoming North American Tour.

In an effort to benefit children's charities, Stefani, a famous product of the 'burbs of Southern California's Orange County, is offering her fans the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to sit front row on her new concert tour - and even meet her before the show, according to a release from Interscope Records.

Beginning March 19, the exclusive "VIP Experience" packages will be auctioned on eBay for every stop on Gwen's upcoming "The Sweet Escape Tour." Each package for four includes front row tickets, autographed copies of "The Sweet Escape" CDs, premium concert t-shirts and a pre-show backstage meet-and-greet with Stefani

All proceeds will benefit Orangewood Children's Foundation & Children's Hospital of Orange County (CHOC).

"I have contributed to both Orangewood and CHOC over the years," the Divine Ms. Gwen said.

"They are both Orange County-based charities that give children hope, love and support when they need it most. Their work inspires me and I'm excited to help raise money and awareness for their cause on my upcoming tour."

Visit gwenstefani.com for full auction details. (Photo from eBay auction)

$160M BoSox Slugger's BBQ Grill Taken OFF eBay

Manny Ramirez wanted $1m; eBay pulled auction on word that BBQ was not his

Manny Ramirez, the eccentric, enigmatic and very talented outfielder and slugger for the Boston Red Sox wanted to sell his barbecue grill on eBay. Hey, cool, right? He was even going to throw in an autographed baseball. Wow, a slammin' stainless steal JENN-AIR grill AND the autograph of the superstar baller who sold it?

Such a deal.

eBay didn't think so. CBS' WBZ-TV Boston reported this afternoon that eBay pulled the auction. Turns out that this deal had a little pine tar on it.

When Ramirez (pictured here from his eBay listing) first posted the item on Tuesday, he explained to reporters in Ft. Myers, Florida, where the team is wrapping up spring training, why he was selling the barbecue.

"I'm a business man," the player who just inked a $160 million deal to stay with the "Sawks" said with a laugh in his voice, according to the Associated Press in a story carried widely.

"I need the money."

As Red Sox Nation might say, that's just Manny being Manny. Sure, except that like a hitter with a little cork in his bat, Ramirez wasn't playing by the letter of the rules in the book.

WBZ-TV reported that a short time after the grill (which garnered an obviously bogus bid of $99,999,999) was posted, Ramirez told Amalie Benjamin of the Boston Globe that the grill wasn't his. Benjamin reported that Ramirez told her it belongs to a neighbor and he was advertising the grill as his own to drive up the price. When eBay got word, they pulled the auction for violating its listing rules.

How weird is that? On the very same eBay where someone might be trying to sell you an autographed card by some jock who never actually signed it, here's a jock trying to sell you one of his items that he never actually owned?

It all seems to have been in good fun, but this story did leave us with one gnawing question about the ball Ramirez was going to include in the sale.

Was it going to come with a COA?

Podcast Follow-Up(date)

Newsworthy developments with some of this week's topics and stories

Since posting our most recent Auction Talk Radio show (which got up a few days later than planned), there have been some developments to tell you about with some of the stories and topics featured. Hey, it's hard to stay current in the 24/7 news cycle. See the blog comments under this week's summary for the details. As you listen, please keep these in mind.

The only reason we have this little mutt with this post is that we figured that he's cute and might get your attention. Now if only we could get him to give us back our studio!

(Photo from DogsInTheNews.com)

A Bold, Refreshing Tip from ATR

Hey, please refresh your browser - right about now would be good.

We've been doing a little work to correct some HTML tags that had a bunch of text showing in bold. A simple enough task, even for us, but we just now got it corrected. 'Cause we care. Like, nothing we want to convey needs that much bolding, right? In a world flashing, screaming, yelling to get your attention - all neon and pop-ups - we kinda like things a bit less brash. To put it musically, for every bit of our inner Arch Enemy we've got a whole lot more Rickie Lee Jones. Word.

Warhol's "Lemon Marilyn" Could Fetch $20M at Auction

Christie's to gavel painting bought in 1962 for $250

An Andy Warhol portrait of Marilyn Monroe purchased for $250 in 1962 may fetch as much as $20 million when Christie's put it under the gavel in May, according to Reuters. It's the kind of appreciation in value rivaled only by a piece of Southern California real estate these days.

One of 13 paintings Warhol made of the late star after her suicide in 1962, "Lemon Marilyn" shows Monroe's famous platinum blond locks in lemon yellow. Another from this series, "Orange Marilyn," sold for $16.3 million at auction last year.

