JULIEN'S AUCTION INSIDE SCAM? Beverly Hills California

Regrets! Shock! Dismay! If I had read all of the other 'rip off' stories, I would never had entrusted an item to Julien's Auctions!

Darren Julien enthusiactically estimated my rare poster advertising Lon Chaney's lost movie "London After Midnight" between $2,000. and $3,000.

And this was before the announcement in the LA Times a week before the auction that another Lon Chaney "London After Midnight"poster had just sold at auction for hundreds of thousands of dollars, making it the most ever paid for a movie poster!

On the day we had personally delivered the poster to Julien's Auctions, I instructed the person who signed off on it that I wanted a "reserve" placed on it. He assured me it would be done. When I hadn't heard back from them on this, and contacted them again, I was told the gentleman didn't have the authority to do what he said he would do, and that it was "too late now". At least the website describing it said "Minimum bid of $1,000. It also said there was "one bid" on it already.

This morning Darren whisked through it and sold it for $320.(it's frame and matting were worth $200.) What about that "$1,000. minimum bid"???

A friend suggested that I may be the victim of a big scam, and I suspect he is absolutely right! Here's how it works:

Knowing its true value, an undisclosed cohort (they won't disclose who) bids ridiculously low online and it is quickly sold before any other bids come in! Now they own this valuable piece and can market it on their own for its true value! Pretty neat con-job, eh?  A quick, easy and unscrupulous way to make a lot of money! A criminal breach of trust and fiduciary responsibilty!

Oh how I wish I had researched this racket before I submitted my precious work to them. I can only urge others to be aware, to spread the word and hopefully,someday, these crooks will be uncovered and prosecuted by the proper authorities!