Forgeries bought from board expert

[Archive]

Posted By: Scott Forrest

It is always tough going against the opinions of experts in the hobby. For many reasons, you might sit on an item for months or years and never examine it closely, assuming the expert would have noticed any aberrations, especially if it's an issue that you are unfamiliar with. Then you find out that the item has "problems" or is a forgery. What do you do? With auction houses it is tough, since they have already paid consignors. I wonder how many of you are proudly holding forgeries in your vaults?

I'm currently holding two forgeries I bought from a board member who is an expert on rare issues such as this. The fact that they are forgeries was pointed out to me (for one of them) when I attempted to consign it. When I got it back the assessment made sense, especially since I had misgivings when I first received them, and when I looked closely at the other item, it became evident that it was the same type of forgery - very high quality, but the evidence was clear once it was pointed out to me. I noticed one of the problems when I first received the items, but thought "must be my imagination - no way in hell this guy would sell me a forgery." His expertise was so unquestionable that I would have been embarrassed to ask him about my concerns. Well, they ARE forgeries. This lesson didn't cost me too much, but it demonstrates the danger of buying issues that you aren't familiar with, even if it's from someone you trust completely.

No response to my emails after more than a month. Some hobby we have here.

No, I'm not dropping a name - you wouldn't believe me if I told you.