Scary Halloween Story for Collectors
Oct 30, 2010 4:50:24 GMT
Post by Dave Kelly on Oct 30, 2010 4:50:24 GMT
Even those of us who think they know what they are doing can commit egregeous blunders now and again. This was my recent baptism of what happens to those who go into the Paypal woods unwary and unprepared ( BooHAHAHAHAHA :lol: )
Not particularly long ago I saw an auction for an 1834 enlisted 1st Life Guards Saber on PayPal. The seller had a good rating on ebay with lots of positive remarks. I had been on a roll on ebay having picked up a dozen excellent pieces without any mishaps and connected with some really great dealers in the process. I emailed the seller a couple of questions that I thought they answered fairly enough.
I fought two other bidders off and won the sword for 700.00. I contacted Crisp and Sons and asked them for a hilt refurb on the sword and asked the seller to mail it directly to C&S. Asked C&S to let me know when they recieved the sword in case I had to go back to the seller. C&S dawddled for several weeks claiming that the summer vacation had delayed their response. Eventually I did get a confirmation from them that the sword was there, and they'd shortly have a estimate for repair to me.
That shortly dragged on for a month. I final emailed them to jog their memories. Got a reply that, "oh, we sent you the estimate. By the by your swords a fake. Do you really want us to do a $1200.00 refurb on it? " EEEEEEEEEKKK!!! :shock:
Once the word "FAKE" registered on my besotted brain pan the veil of blissful ignorance was ripped off my eyes and I suddenly, horribly realized what a fool I'd been:
1. First the picks in the offering were all muddled and darked so as to not reveal what the seller didn't want you to see.
The blade wasn't properly engraved, the grip looked like it had fishskin because of the angle and deceptive lighting, but it was leather. etc
2. I'd asked the seller the wrong questions and the answers from the seller had been vague or that old, " I'm not an expert. I'm just selling this at my cost so you can stiff me if this is the real thing. "
3. I sent the sword to a disinterested third party who farted around and delayed the transaction beyond PayPals suspense of 6 weeks to kick in their buyers protection contract. When I found myself a victim of fraud and appealled to Paypal they provided the usual PayPal answer of, " Tsk, tsk. Read the fine print. phhhhgt! "
4. My research on this sword was pitifully inadequate. I have Reardon's British Military Swords. I totally misread the data on Guards Swords. When I scurried back after screwing up and reread the chapters involved it was so blatantly obvious that I'd screwed up it was shameful. The officer and enlisted hilts on these swords were completely different. The sword the seller claimed was an enlisted sword was in fact and officers hilt. And the blade was too short. " DAVID!!! Quelle Stupide!!!?
5. I thought I had a good handle on the fakes that were out there. I knew all the india stuff that I might slip over. After I got caught, I found this piece of dudu at IMA's sight selling for $350 a pop as a movie prop.
So I'm out $720.00. What happened to the sword? I told C%S to throw the sob away. It would have cost me another $95.00 to ship it to the US from England, and if I really wanted one I probably could beat IMA into giving me one of their clean and bright replics for $150.00.
Being an informed buyer doesn't always work in your favor either. As the dust was settling on this disaster a legit english dealer announced he had a 1st Life Guards with all furniture he would part with for $900.00. Oh Brother! Just to be a smart ass I challenged them on their descriptor for the sword and got some BS answers from some journeyman agent. I told him as much. Said I was a serious buyer, but if they couldn't present their piece intelligently I wasn't going to risk any funds on it. They didn't answer me back, but they have since properly relisted the sword to reflect correct data for the piece: and doubled the asking price. ( me and my big mouth
)
Happy Halloween
Not particularly long ago I saw an auction for an 1834 enlisted 1st Life Guards Saber on PayPal. The seller had a good rating on ebay with lots of positive remarks. I had been on a roll on ebay having picked up a dozen excellent pieces without any mishaps and connected with some really great dealers in the process. I emailed the seller a couple of questions that I thought they answered fairly enough.
I fought two other bidders off and won the sword for 700.00. I contacted Crisp and Sons and asked them for a hilt refurb on the sword and asked the seller to mail it directly to C&S. Asked C&S to let me know when they recieved the sword in case I had to go back to the seller. C&S dawddled for several weeks claiming that the summer vacation had delayed their response. Eventually I did get a confirmation from them that the sword was there, and they'd shortly have a estimate for repair to me.
That shortly dragged on for a month. I final emailed them to jog their memories. Got a reply that, "oh, we sent you the estimate. By the by your swords a fake. Do you really want us to do a $1200.00 refurb on it? " EEEEEEEEEKKK!!! :shock:
Once the word "FAKE" registered on my besotted brain pan the veil of blissful ignorance was ripped off my eyes and I suddenly, horribly realized what a fool I'd been:
1. First the picks in the offering were all muddled and darked so as to not reveal what the seller didn't want you to see.
The blade wasn't properly engraved, the grip looked like it had fishskin because of the angle and deceptive lighting, but it was leather. etc
2. I'd asked the seller the wrong questions and the answers from the seller had been vague or that old, " I'm not an expert. I'm just selling this at my cost so you can stiff me if this is the real thing. "
3. I sent the sword to a disinterested third party who farted around and delayed the transaction beyond PayPals suspense of 6 weeks to kick in their buyers protection contract. When I found myself a victim of fraud and appealled to Paypal they provided the usual PayPal answer of, " Tsk, tsk. Read the fine print. phhhhgt! "
4. My research on this sword was pitifully inadequate. I have Reardon's British Military Swords. I totally misread the data on Guards Swords. When I scurried back after screwing up and reread the chapters involved it was so blatantly obvious that I'd screwed up it was shameful. The officer and enlisted hilts on these swords were completely different. The sword the seller claimed was an enlisted sword was in fact and officers hilt. And the blade was too short. " DAVID!!! Quelle Stupide!!!?
5. I thought I had a good handle on the fakes that were out there. I knew all the india stuff that I might slip over. After I got caught, I found this piece of dudu at IMA's sight selling for $350 a pop as a movie prop.
So I'm out $720.00. What happened to the sword? I told C%S to throw the sob away. It would have cost me another $95.00 to ship it to the US from England, and if I really wanted one I probably could beat IMA into giving me one of their clean and bright replics for $150.00.
Being an informed buyer doesn't always work in your favor either. As the dust was settling on this disaster a legit english dealer announced he had a 1st Life Guards with all furniture he would part with for $900.00. Oh Brother! Just to be a smart ass I challenged them on their descriptor for the sword and got some BS answers from some journeyman agent. I told him as much. Said I was a serious buyer, but if they couldn't present their piece intelligently I wasn't going to risk any funds on it. They didn't answer me back, but they have since properly relisted the sword to reflect correct data for the piece: and doubled the asking price. ( me and my big mouth
)Happy Halloween
