dicey comic dealers 1 1

[alexgross.com]

i'm unsure where to post this, so hoping that comics general is the right place. i'm wondering if anyone here has had professional experience with a shop in knoxville, tennessee that opened this year called nirvana comics, formerly known as nerdvana comics in wilmington, NC. a good friend of mine went in the NC shop awhile ago with a large stack of raw books. including a few very high value keys, along with alot of lesser 80s stuff. brilliantly, and to his regret, he left them with the owners, richard and amber davis, to go over what to submit to cgc at a later time. some time after his, the store closed, and they reappeared in another state with my friends books. they claimed they could not reach him, though this is unlikely. there's not much info on them online, other than that perhaps their amazon acount was suspended for a high rate of negative reviews. anyone here with info about them, or what, if anything, my friend might do, please respond here or by pm. much appreciated! 

[comicquant]

Did they say they weren't going to return the books or have they sold them?  If they don't return them I'm sure he can report them as stolen with the state they were in at the time.  Let the authorities track them (even though he knows where they are) and handle all of the jurisdiction red tape.

[Ottobord]

go to them and get the comics, if they don't have them request fair market value, if they don't cooperate use the law to get your losses

[Buzzetta]

Similar thing happened with a store in Blue Planet in Amityville and then Massapequa - Long Island.  The books were not to my knowledge recovered.  The guy was sleeping in the back of the store when the town came to board the place up for falling behind on the rent.  He was also the guy who wished AIDs on people after he screwed them over online.

Guy went out of business but those books also disappeared. 

 

[alexgross.com]

26 minutes ago, comicquant said:

Did they say they weren't going to return the books or have they sold them?  If they don't return them I'm sure he can report them as stolen with the state they were in at the time.  Let the authorities track them (even though he knows where they are) and handle all of the jurisdiction red tape.

i'm told that they said they spent months trying to contact the owner, and their policy is that after 6 months, any property not claimed becomes theirs. anyone here know these folks?

[sd2416]

how many books did he leave with them to not go back within 6 months?

[darkstar]

You lost me at leaving valuable comics with strangers part.

[1950's war comics]

Have to agree that 6 months time gone by without any contact is too long, the buyer made a mistake by not contacting the store over that long period of time imo......

[kav]

Similar thing happened to me-i sent some ivory for repair and the guy ended up keeping it. About $1000 worth.  first came all the excuses I'm sick, i'm in the hospital-I'll get it to you I promise.  he never did.  

[alexgross.com]

2 hours ago, sd2416 said:

how many books did he leave with them to not go back within 6 months?

i dont believe it was actually 6 months, but i am not sure. for sure, my friend royally screwed up and he knows it. hes actually a very smart guy, but too trusting of others, obviously. 

 

2 hours ago, sd2416 said:

how many books did he leave with them to not go back within 6 months?

there were hundreds of books. probably only a handful were really valuable, but there was a hulk181 and a higher grade xmen 1. 

[Ottobord]

there has to be some understanding of what was to happen with them ....what was it?

[g-man]

Was there any kind of written agreement or contract? Anything in writing or just verbal? 

[alexgross.com]

2 hours ago, Ottobord said:

there has to be some understanding of what was to happen with them ....what was it?

yeah from what i am told, the shop was supposed to go through the books and sort what should be sent in for grading, and what should not. i dont know why this wasnt done initially, but perhaps there was too much stuff. 

[Donatello]

I was in that shop 2 weeks ago. They have a cgc 8.0 or 8.5 hulk 181 and an ungraded x-men 1 for sale in the counter at register for 4K and 10k. There was also a Stan Lee signed FF 1. The guy working said that he thought they were consignment  items, but he was unsure. I can't imagine anyone leaving the caliber of books I saw with a stranger for any period time, let alone 6 months unattended, seems fishy.

[alexgross.com]

8 hours ago, Donatello said:

I was in that shop 2 weeks ago. They have a cgc 8.0 or 8.5 hulk 181 and an ungraded x-men 1 for sale in the counter at register for 4K and 10k. There was also a Stan Lee signed FF 1. The guy working said that he thought they were consignment  items, but he was unsure. I can't imagine anyone leaving the caliber of books I saw with a stranger for any period time, let alone 6 months unattended, seems fishy.

thanks for this info, i'll let him know about that. 

[jaeldubyoo]

17 hours ago, g-man said:

Was there any kind of written agreement or contract? Anything in writing or just verbal? 

I certainly hope he has a receipt or something written to identify the books. I would not be so trusting if it was based on a verbal agreement. Always have some record of what you leave in the care of others. That would make it easier to recover stolen goods. Does he have any images?

[Junkdrawer]

A fool and his comic books are soon parted. 

Honestly who would leave Xmen 1 and IH181 amongst other valuable books and wander off like that? I'm sure they didn't close up the next day. 

This sory has holes in it. Enough to fill the Albert Hall

[Gene465]

I would so be boarding an airplane or making a drive to that comic store! That's a lot of money there!

[alexgross.com]

16 minutes ago, Gene465 said:

I would so be boarding an airplane or making a drive to that comic store! That's a lot of money there!

he did go down there from NC and confront them, but didnt get the books back. i do completely understand that his story sounds fishy, i was astounded when he told me too. since i'm pretty new here, i know that my credibility is unproven (100% feedback on ebay though, over 400 deals- id is kanashibari), but all i can say is this is my close friend, and he is deeply honest, and also very ADD at times. hes generous and overly trusting of others, and hes also extremely busy- beleive it or not hes a physician!! and hes got kids. so i think being awake for days at a time on call has not helped him remember things like he left his comics with someone awhile ago, etc. i know it doesnt explain it all, but he certainly got screwed here, and i would be cautious about dealing with these people. no honest small town dealer would forget someone leaving an xmen 1 with them. even if it were years later, you'd remember that!

[VintageComics]

22 hours ago, www.alexgross.com said:

i dont believe it was actually 6 months, but i am not sure. for sure, my friend royally screwed up and he knows it. hes actually a very smart guy, but too trusting of others, obviously. 

Scum bags have a way of sniffing out softer personalities and playing them like violins. I hate people like that.