Thomas Rega smells like a real rat. He was vague on where and how he got this S2, and vague on how the damage occurred. Studio C was asked by Rega to restore the poster, so that Rega could frame it and hang it on his own wall. Low and behold, a short time later, it is consigned to Profiles. How convenient!
This email excerpt to Poster Mountain from Diane explains much. Here, she stated to John that she thought the poster was a possible reissue or something other. Because Rega said it just going on his wall, why wouldn't she restore it ( in her mind, a possible reissue or repro), as he asked? Only when she saw it consigned to Profiles, did she blow the whistle, as the poster was then being advertised as "the real deal":
"My main concern, and still is, the fact that I questioned the piece I had in here, at the time, due to several items. The piece did not have the “feel”,: of normal poster paper, and it also had some type of remnant backing on the back, sort of like a layer of cardboard. Also, both bottom corners had been meticulously ripped out, only in the section where the text would have been in the borders causing me to think it might be a re-issue or something. I questioned my client on this at the time. He offered little insight to all of this, and stated, its just going to be framed. I did the restoration, and when it came time for the text issue, he dictated what he wanted us to write in that area, which we did, knowing that it probably was not correct."
Even Jim Gresham, a well respected Uni horror collector, who was taken by the Haggard scandal, had this to say on MOPO, yesterday, about Rega:
"I place Thomas Rega in the same low esteem that I have for Kerry Haggard. Frankly, I am not at all sure they didnt know each other and work together in deceiving our hobby. Both are no good crooks."This guy Rega was out to scam a potential buyer, ala Haggard, via the Profiles auction. Diane, in her thought, was restoring a possible "reissue or something," for a private owner. Once it was restored, however, Rega then had an item that he presented to Profiles as a genuine '31 OS. And when Diane started to ask questions, in order to make sure that some modern litho wasnt being offered under false pretenses, she got bit, big time.
Had Diane wanted to "cheat and lie," or thumb her nose at the hobby, she would have kept her mouth shut, rather than speak up and ask questions about this poster when it resurfaced at Profiles.
Instead, for her efforts and 'alerting the media,' she is now saddled with a $260K+ judgment.
Talk about injustice, originating from this character, Thomas Rega.
