Possible Fakes on eBay: Caveat Emptor!

[GreencoatCross]

Friends,

Just wanted to give you archivists and collectors out there a heads-up that there appears to be several fake soldier images floating around eBay right now. Many of them available right now are from a seller in Maine but I've seen similarly doctored images out of Phoenix and New York.

Take a look at the examples below (all from the same seller). You will notice that the images are over-exposed and dark to the point that nearly all detail of the men's clothing cannot be made out. In some cases you can see details, like the seated "soldier" wearing what appears to be high-quality broadcloth trousers and his top hat on the table. Some of the images appear to show civilians in antebellum or post-war clothing. Beyond that there is the obvious tell of the gold or yellow paint evident on each example, which I believe was added recently to augment the dark images and create fake "soldier" portraits.

I could be wrong, however I have a strong feeling these are BS. I've been scrutinizing original images for over a decade and have been collecting for about eight and these have been raising my alarms each time I see them. If you want a good original soldier image then search around, bide your time, and get one that is either identified or at the very least has some obvious uniform details visible to show you that it is in fact a soldier. Be careful on eBay.

[ScottCross]

Re: Possible Fakes on eBay: Caveat Emptor!

I've been an archivist for thirteen years and was a collector of Civil War images since I was eight years old. I can't say definately, without examing the images in person, but these scream bogus. As Brian pointed out, it looks like someone has taken original images of civilians and doctored them with black paint to create the look of a uniform, and then went in and added buttons with gilt paint.
These are highly suspect.

[Jimmayo]

Re: Possible Fakes on eBay: Caveat Emptor!

Why go to all that trouble for images that are not high dollar? Maybe a trial run?

[GreencoatCross]

Re: Possible Fakes on eBay: Caveat Emptor!

Jim,

I don't know why. I've seen several others from different dealers over the past few months and they seem to come in waves on eBay. Some are blatant...gold or yellow paint applied directly to an image of an obvious civilian. The market for original images seems to have had an upswing recently so whomever is making these is probably doing it for the money, i.e. hoping that an uneducated buyer will come by and make a purchase. Weird how I don't see many fake CDVs, but those probably take a little more effort than adding gold paint to mimic buttons.

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: Possible Fakes on eBay: Caveat Emptor!

Hallo!

I would agree.

Without the images in hand a definitive answer is not possible. HOWEVER, these appear ot have been doctored, AND doctored by the same hand with the same technique.

As an unrelated aside, I did the same thing to a high graduation picture of me when I was in college by adding a painted uniform over my modern suit..

On the counterfeit side, it is about profit. One can often pick up civilian images for as low as $1-$2 at flea markets or gun sows. A few minutes of brushwork, and the $1-2 image now stands to net hundreds of dollars as a soldier image.

Another form of couterfeiting is to take photographs or scans of original images, and simply put them in empty inact or broken half cases one can often find for a few bucks- and then sell them for hundreds of dollars.

Curt