fake jacket on ebay

[13thnhv]

Re: fake jacket on ebay

The successful bidder on the fake jacket is himself an auctioneer in Florida. Let's wait a few weeks till he gets it, and offers it up for bids in his next catalogue. Then turns his $811 into $8000!

[Gallinipper]

Re: fake jacket on ebay

The successful bidder on the fake jacket is himself an auctioneer in Florida. Let's wait a few weeks till he gets it, and offers it up for bids in his next catalogue. Then turns his $811 into $8000!

That's a good point, Joe. I wonder if there's any angle or way to raise money for preservation, etc. by rooting out fakes and scams like this for legitimate bidders. Judging from Garrison's bully post, it seems likely there would be a market for it. Any ideas?

Rich Croxton

[1stMaine]

Re: fake jacket on ebay

Comrades,

Well, my father was in the antiques trade for most of his life, as was his father before him and so forth. I grew up in the business. One thing to watch out for is passing an item from dealer to dealer through auctions, sales, and well-publicised trades and offerings, especially catalogues. This is usually done to establish a provenance for an item where none existed before, and helps to drive up the price of similar items.
For example, and this is only hypothetically speaking here, say I were to have this confederate shell jacket that I wanted to pass off as an original. I'd post it on some publicly-accessable forum lik ebay, with a caveat that it was "found" in an attic, or an estate sale, or an auction, etc. I'd describe it as best as I could, take some images to post, and something like "I'm not well-versed in this area, but i was told by the previous owner that it had been in the family for years", and then say it was being sold 'as-is".
Next, I'd put a price on it that would mean a good chunk of change to drive off the lookers, but high enough to catch the eye of a collector or dealer who is greedily looking for a "bargain". Say start at $350.00 or so.
Anyway, I might then arrange for another dealer to "buy" the item and take delivery of it and hold it for a few months. Then i'd have him start shopping it around, or mentioning it in a paper or article.
Next would be another buyer to pick it up, hold it for a bit, and so forth. Eventually it gets into a catalog or a show and goes for big bucks, and comes with a paper trail of certified dealers who have owned it.
A good collecter will know it's a fake, as would a good auction house. However, some new millionare with money to burn and the chance to own a "piece of history" can easily be suckered into plunking down good money for this item, and he'll never be the wiser.
I've seen this done before with furniture, and especially with art. Too many lottery winners who don't know beans about the trade, but want some expensive items to enhance their decor.
respects,