More crap.....

[batsballsbases]

Barry,
Emoticons can be a language into its own. There are so many symbols and meanings you could write a book in it or use it as code. Example B-) means cool -@--@- means eye glasses. Its very intresting. And you thought I only collected pins!

[barrysloate]

I'm out of that loop Al...but I find it interesting. I also miss every abbreviation, and it gets me frustrated.

[batsballsbases]

I feel for you Barry!! Now watch the person probably just hit a few extra keys at the end of God Bless just to throw us off the trail that he is a fraud. See if you press the winking smiley that little symbol that comes up when you type is an Emoticon!!!!!!!!!

[drc]

I think it means someone screaming because he has a pencil in his left eye.

[drc]

Also, if the seller is making them, this is forgery and against the law, plain and simple-- irrelevant to what weasel "I dunno I jus a lil kid" disclaimer used. You don't have to claim something is 100% authentic to go to prison for forgery-- you only have to make and sell a forgery and not make it crystal clear to the buyer that he is not purchasing an original. If you made a reprint, you have no legal option but to say as clear as day its a reprint at sale. Saying "it could be" or "or I think it might be" won't hack it, because you know it isn't.

[jcmtiger]

From ebay auction "I do not think the image is original and I believe it to be a reprint".

Seems clear to me that it is a reprint.

Joe

[drc]

If the seller made the items, the essential and telling question is "If you knew they were reprints, why did you not specifically tell this to the buyers?" The only honest answer is, because the seller was hoping the buyers would mistake them for originals and pay accordingly. As I said before, if you made the reprints you have no option but to specifically tell the buyers they are reprints. Saying "I think they likely are reprints but you judge for self before deciding home much to pay (fingers crossed)" isn't enough. Of course it's not as deceptive as saying "They are originals," but the law still considers it deception. And what is forgery? The making of a fake or reproduction with the intent or hope of fooling someone else into thinking it's genuine. So if you make a reprint with the hope that an eBayer mistakes it for genuine, you are a forger.

[ctownboy]

jcmtiger,

The problem isn't that the seller says he thinks the pictures are reprints, the problem is that the seller is probably MAKING these Franken cards himself!!

If that is the case, then he KNOWS these things are reprints, should be putting something on the picture which says reprint and should be making it CLEAR in the listing that these are reprints. That way, anybody who is shelling out money for these things will know what they are buying AND, more importantly, people in the future WONT be fooled thinking that these things are REAL and VALUABLE.

I know New Albany, Indiana. I have been antiquing there many times. It would be REAL EASY to buy a box of REAL cabinet cards (inexpensively), remove the REAL pictures from them and THEN surf the net, download pictures of REAL baseball cards (or Indians), resize the pictures so they will fit the dimensions of the cardboard cabinet backing and then glue the REPRODUCTION picture on.

Voila, A Newsboy actress card or a cabinet card of somebody's unknown relative becomes a "baseball player" or an "Indian". Then a $3 dollar cabinet card becomes a $30 dollar (or higher) "lotto" ticket that a buyer is hoping is real.

If the guy isn't getting these cabinet cards from antique stores on Market Street or Main Street in New Albany then Louisville, Kentucky is right across the bridge, so he can go over there and antique or go to Stewarts Flea Market.

As far as fraud goes, I REALLY hope somebody does go after him for that or gets him kicked off eBay for selling this junk.