Finally happened..Manions Auctions KIA/DOA

[Mark in Cleveland, Tn.]

Well, Manions International Auction House is no longer in existance, even the warehouse they were renting is now up for sale in KC.
The web site was crashed out on purpose late last year,and although I have no idea if any of the consigned relics have been returned, Jody Tuicker has moved what relics Manions still have over to the Listityourself auction site(A true POS site)

After I had (bid on and won) several items in late October, Sue Holmes from Manions e mailed me and told me NOT to bid on anything else, as they were shutting down.She did this as a friend, as I knew her from a long time ago.
I kept wondering what she had told me, as the site was still up and running, then one day the web site was down,.
Found out today in a email there are alot of peole stil owned money,,which they will never get, as well as some relics still to be returned. Which I have heard are in possession of some law firm in KC,

Sue told me that the web site was crashed on purpose to give people a sense that it was a system mistake, and Manions was sending out *We are experiencing problems* emails to *re-assure* customers.
Oh well,no great loss to the TR and militaria collecting world

[Dwight Pruitt]

A fitting end to a enterprise that has been fleecing people for decades.

[Mark in Cleveland, Tn.]

I agree with your response Dwight.
As an consigner I have always read and heard you would get the BIG SHAFT.
As a bidder/buyer though, I picked up alot over the years many rare,or nice and cheap relics, both militaria as well as *antique/collectable* in nature to resell or to add to collections.But you really had to be very careful and live by the *caveat emptor* creed.

Tucker asked me several weeks ago what I thought of the ListitNow site. I told him it was a total piece of crap. :roll: :roll:

[Brian Calkins]

Wow, I just read this....Manion's is closed. I agree in it's state of maybe the last 15 to 20 years Manion's has been a farce. But I think it's worth remembering that back when in the 70's and 80's....even into the mid 90's, it was a great source for some quality militaria. Yes, I know they offered a lot of fakes, especially TR items, and it was the dumping ground for collectors "junk", but in other areas some really great deals could be found.

It's really a shame that Manion could not find a way to successfully move into the internet age. Others Auctions have done it here and in Europe and remained viable sources of genuine items.

Personally, I'll remember Manion's for the good times, not the bad.

[Mark in Cleveland, Tn.]

Yep, as I stated above, I had *bid-bought* some nice rare/hard to find relics, both civilian and military in nature from Manions. The problem was they were just not paying people what they owned.For years that was the BITCH, and rightlly so.I have even had fellow collectors come up to my tables with the.**Did you get that from Manions*? about a relic, and I would say yes, then he would say,"""""" hell, I never got paid for it!!""""

[William Kramer]

Never heard anything good about Manion's except from the few that really knew what they were looking at. Unfortunately, what could have kept them going was paying people and having the know-how to not let reproductions flood the site. People lost faith and in the end collectors got the shaft by crooks hiding behind a screen. A class-action law-sit may help in the end.

William Kramer

[Mark in Cleveland, Tn.]

Agreed All I Knew(William Kramer)

In all the years and I will guess over 2000 of relics bid and bought from them, I had to return one, yep one relic as fake-repro.and offered as genuine, and it was a WW2 Japanese flag. I made a ton of money off of their stuff I bid and won on.........I sold to collectors that were not PC savvy, mostly to ,what I will be gentle saying( want-a-be's)
Manions offered to me a ready avenue to cheap relic and militaria stock for all my antique mall showcase side businesses in the region, as well as militaria for selling in New Mexico at shows.

As for class action suit, the enterprise is 100% gone,no property, no assets, no nothing to get back .Like Manions never existed, I hear from some other dealers who consigned last year that they are not out only any money owned, but the relics they consigned have all but dissappeared, a class action would not help, only a criminal action will help those owned dealers with reloics still missing( )

[Dwight Pruitt]

As bad as Manion's was, it was a walk in the park compared to Steffen's Auction house. I had to file complaints twice with the State Attorney General's office over getting paid from them.