Reuters reports that the painting was purchased from Eleanor Ward's Stable Gallery in New York, where Warhol held a one-man exhibition that included eight paintings in the series. If "Lemon Marilyn" hits its mark at auction, it will realize an appreciation of 60K times its original purchase price. Even amortized over 45 years, that's some hela ROI!

(Photo as seen on Reuters from a Christie's release)

Quixotic Man Auctions Possessions to Fund Quest

Man leaves 'hum of computers' for journey of self-discovery

It's the kind of existential decision that would have made Cervantes muy orgulloso. A Pennsylvania man has decided to quit the 9-5 grind and head out on a journey of self-discovery.

To fund his Quixotic quest, 24-year-old Kevin Boyle told The Pocono Record that he is selling nearly everything he owns, "save for a car, some clothes and a few sentimental items," on eBay.

So what prompted this flight of wanderlust?

One day, sitting in his office cubicle, Boyle told the paper that as he listened to his computer hum he knew he needed to do something about a life he says was "directionless."

"I'm unhappy. I want to start over. I want to drive around the country for 180 days. I see this as the only option for making that dream a reality."

Among the items for sale as one lot on eBay are a Toshiba flat-screen television, an aluminum Christmas tree, 1959 World's Fair salt and pepper shakers, and an Astroturf sample book.

Modest enough, but his ambitions for the possessions he says he loves are high: the minimum bid is $6,000.

"I hope to realize something in the 180 days," he told the paper. "But even if I discover nothing, at least I had 180 days where I did exactly what I wanted."

So far ATR has been unable to locate this auction on eBay. Taking a cue from Boyle, we'll go searching, but not so much that we notice the hum of our computers.

Malicious Hacker Goes Phising on eBay..AGAIN

Company says Security Breach has not affected customer database

A persistent hacker has apparently breached the security defenses of eBay once again, causing concern in customers and investors alike. According to reports on numerous web sites, including SecurityFocus.com, which termed this latest breach a "security crisis," a Romanian hacker has for the third time in as many months gotten past Ebay's barricades, causing havoc and concern that is leaving the company red-faced in terms of its security and public relations departments.

The abundance of listings that are posted by the hacker, who goes by the name Vladuz, and later removed by Ebay has significantly affected Ebay's listing numbers. This has irked some customers and shareholders due to Ebay's impotence in dealing with the problem. Those postings are not merely Vladuz's toying with eBay; they are apparently a result of a security hole in eBay's system that allows cyber-crooks to take over established accounts at will and post a flurry of fraudulent auctions. Once eBay's security team catches wind of the scams, the postings are removed, creating the sudden decline in listings.

Citing MSNBC's The Red Tape Chronicle blog by Bob Sullivan, CNet.com's Dawn Kawamoto notes that Vladuz's shenanigans include posting notices on eBay's Trust & Safety forums in pink - a color reserved for company employees. These posts take some unflattering shots at eBay.

Despite Vladuz hacking another Ebay employee's account and the continuation of the appearance of high quantities of scam listings from hackers, Ebay maintains that its security is safe. The company says that its database of sensitive customer information is still secure.

The Short News site has a posting with links to some related and useful resources that might keep you abreast of this.

Nat'l Archives Feeling Blue & Gray Over Stolen Civil War Treasures

Intern's Pilfered Bounty Sold on eBay; Most Recovered

An intern with the National Archives stole about 165 Civil War documents - including the War Department's announcement of President Lincoln's death - and sold most of them on EBay, prosecutors charged Thursday.

The Associated Press reported that prosecutors nabbed Denning McTague, the intern who worked at a National Archives and Records Administration site in Philadelphia last summer. McTague, 40, who runs a web site dealing in rare books, has helped officials recover most of the purloined items - which included the Lincoln death announcement sent to soldiers, and a letter from famed Confederate cavalryman James Ewell Brown "Jeb" Stuart- and plans to plead guilty.

According to the AP story:

"The sale of one of the items on EBay aroused suspicion and led to the investigation, National Archives spokeswoman Susan Cooper said. The office of U.S. Atty. Patrick L. Meehan said that all but a handful of the items had been recovered."

McTague holds master's degrees in history and information systems, though the university affiliation behind his internship at the National Archives was not named. Cooper said a professor at New York's State University at Albany had recommended McTague.

While McTague was with the National Archives - the official repository of the country's most important legal documents of record - he had been responsible for arranging and organizing documents in preparation for the upcoming 150th anniversary of the Civil War. As an intern, he may not have had to go through security checks.

Desks of Enron Chiefs Auctioned for Animals

Lay, Sklling Desks Sold as 'Pop Culture' Collectibles

A Houston non-profit is looking to cash in on the infamy of that city's biggest business scandal by auctioning the desks from which Enron chieftains Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling directed the once high-flying company. According to the website Click2Houston for KRPC-TV News, proceeds from the sale will provide funds for spaying a neutering cats and dogs.

