The E-Sylum:  Volume 10, Number 22, June 3, 2007, Article 17

MANLEY-KAGIN ANA ETHICS HEARING TURNS ON AUCTION CATALOGUE EVIDENCE

Earlier in The E-Sylum we mentioned the dispute between Dwight Manley
and Don Kagin over Kagin's handling of a transaction involving a western
gold ingot that had been stolen from Manley.  An article by Dave Harper
of Numismatic News discusses the dramatic hearing of Manley's complaint
by the ANA board, which may be the first such event involving numismatic
literature (an auction catalog) as a piece of evidence.

"The American Numismatic Association board of governors has decided to
take no action on Dwight Manley's ethics complaint against Don Kagin.
Manley had asked the board to determine what level of due diligence was
required by the ANA in a potential transaction involving a rare and
highly identifiable California Blake & Co. gold ingot that later turned
out to be stolen.

"The ANA board addressed that question May 29 in an all-day public
hearing in Long Beach, Calif. The board's decision, which advised Kagin
to improve his due diligence, was released to the public May 31. The
decision can be read at numismaticnews.net.

"The two parties battled in a Westin Hotel ballroom arranged to resemble
a courtroom from 9 a.m. until approximately 5:40 p.m.

"Manley as the complaining party was first to be sworn in as a witness.
All witnesses were under oath and a court reporter took down the
proceedings.  Manley alleged that Kagin knew or should have known that
the Blake & Co. bar, one of just 34 known and one of just three of the
Mold 3 type, belonged to him because he bought it in 2000 at a Sotheby's
auction along with about 80 percent of the ingots put on the block at
that sale.

"When it was Kagin's turn to testify, he said he did see the bar sold at
the Sotheby's auction, at which he was also a bidder, to bidder L106 and
that he "speculated" that the buyer could have been Manley, but he did
not know that Manley was the buyer because he was not physically present
in the auction room. Manley was in a skybox behind one-way glass
overlooking the auction room and bidding by telephone using three bidder
numbers.

"Vartian pointed out that most of the bars Manley had purchased at that
sale have since been sold by Manley to others. Some five and one-half
years had passed from the time of the Sotheby's sale to the time of the
actions under dispute, which occurred for Kagin during the 2006 Florida
United Numismatists convention Jan.6 and continued until Jan. 24.

"The legal contest focused on whether Kagin knew who bidder 106 was.
Manley said he told him in the auction room immediately after the sale,
because he approached Kagin to buy a bar that Kagin had purchased.

"Kagin said he had written three bidder numbers onto the inside cover
of his catalog, 106, 124 and 109. He circled them and wrote, "Manly?
(sic)."

"The ANA board passed the catalog among its members to look at it and
the notations in it."

[There is far more to the daylong proceeding than the excerpts shown
here.  Readers are encouraged to read Harper's complete article (and
all the accounts published in the numismatic press) for more detail.
-Editor]

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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