This is also what rubbed me the wrong way. I sold some low-pop No Rarity PSA 10s to him back in 2017 for very little money to pay for rent. So I know who he is and know that he could fairly easily afford nearly every card back then with his job position and salary. So why pretending you’re coming from some average joe family when it’s just not true lol
Also why not call it the “Urs” collection if he built it over all those years? This extravagant marketing push just does not feel genuine at all. Can’t have it both ways…
Stuff like this is why I sold the majority of my personal collection a few years back, the target demographic of the hobby changed so much. From serious love for the hobby and tracking down rare cards out of passion & for the fun of it back then, to only investing and money right now.
Efour is pretty much the only place now where I see genuine passionate collectors outside of the few old collector friends I’m following on IG…
This Urs Schwarzenbach guy, is he a fan of Pokemon ?
Because this is also a point that is mind-bending to me about the story :
the collection is very real, despite the stories and characters around it feeling completely off. But i would have assumed, that in order to curate such a collection you need to have a sincere, deep appreciation and knowledge for the franchise and the cards. Like the no rarity full set. That’s not something i would expect from someone who just has deep pocket and looking to buy the most expensive cards (aka illustrator). Am I wrong in thinking that ? I have a hard time correlating this facet with the publicly available information. The dots seems so far apart
More specifically, people are developing strong emotions about some billionaire who has nothing to do with these cards. I’ve spoken to the owner for years and it’s not the billionaire the internet in its relentless race to be right is obsessing over.
With that said, I don’t have a dog in the fight, just correcting that specific point. Also, I think @0ean post is a great example of how to be critical and effective. However, everyone talking about some hotel mogul might as well be complaining about the Hiltons, because that’s the same level of connection it has to these cards.
To be clear, I genuinely do not care much about this and had barely followed this thread until a couple of days ago. I think it is an incredible collection, like anyone else would.
The only reason I made my original post is that claiming you are “not rich” while having assembled a collection like this is a messaging mistake so obvious that I would not expect it from an Alabama high school dropout who won the lottery, let alone from people operating at this level.
As you have said before, 18,000 people visit E4. @0ean and I simply have different approaches to responding to the same silliness.
Do you not think that is a little disingenuous, considering the person who interviewed her has already said it was filmed at The Dolder Grand, which is owned by billionaire Urs Schwarzenbach? On top of that, multiple people who have sold to this collector say they know him as Urs. That suggests a more direct connection to that family than “the Hiltons” comparison implies.
Like you, @smpratte, I have also tangentially known and worked for millionaires and billionaires before, including one of the most famous women on the planet. The difference is that they were fully aware they were wealthy. This collector does not come across that way.
The dad’s full name and company signature is in the hundreds of email I’ve had with them spanning years. It’s not the hotel mogul or anything related at all.
This thread it a perfect example of why I have no social media and the extent of my interaction with the hobby is almost 100% E4, a handful of discord servers, and a very select few YouTube channels. Ignorance is bliss sometimes.
The owner was not a billionaire and worked in a totally different sector, it’s not Schwarzenbach. I kept my emails from back then and just double checked. My point still stands that it wasn’t possible to amass such a collection with a normal salary even back then