Bidding on eBay started at $25,000 each for the 20-year-old desks, which were donated to Saving Animals Across Borders by a group that bought Enron's Houston building after the company collapsed in 2001, according to The Houston Chronicle. The auction opened today and runs through March 28th.

"We feel a collector of American pop-cultural items might want these," Sean Hawkins, founder and president of Saving Animals, told KRPC.

Hawkins said the group accepted the desks because Enron had a history of supporting animal-welfare groups. The company and the Lay family made donations and provided office space for the Spay-Neuter Assistance Program.

"We felt that this was one last time that Enron could contribute to Houston," he said.

A news release on eBay said the desks were designed by Gensler Architects and made by Brochstein's, a manufacturer of custom architectural furniture. The desks, which have an "elegant Makore Pommelle veneer," would cost more than five-figures to replicate today, according to the news release.

Enron, once the nation's seventh-largest company, crumbled under the weight of the scams and schemes for which both men were convicted last summer. The collapse wiped out thousands of jobs, more than $60 billion in market value and more than $2 billion in pension plans.

We wouldn't know who to ask, but even if we did, we decided to use the Enron logo without permission. Hey, for what we paid for electricity a few years ago, it's the least we could do!

Today is 20-cent Auction Listing Day on eBay

All auctions listed will cost 20-cents

The good folks at eBay are holding another one of their famous discount listing days today. In the U.S. and eBay Canada, all auction-style listings will cost just 20-cents. The fine print is that all other fees apply, please see website for details and other restrictions. Then get those listings up!

(Pictured: Rare U.S. twenty-cent coins as seen on CoinBrokers.com)

Oddz & Ends: a Few FYI Items in Brief

Topps on the block; disgraced preacher's massage table on eBay

Sometimes there's just not enough to a story to merit its stand-along stature amid our hallowed virtual white-space. Sometimes, too, a story gets by under our RADAR for a few days, so making a big deal out of it later just makes us look bad. Several items of interest fell into at least one of these scenarios over the past week that we thought we'd want to know about, so here goes:

TOPPS IS FOR SALE - Venerable Topps Company, Inc. agreed last week to be sold to a pair of investment consortia for $385 million. The Torante Company LLC, headed by former Disney chief Michael Eisner, and Madison Dearborn LLC are the firms partnering to acquire Topps. Word is that the change in ownership will not mean a change of direction at Topps - meaning the company is still gonna crank our baseball cards.

MIKE DITKA AUCTIONS RING, SHAMES NFL - Spike Lee's still incendiary "Do The Right Thing" might not be on Mike Ditka's mind, but something about that sentiment must surely be. Last week the retired pro football player and coach did the right thing by many of his retired NFL comrades when he auctioned off the 1975 NFC championship ring he won as a member of the Dallas Cowboys. Why? To raise awareness of what Ditka sees as the deplorable fates that have befallen many of the bygone players who didn't fair so well as he after their playing days. Along with Packers' Hall-of-Famer Jerry Kramer, Ditka has formed the Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund to help former players in need of medical and financial assistance - most of whom played before the money got big in the mid-1970s. His ring sold for $12,000. Find out more at www.jerrykramer.com.

From the bittersweet to the downright weird...

TED HAGGARD'S MASSAGE TABLE ON eBAY - The massage table upon which prostitute Mike Jones "serviced" Ted Haggard - the disgraced former head of the the National Association of Evangelicals - is up for auction on eBay. Yes, truly. Proceeds from the sale of the (alas) lavender table will allegedly benefit "Project Angel," which delivers meals to those suffering from HIV/AIDS. Bidding started at $400 last Friday and the current bid (as of this posting) is $1,250 with five days to go. See it here.

Tech Blog Alerts of Trojan Attack on eBay Motors

WebProNews says "man in the middle" attack makes hackers' motives unclear

Customers of eBay Motors take heed: a Trojan is out to get your information, though it seems to do more than Phish.

In his blog on WebProNews this week, David A. Utter reports on a new virus that is waiting to strike users of the popular eBay offering, and it seems to want more than a username and password. Utter claims that the problem is currently in the hands of Symantec, the folks who purvey such useful and well-used security programs as Norton Antivirus. The company is trying to determine the purpose behind the so-called "Trojan.Bayrob" attack, Utter says.

Once the discussion turns to proxy servers and the port 80 default, which it does, we're out of our element. But if you are a site developer or customer on eBay Motors, you'll want to read what Utter has to say.

