As noted in my article yesterday (…”Costume Junkie” Response), I have been contacted by both Mr. Armando Alvarez (”Super Hollywood”, “super38“) as well as Mr. Edward Pugia (”Costume Junkie”, “costumejunkie“) in regards to my articles about Superman costumes in the marketplace (see “Questions About Superman Costumes in the Marketplace: Authenticity, Sources, Quantity“, “Update“, “Update 2“, “Update 3“).
I spoke with Mr. Alvarez on the phone at length on 1/27 and 1/28, and invited him to share on this blog as much information as he is able to, in the form of a Reader Comment, and I would quote such statements in an update article to provide him an opportunity to address outstanding questions about the Superman, Superboy, Supergirl, and Greatest American Hero costumes with “Super Hollywood” provenance/Certificates of Authenticity/Letters of Authenticity.
I have exchanged several e-mails with Mr. Pugia this week, and had extended the same offer to him, which led to his statement, noted above.
Mr. Alvarez has since posted a response to Mr. Pugia’s statement, which is copied below and can be seen HERE.
I do not warrant nor affirm the truthfulness or accuracy of any of the information shared, but feel it is appropriate to provide a platform to respond for those to whom I have specifically addressed questions, as raised in my articles. Please note, however, the website Terms of Service (Registration, Reader Comments), as posted at the “About the OPB” link at the top of every page of this website.
Super Hollywood Response to “Questions About Superman Costumes in the Marketplace”
Super Hollywood Says:
February 8th, 2008 at 4:23 am eHello Jason, I enjoyed speaking with you last week and
thank you for your invitation to participate in the
dialog. I would like to touch on a few issues
brought out by Mr. Pugia and to separate fact from
fiction.
Fact:
Mr. Pugia writes:
“We purchased the costume through Super38 (Ebay id)
Super Hollywood, ie Armando Alvarez. Since I’ve never
owned a Superman or Supergirl costume we went on the
COA and great Ebay reputation of Super
Hollywood/Armando Alvarez.We did relist the costume after assurances from
Armando Alvarez, response from him:HI Edward, those rumors started with Gerard
Christopher who played Superboy on the t.v. series.
He was doing that to get back at Ms. Mungia. Ms.
Mungia had 20 Superboy costumes that were being held
for him, but he was not able to pay her. They were
worn once on his show, and held by her. This has
nothing to do with Superman, but never the less it’s
affected both the Superboy and Superman pieces.
Since that time, what he spread regarding fakes has
taken on a life of it’s own. Now you have people
sharing their two cents worth without any facts, just
repeating what they’ve heard, and usually not
correctly.
This response is to your private email, please do not
post on the messages boards. Thank you. (Also we
sold one for about $27,900 with Profiles, complete)
Super Hollywood”Therefore, we relisted the costume for what we had
into the suit, replica belt, replica boots, and
mannequin. ALso, I noticed that I made a mistake
listing the suit and put Superman III. Therefore I
removed the III from the listing as it would have been
incorrect to keep it in the auction title and
description.THE ABOVE IS ACCURATE
Fiction:
This time I emailed Armando Alvarez to ask if he could
purchase them back from me, SINCE he said he had
people looking all the time and I purchased his last
suits.I sent him 3 emails over 10 days just cutting and
pasting the same message about purchasing them back
and NOTHING.THE ABOVE IS FALSE
Every email received by Ed,was responded too. Ed,
then decided to call and left a profanity laced tirade
on my voicemail.
To which I replied via email:
“I just heard your phone call a few mins. ago. I was
quite taken aback to hear you and for your use of
profanity. I need you now to file a protest with
paypal and ebay and my district attorney. I have a
few clients who have shared some interesting
information about you regarding bogus Star Trek
costumes. As you and I know, that is par for the
course where it seems everyone bad mouths everyone
else.Regarding the Superman/Supergirl costumes: you
purchased those costumes from me a collector. You
even bought mannequins to show them off to me. I too
have every email between us. Furthermore this item
was not purchased through ebay but directly from us on
July 23rd. You were satisfied with what you received,
until you tried to resell them.On another note, I know that you must be going through
a lot with the situation with your wife. All I
request is an apology for your profanity towards me.
