EBAY WARNING!!!!

[CT_civilwar_buff]

Tonight I come to warn you all of a scam on eBay that is starting to catch on and many dealers who are starting to to do this.So it has started with the seller revwarcannonballs and he one ups all his cheap artifacts by giving them provenance and fake story.He either says it is from the older Fort Hell museum or a family letter.I STRONGLY RECOMMEND YOU BY THE ARTIFACT NOT THE STORY.This is starting to spread between sellers.Thanks to the people who warned me on my last post I ran away from the purchase and saved my money.

 

[MRB1863]

Tonight I come to warn you all of a scam on eBay that is starting to catch on and many dealers who are starting to to do this.So it has started with the seller revwarcannonballs and he one ups all his cheap artifacts by giving them provenance and fake story.He either says it is from the older Fort Hell museum or a family letter.I STRONGLY RECOMMEND YOU BY THE ARTIFACT NOT THE STORY.This is starting to spread between sellers.Thanks to the people who warned me on my last post I ran away from the purchase and saved my money.

Thanks for the warning! It shows there are those out there who will do anything for a buck.

 

[7th Mississippi Infantry]

Thanks for the heads up.

 

[Dave G]

But they gotta be genuine - they're from FORT SUIMTER, S.C.

 

[7th Texas Mounted Rifles]

I love when he tacks Texas Revolution or Brownsville UCV museum provenance to his listings.

 

[chellers]

Ha, apparently eBay is on to him. He's now got zero listings, zero history, zero everything!
Thanks for letting us know.

 

[TinCan]

I've been told to be VERY careful of buying anything Civil War related on ebay.

 

[zburkett]

My personal rule is I never pay more than reproduction price on anything from ebay.

 

[Mark F. Jenkins]

Unless you know for sure it's genuine-- or has something about it that makes it worth it even if the seller doesn't seem to be aware of it.

 

[tbuckley]

But they gotta be genuine - they're from FORT SUIMTER, S.C.

S. C.?? Southern China?

 

[Legion Para]

With everything on eBay, you have to know what you are buying and from whom. Yes, there is a great deal of garbage on eBay and scam artists. With that said, some incredible rare and original items do get listed.

 

[Package4]

Tonight I come to warn you all of a scam on eBay that is starting to catch on and many dealers who are starting to to do this.So it has started with the seller revwarcannonballs and he one ups all his cheap artifacts by giving them provenance and fake story.He either says it is from the older Fort Hell museum or a family letter.I STRONGLY RECOMMEND YOU BY THE ARTIFACT NOT THE STORY.This is starting to spread between sellers.Thanks to the people who warned me on my last post I ran away from the purchase and saved my money.

Great job, as I replied to your earlier thread, I purchased an 1851 Field Officer's Sword, purportedly with a provenance to an officer in the 2nd MD CS. I was anxious to receive for two reasons, one I collect MD and two it did not seem likely that it was authentic. Sure enough, it took about 30 seconds to see that the sword was a fake, but had a very good fake patina. The immediate giveaway was the insertion point of the wire wrap and then upon not so careful examination about 20 additional tell tails. I emailed him, of course he blamed it on the Museum collection and that he should have checked more closely. I made sure that I had my refund before I reported him to EBay.

There are many wonderful items on EBay and if you do your research you can pick up some very nice items for pennies on the dollar. I have been able to pick up a beautiful Haiman Confederate Cav saber, a rifleman's pouch, 2 M1851 shakos and a McDowell forage Cap for less than a third of their value. All were estate finds and mislabeled and categorized.

I would not buy a belt buckle or piece of ACW insignia on Ebay unless you "really" know what you are doing or have someone knowledgeable look at it upon receipt and it has a return policy.

I would also question any story whether on Ebay or elsewhere unless there is documented proof; a collecting friend told me a long time ago, that if someone has to tell a story, to explain a piece, it is time to walk. Just because someone says that a piece came from Sgt. Kiss My Grits doesn't make it his, or Southern.

Take time and research the unit, the soldier and the ancestry. The internet has made research very easy and with a research library of pertinent books you can bat over .900; even the experts get fooled.

I use Historical Data Systems to research a soldier's name then follow up with Ancestry.com and Fold3, if the piece came "from the family" I can usually get enough info and work backwards on Ancestry to prove or disprove it. There are other online ancestry tools, but I have been happy with Ancestry, though they are a little pricey.

Sorry for the ramble, it used to be that you could warn a bidder that an item or seller was bogus, but that was taken away by Ebay. Seems as if legitimate pieces were being bashed so that an unscrupulous buyer could keep the price low and "steal" it.

 

[Legion Para]

As Package4 may remember, a rare and unpublished image of Harry Gilmore (CSA) sold on eBay some years ago.

 

[Legion Para]

Great job, as I replied to your earlier thread, I purchased an 1851 Field Officer's Sword, purportedly with a provenance to an officer in the 2nd MD CS. I was anxious to receive for two reasons, one I collect MD and two it did not seem likely that it was authentic. Sure enough, it took about 30 seconds to see that the sword was a fake, but had a very good fake patina. The immediate giveaway was the insertion point of the wire wrap and then upon not so careful examination about 20 additional tell tails. I emailed him, of course he blamed it on the Museum collection and that he should have checked more closely. I made sure that I had my refund before I reported him to EBay.

There are many wonderful items on EBay and if you do your research you can pick up some very nice items for pennies on the dollar. I have been able to pick up a beautiful Haiman Confederate Cav saber, a rifleman's pouch, 2 M1851 shakos and a McDowell forage Cap for less than a third of their value. All were estate finds and mislabeled and categorized.

I would not buy a belt buckle or piece of ACW insignia on Ebay unless you "really" know what you are doing or have someone knowledgeable look at it upon receipt and it has a return policy.