Feds Take Back F-14 Tomcat Jets Sold at Gov't Auction

"As-Is" buyers got more than Navy intended

Yes, it's the latest escapade from the gang that couldn't shoot straight. When the fine folks running the affairs of the federal government aren't circulating improperly minted coins or selling off carelessly stored emergency trailers at deep discounts, they're auctioning decommissioned fighter jets that haven't had all the sensitive military gear removed.

(Cue Mx: Kenny Loggins "Danger Zone" from "Top Gun")

Okay, we're being a bit sarcastic. Sorry. Don't want to incite an I.R.S. audit, right?

But it is, at the very least, curious how four decommissioned F-14 Tomcat fighter jets, like the one Tom "Maverick" Cruise "flew" in "Top Gun," ended up in the hands of private citizens with some of their sensitive hardware still onboard. Yep, curious, though it is just the case, and the reason federal agents seized a mini squadron of the jets in Southern California this week.

The planes, which were phased out of frontline service in the mid-'90s, were sold at government surplus auction and made their way into private hands. A pair of those hands belongs to Don Bellisario, the producer behind the popular TV drama "JAG." He used his Tomcat as a prop. for the show, and, as props go, it was cheap, too. Bellisario told Judy O'Rourke of the L.A. Daily News that he paid $5,000 for his F-14.

"We dragged it around a lot...as far as I knew, the plane was (demilitarized)," he told the paper.

But his Tomcat, and the three that ended up on display at Yanks Air Museum and the Planes of Fame Museum at Chino Airport, were not totally de-clawed. Though they had no engines, federal agents said that the Navy failed to remove all of the sensitive, and even dangerous, equipment from the planes.

As the Daily News reported:

"In addition to security issues, safety issues became a concern because the jets' ejector seats and canopies are operated by pyrotechnic devices."

For now the planes are being hauled to Tucson, Arizona for further dismantling. Meanwhile, the ultimate fate of these once high-flying jets - including who gets to keep them - rests in the courts.

This mess got us thinking about the possibilities, though. Like, if you can get an F-14 for five large, imagine what they'll be asking a few years from now when they decommission one of those M-1 Abrams tanks? That's just the kind of whip that will end gridlock as we know it - for us, anyway.

(Photo of Planes of Fame F-14 as it appears on Clubhyper.com web site.)

Gimme Shelter: FEMA Trailers Auctioned at Fire-Sale Prices

Planned sales raises ire of mobile home dealers

To update a story we brought you last month, the trailers purchased by the Federal Emergency Management Agency as temporary housing for Gulf Coast victims of the storm-ravaged fall of 2005 are set to be sold at auction. The Associated Press is reporting that thousands of trailers intended to house victims of hurricanes Katrina and Rita are now being sold at "fire sale" prices because of a glut of such trailers that is a result of the government purchasing too many in the immediate aftermath of these storms in 2005.

The AP story notes that this sale is emblematic in the minds of some, who see the need for such a sale as yet another example of the government's "botched" response to the devastation of the storms. Many of these trailers up for sale were left in the open, exposed to elements and not maintained - meaning units purchased for a bulk rate of $19,000 each are receiving bids ranging between $5,000 and $12,000.

These discounts have mobile home sellers worried. "Mobile home dealers are finding that some potential customers would rather wait to make a deal on a used FEMA trailer than drop $25,000 to $40,000 for a brand-new one," the AP reports.

At first it looked like 69 trailers would be put up for sale. Now it looks like that number has grown to several hundred or more. See these auctions at the General Services Administration's website.

(Pictured: 2005 Skyline Layton Trailer up for auction by the GSA)

"Godless" Coins Begin Circulating on eBay

Mis-struck Geo. Washington Dollar pieces prove popular with collectors and speculators

The U.S. Government's latest attempt to ween us off of paper money in favor of coins has met with the kind of start that might make every citizen cringe even as it is delighting numismatic types. An unknown number of new George Washington dollar coins were mistakenly struck without their edge inscriptions, including "In God We Trust," and made it past inspectors and into circulation, the U.S. Mint said Wednesday.

Since the new coins made their official debut on February, 15, it is too soon to tell if they will be a hit with consumers. But with this mistake, these new coins are fast becoming favorites of coin collectors.

The mint struck 300 million of the coins, which are golden in color and slightly larger and thicker than a quarter. About half were made in Philadelphia and the rest in Denver. So far the mint has only received reports of error coins coming from Philadelphia, mint spokeswoman Becky Bailey told the Associate Press.

The Mint is unsure how many coins - most of which came from the Philadelphia mint - entered circulation. By some accounts as many as 50,000 of the "Godless" goofs are making the rounds. Many have found their way onto eBay. Some sold for over $600 at first, but the price has fallen to around $50 each.