Up to this point you have been nothing but a gentleman
and I feel that I have responded in kind. Again, I
have ALWAYS replied to your emails, without threats
being involved.
Sincerely,
Armando Alvarez
Super HollywoodAt that point, Mr. Pugia had his wife Rachel call me
the following day to apologize for her husband.By the way, who is Ed Pugia, CostumeJunkie
The below is from the Star trek bloghttp://startrekauction.blogspot.com/2007_07_01_archive.html
Posted by Alec Peters at 5:04 PM 0 comments Links to
this post
FRIDAY, JULY 27, 2007BAD DEALER ALLERT – Costume Junkie
Many of you know that I detest fraud and dishonesty in
this hobby. As someone with a well read blog (as well
as being an attorney by training), I believe I have a
duty to help protect you all from the unscrupulous
types that prey on good natured collectors like most
Star Trek collectors are.I have to warn you all against doing business with
Edward Pugia, who goes under the eBay handle
CostumeJunkie. This past week he joined the Star Trek
Prop, Costume and Auction Forum. From the beginning I
felt uneasy, and I asked him kindly to not try and use
the forum to run his business. He returned a rather
rude response and when I accepted him on the forum,
the first thing he did was to post two Borg costumes
for sale!Well, if that wasn’t bad enough, he deceptively listed
the costumes by not disclosing their deteriorating
condition and then used photos that WERE NOT of the
costume and claimed they were. The costume in question
had previously been purchased by Dana Hammontree, a
long time prop collector and well known in prop
collecting circles., Dan had to return the costume to
It’s a Wrap because the costume was falling apart and
pieces were flaking off. It also had a bad latex foam
smell. Edward Pugia then bought the costume and failed
to disclose any of this and used photos of another
costume he bought from IAW to sell it. Finally, when
called on this he was rude and unapologetic. Sound
like deceiving people must be standard practice for
this guy.Costume Junkie has now been banned from the Star Trek
Prop, Costume and Auction Forum and I strongly suggest
you all stay away from him. He has lied about his web
site traffic and the amount of money he spends with
IAW. I have spoken to several long time prop
collectors and they have all said that they know of
problems that collectors have had with him. The guy is
not only untrustworthy, but a liar.Please don’t do business with him!
Alec
Another issue with Mr. Pugia has to do with selling
Universal Star Trek the movie exp. costumes as
original movie worn costumes.How do I know that Mr. Pugia has not had the original
costume reproduced and was attempting to sell them
with original (or duplicated) COA’s. During his ebay
auction, he was also selling Storm Trooper
reproductions. He also reproduced the belt, and the
boots for the Superman costume. I’m sure this would
not be the first time this has happened. Even Alec
points out: “Edward Pugia then bought the costume and
failed to disclose any of this and USED PHOTO’S OF
ANOTHER COSTUME he bought from IAW to SELL IT .
Finally, when called on this he was RUDE and
UNAPOLOGETIC. Sound like deceiving people must be
standard practice for this guy.”As Alec says “”The guy is not only untrustworthy, but
a liar” Not to mention ill-mannered, rude and a
coward.Sincerely,
Armando Alvarez
Super Hollywood
Now that each party has had an opportunity to have any opening remarks highlighted, I would ask that any future comments/statements posted be done within this article (and in future articles to address any specific questions posed).
Readers are now aware of these statements, perspectives, and positions, and they will know and have the ability to reference back to this topic for any future responses related to the issues raised by both parties.
Now that both Mr. Alvarez and Mr. Pugia have registered for this site, and have the ability to post first hand statements and responses, I still have many outstanding questions about Superman, Superboy, Supergirl, and Greatest American Hero costumes. These outstanding questions will be highlighted in a future article, along with additional observations and questions. My hope is that both parties will address these specific questions about the topic of the authenticity of these costumes.
Jason De Bord
Additional Related Articles: Market Watch | Superman