Client letters
What people said after they had to live with the shortlist
These notes came in after inquiries, viewings, or reservations. They mention the actual desk work. One of them is cooler than the others on purpose; the work is not a standing ovation.
I arrived with six Black Panther NFT issues and no idea which three belonged to the same Wakanda court packet. The shortlist named the packet, dropped two crossovers I was attached to, and left me annoyed for a week — then I saw they were right.
The viewing hour was quieter than I expected. We spent most of it on page four of a Shuri-led one-shot, not on rarity talk. I reserved the packet the same afternoon.
Gap letter for issues 4 and 7 of a T'Challa run. They warned me issue 7 was a later colophon and might not sit well next to my 4. I bought 4 anyway and am still deciding on 7, which is exactly the kind of pause I needed.
Correspondence from the Taichung desk was slower than I wanted on a Thursday, but the Friday letter listed every variant mark I had misread. I would use them again for a closed premium packet, not for impulse drops.
A longer visit: packet III in Chiang Mai
Marta V. booked a viewing after an inquiry that had already dropped two crossover plates from her list. She sat with Wakanda court packet III for most of the hour and kept returning to the council chamber issue, where the spear motif repeats in the margins. The constraint was time: she had a train south the same evening.
We did not finish the night-market issue. The letter after the viewing said so. She reserved the packet anyway, with a note that she would reread the market pages from the display file we sent. That is a typical close for us: unfinished looking, then a hold on a named colophon.
A longer stall: issue 7 in Phuket
Kenji O. wanted a gap letter, not a full inquiry. Issues 4 and 7 of a T'Challa run were missing. Issue 4 was straightforward. Issue 7 existed in a later colophon with a heavier plate. We wrote that buying both would close the numbers and split the line weight. He bought 4. Months later he still has not bought 7. The file remains open only as a courtesy; no extra fee sits on that stall.
Write your own brief if a letter like these would help a run you already hold.