That might not seem like a lot, but its a 50-1 appreciation in value - the kind of ROI even Warren Buffett would have to respect.

The Washington dollars are the first in a series of presidential coins slated to run until 2016. After Washington, the presidents to be honored on dollar coins this year will be John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.

(Photo by the Associated Press)

Craigslist Founder Inside Top 10 of Web's Most Important

Craig Newmark beats out eBay's Whitmen, Yahoo brass on PC World List

When it comes to what's important to the editors of PC World, creativity and utility seem to trump P&L. The magazine's list of the web's most important people puts some of the web's most creative and innovative maestros ahead of many of the captains of Internet industry.

As the magazine states in its online edition:

"At PC World we love online personals, social networks, and videos of people falling on their keisters as much as the next person, but without the folks who create the Craigslists, MySpaces, and YouTubes of the world, much of the Web's potential would be lost among spam sites and other online detritus."

Of interest to you, the auction fan and/or collector, may be where the magazine ranks the folks who allow you to click your mouse for fun and profit. One of our heroes, Craig Newmark (pictured), who founded the aforementioned Craigslist and has managed to keep it true to his humble vision, comes in at #7.

This puts Newmark (who has beaten back the Netage zeitgeist by refusing all but the most meager remuneration for a site that PC World claims racked up over 14 million page views in December) behind the chart-topping Eric Schmidt, Larry Page and Sergey Brin - the troika at the helm of Google. Apple's Steve Jobs is second. However, Newmark ranks ahead of eBay CEO Meg Whitman, who makes the list at #28.

Oddly, two men who made the kind of gazillions eschewed by Newmark, Skype founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis (they also created KaZaA), also come in ahead of Whitman, even though (or because) eBay purchased Skype for $2.6 billion last year.

Among others whose companies have stakes in ATR's world, Amazon's Jeff Bezos is at #24 and Jerry Yang, David Filo and Terry Semel of Yahoo (which is still looking for traction for its auction endeavor) are at #19.

(Photo from craiglist.com)

Baseball Cards Making Collectible History

"Mona Lisa" Card Nets Millions; New Jeter Offering Features Real "Card Trick"

The cards of a pair of baseball greats have the collector world buzzing amid visual magic and mystery. One, a single card known to some as the "Mona Lisa" of baseball collectibles, has a mysterious new owner. The other is the first run of the new card of a contemporary great that was published with an intentional visual gag - just the kind of flaw that may one day garner the affection of die hard collectors.

T206, the 1909 baseball card of Honus Wagner - considered the ultimate prize among baseball's rarest collectibles - sold to a new, anonymous owner this past week for $2.35 million in Los Angeles. Numerous reports state that the card was in "almost" mint condition (meaning it was bought and saved in a time prior to modern techniques for preserving such items) though Joe Orlando, president of Professional Sports Authenticator of Newport Beach, Calif., told the Associated Press that the card, which he termed "the Holy Grail" of baseball cards was "preserved in spectacular condition."

But don't take "spectacular" to mean anything like today's "mint" assessment, says the man who sold the card.

Brian Seigel, who paid over $1.2 million for the card back in 2000, said that the Wagner cards are so rare that even those that are worn and tattered will still fetch big bucks.

"You could stick (some of them) in the middle of the street and let cars drive over it (sic) through the day, take it in your hand a crumple it up, and it still would be a $100,000 card," he told the AP.

As the card of one of baseball's bygone immortals was changing hands, the new offering for one of today's greatest has been published with at least one hint to the game's golden age. The new Topps' Triple Play of Derek Jeter features the Yankees' great at the plate - as Mickey Mantle looks on, accompanied in the stands by President George W. Bush!

According to MLB.com, it was all a real card trick. Someone at Topps used a little digital wizardry to put the President and late Mr. Mantle into the card.

"We saw it in the final proof and we could have axed it," Topps spokesman Clay Luraschi told the Associated Press on Tuesday. "But we decided to let it run, we wanted to print it. We thought it was hilarious."

On the card, Mantle appears with bat in hand in the dugout, while Mr. Bush (who onece owned the Texas Rangers) is shown in the stands waving. Topps will issue just 660 cards from this set before a full set is issued at baseball's midseason this summer.

As of this posting, a small number of these 2007 Series 1 Derek Jeter cards (whcih will surely end up with some catchy moniker) are up for auction on eBay with starting prices of .99 cents and no bidders. It may just be a matter of time, but perhaps not the 98 years since the T206 was offered, for these cards to find value among collectors.