Manions down the tubes

[SteveR]

For older US collectors like myself an interesting note. I have learned that the Manion's auction house went belly up.
I hope no one on our forum is owed money or has any items consigned there.

End of an Era: Manion

[Wagriff]

Ron Manion, in his day, was a greedy businessman who had one of the only Pay For Only auction catalogs of the era. To this end, he was adamant and would not relent. Yes, he had some amazing items in his listings, but it would cost you simply to see them-and not a small amount.
Jody Tucker took over the crumbling business and finished it off with a final running of it into the ground beyond saving. He owes many people a Very large amount of money and it is now apparent that this money owed is lost forever. He has many excuses and finds blame with anyone and everyone other than himself. From what I have heard, he has other irons in the fire other than Manion's and the collecting world has, almost certainly, not seen or heard the last of this man. And so falls Manion's, once and for all. At one time an icon of the hobby world, but now a smouldering wreck in ruins beyond any dream of recovery. What a sad end to a once proud and respectable company...

[goodbuys]

SteveR,I am one of the old time collectors who has still the first six of Manion's Catalogs.Then I used to get that five pound catalog in the mail.I won a ton of stuff back in the early seventies into the eighties and still have many great items.Then things turned downward with bad stuff that he knew was garbage!One collector I knew called it the good,the bad,and the ugly!Well it has turned very ugly and since tucker took it over it got very,very ugly.I can see bankruptcy in the near future.What a lowlife ole manion and his screwed successor are after these collectors sent in many thousands of dollars of collectables and are owed much of it.No use calling these cretins any names they deserveWhat a shame,a real shame!

[StefanM]

Military Collectibles Wanted

Also owned by J. Tucker and seems to still be up and running.

[big ned]

There's at least one popular member here who was in a long running dispute with Manions a while back trying to get back money they owed him. IIRC, he succeeded in getting some, but it was like pulling teeth, and i'm not sure if he ever got back all of the monies owed to him, which was not inconsiderable. This slow demise has been on the cards for a longtime, the owner kept dripping in money and taking consignments for at least 3 or 4 years, but the end was inevitable due to the poor running and debts of the business, a shame.

[alexanderhistorical]

Hate to say it, but even we competing auctioneers got burned. Years ago, we had stolen in-transit material innocently consigned by a third party at Manion's. They were advised by us and the consignor that good title couldn't be passed - but they sold the material regardless.

Kansas attorney general's office is now involved - details are on WAF.

[Scout]

Amazing, how this one hobby has managed to accumulate so many shades of pond scum over time.

Im sorry for those who have lost money to these people.

[M18922]

I feel bad for the people who had money owed to them, but I am glad that they are out of business so no one else can get ripped off.

There is only one auction house I have confidence in and would enjoy using, and he has posted in this thread.

[timothy]

Although I have only purchased one or two items from Ron it was good back in the day and I saw a lot of good items come from there 70's 80's had a good picker friend that wished he would have went in with him back in 74 or 76 when he started. I have heard and read it went downhill over the years I guess everything has it's final day. timothy

[reneblacky]

What a shame they went down hill in flames. A fair few of my good items came from them back in the 80's, still have a surviving catalog back from '87.
I was lucky when I bought a dodgy M43 cap and sent it back for a refund, made a hefty $250 dollar profit on the refund due to a change AU$/US$ currency rate!!!