I would also question any story whether on Ebay or elsewhere unless there is documented proof; a collecting friend told me a long time ago, that if someone has to tell a story, to explain a piece, it is time to walk. Just because someone says that a piece came from Sgt. Kiss My Grits doesn't make it his, or Southern.

Take time and research the unit, the soldier and the ancestry. The internet has made research very easy and with a research library of pertinent books you can bat over .900; even the experts get fooled.

I use Historical Data Systems to research a soldier's name then follow up with Ancestry.com and Fold3, if the piece came "from the family" I can usually get enough info and work backwards on Ancestry to prove or disprove it. There are other online ancestry tools, but I have been happy with Ancestry, though they are a little pricey.

Sorry for the ramble, it used to be that you could warn a bidder that an item or seller was bogus, but that was taken away by Ebay. Seems as if legitimate pieces were being bashed so that an unscrupulous buyer could keep the price low and "steal" it.

Package4 failed to mention one important thing, trail of ownership. Some items have been in private collections for over 100 years. Knowing where an item originally came from and what collectors owned it over the years is important.

Some items have previously been in major auctions and it's nice to have copies of these auction catalogs.

 

[Mark F. Jenkins]

I almost certainly lucked out when I got the Henry Walke scrapbook... it had no established trail of ownership, provenance, etc., and I have no idea how it came to be on sale on ebay in the first place.

But I recognized Walke's handwriting and knew it was authentic-- so I had a bit of an advantage there. In addition, the photos showed that there was a printed copy of Walke's defense before a board of inquiry inserted in it that I knew for certain was not available anywhere else, so even if most of the scrapbook was unusable (which, thankfully, turned out not to be the case), I knew I was getting something I wanted.

 

[raydog9379]

As others, I've learned my lessons on eBay. Early into my collecting, I once bought a framed piece with cut signatures of Lee and Grant. Once I rec'd the item, something with the Lee signature just didn't look right...mostly in the paper used (almost looked as if it had been dunked in coffee). Any event, I sent it off to JSA to make sure all was legit since I couldn't file a claim w/ eBay unless I had proof from one of the major authentication services. I sent the cut signature and got it back a few weeks later stating it was not authentic and the 5 reasons why. Was able to get my $ refunded for the item, but I was out the $200 or so for the authentication services. After that, I started studying anything/everything about writing styles, papers / inks used, reviewed authenticated documents for style/slant/etc.. All in all, I learned my lesson...don't get duped and research everything to the n'th degree. That seller is still out there selling junk signatures which look close but generally aren't the real deal.

On the bright side though, there are some finds if you get lucky and informed. About a year or 2 after, I found a framed engraving with a cut signature of Grant. It was mis-categorized (with engravings I think) but the signature was spot on and everything looked correct so I contacted the seller, started asking questions, etc.. Turned out he was one of those "Sell your stuff on eBay" stores selling them for a lady that came in. She had a handful of these framed engravings and cut signatures and he wanted to sell them all fast. So... Needless to say I picked up Grant for $60, Sherman for $60, and Porter for $60 (all including shipping). He had a Fitzhugh Lee as well that he wanted something like $500 for which I declined since that's nuts. I had exemplars of all 3 of the ones I bought in my house and went through other known exemplars as well to compare, so I figured I was making a fairly educated purchase and knew the signatures inside/out other than being able to see the paper / ink. If they were junk, I was out $180 total or could hassle with sending back. As soon as I got them, I got out the 10x and went over them top to bottom to see how the ink flowed, style, etc... all are legit 100% without a doubt. Sold the Sherman for $400 a few weeks later since I have one in a nicer frame hanging on my office wall and didn't need the dupe. Sold one of my existing Grant's for $600 because the signature on it was slightly more faded than the one I picked up for $60 and the frame and engraving on the $60 one was nicer.

I've picked up a few other cool things over the years pretty reasonably... printed field copy of McClellan's farewell, Gen. Orders announcing Emancipation (GO#139 in Sept 62, and Navy Gen Order #4 in 1863), a few Sauerbier swords, etc..

 

[kevikens]

Early on I was snookered by some stuff I bought on line. Since that time I have made it a point to never buy any artifact that I can not handle and examine personally. Perhaps I have missed some good buys but just cruising the flea markets and yard sales is fun in itself and if you do it regularly and frequently you find some good stuff reasonably priced.

 

[shanniereb]

I do sell on Ebay myself, but you usually do not even make up the money you have in the artifact. So I have limited my selling on Ebay. There is some Scams on Ebay, but some sellers,(like me) try to be honest and give you a good deal. I could not sell someone a fake artifact and willing list it as real. I took a real loss on a button I bought at the Salisbury, NC relic show, but the man was very grateful and it made my day if I made his.

 

[Mark F. Jenkins]

The market for cut signatures bothers me... particularly on those occasions when I'm looking at the original letter or report and there's a rectangular hole in it.

 

[caller]

The market for cut signatures bothers me... particularly on those occasions when I'm looking at the original letter or report and there's a rectangular hole in it.

Agreed Mark. I am new to the collecting realm and didn't really know what a cut signature was. So I looked it up on ebay. How ridiculous. There was a signature from JQ Adams that looked really scraggly. The full letter it was cut from was shown and indicated it was from 1840s which explained the signature. Included in the auction if you win is a PHOTOCOPY of the original letter. Why not keep a perfectly good leetter that HAS the signature as one piece? It can now never be restored. And the full letter was in JQAs hand. To me that is the absolutely worst thing that can be done to an historical document - intentional destruction for no purpose. Perhaps we should get the original Declaration of Independence and just snip John Hancocks name out and sell it off. There are plenty of photocopies out there to include in the sale.