In relation to the
fake 10¢ Washington noted several times above, listed below are the questions and comments made by a number of eBayer's and the replies made by the seller ... some of them make amusing reading; however, the answers given are generally a pretty sad case ...
These are all copied
word for word from the question and answer section of the listing as of 1.35am (E.S.T.) on 11th May 2008. They are
in order from most recent to first exactly as listed on the eBay site - the one at the top being from
me when I emailed him last night (please excuse the typos as I had been up for about 40 hours straight when I sent the email to him).
His reply to my email is very typical of replies I have received in the past over
cleaned and regummed Victorian postal fiscal stamps that this seller has offered on eBay. i.e. he generally avoids the issues and merely offers a refund if the buyer is not happy. Unfortunately my experience shows that the majority of buyers of many stamps on eBay just would not know if the stamp is correctly described or not - making the refund more shallow than it might at first appear. And particularly so when you consider that the seller has been made well aware of the situation on such items and continues to list them.
If he were to include an
information sheet stating something along these lines with every lot that he receives
genuine negative advice from specialists on: 'I/We have been advised that this stamp is (almost certainly) a forgery or a fake or a cleaned regum, etc. ... we encourage you to send it off to ... in order to get a professional opinion or a recognised certificate and if it comes back negative we will refund the full purchase price, all postage and expertising fees, plus any other associated costs' ... then he might have covered himself...
However, the better options would be to either correct the description and starting price while the listing is still current, or to completely take the item off. But, don't hold your breath.
Questions from other members : 1847 G/WASHINGTON BLACK 10c USA + CV>$2,000 Nice FU.
Question & Answer Answered On
Q: Even though USA stamps are not my field not expertise, it is pretty obvious that this stamp IS a forgery and that those who really know more than me on this stamp clearly agree. Anyone might like to think that it could be genuine or even worth a reasonable fraction of a genuine example, however, that is complete fantasy. Apart from items proven to eminate from Postal archives or knowen to have once been in famous colections, most provenances do not prove anything about an items authenticity! - and that is a fact of life! May-09-08
A: HI, THANKS FOR YOUR COMMENTS. THIS STAMP HAS HAD PLENTY OF INTERESTING OPINIONS, CRITICISM ,ETC AND HAS DRAWN A LOT OF ATTENTION WHICH ALL GOOD NEWS ON THIS PART OF EBAYS STAMP SECTION. ALL I CAN STATE IS THAT IF THE WINNIG BIDDER IS NOT HAPPY WITH THIS ITEM, THAT THE MONEY WILL BE REFUNDED PLUS THE POSTAGE. THIS MESSAGE POSTED.
Q: He who comes on ebay to shop and thinks he is an expert on stamps,-ok you think you know,but ask an expert and he will tell you to bring the item over to heve a look at it,he is not going to tell you to put it on ebay so he can see it on a photo as we do here,soooooo its a fear game here just the seller to be honest as (2007Sibir)he is more then that,he told you if youre not happy he will take it back,so what is your broblem,just dont bid,i have been biding here on 2007Sibir site for a long time now,and i have won top items here CV 5-7-$10.000-times cheaper then the CV, and not fakes,so y dont you leave this man to do of what he has been doing so far,and a good job i might add ,you as an expert look for people on ebay who dont know much about stamps,some of them dont know the#SG,or#Scts C.No.yet you bid as i do and many will tell you the same,so what do you tell them??,so Take it easy mate its not war,people like you can put top sellers off eBay,Regards,Michael,S,1. May-07-08
A: HI MICHAEL, THANKS FOR YOUR COMMENTS AND SUPPORT.
Q: Only the Sperati forgeries of this design are worth anything, because they are so well done. This is one of the crudest of the many fakes, nearly all of which are worthless. I don't know which "experts" have stated that this is real, but they should go back to opining on beanie babies and other such high end collectibles before they hurt themselves. I do commend you, though, for putting all these comments on the lot. In my opinion, you are honest, but obviously not knowledgeable in stamps. And you don't have to leave ebay. As long as you publish the comments sent to like you have done and have a liberal return policy, there is nothing wrong with what you are doing. If we banished every seller who misidentified stamps on ebay, nearly everyone would have to leave, including the big names. Good luck, George Kopecky May-07-08
A: HI GEORGE, THANKS FOR YOUR KIND ADVISE.
Q: This is clearly a forgery or facsimile. I hope that you will not reply that you will 'check with your experts' because if you actually need to , you yourself are unqualified to even think of selling philatelic material on Ebay and you should seriously consider getting off ebay. May-06-08
A: HI MIKE, I AM NO EXPERT ON USA STAMPS. I'M ONLY TRYING TO SELL THE STAMPS WE COLLECTED TOGETHER WITH MY SICK 93 YE3AR OLD MUM. IF THIS STAMP IS A FORGERY IT WILL BE WORTH MORE THAN THE CAT. VALUE AS STATED UNDER INFO WEB ON USA STAMPS. THE WINNING BIDDER CAN CHECK THE STAMP & IF HE IS NOT SATISFIED WITH IT, A FULL REFUND PLUS POSTAGE WILL BE GIVEN. I CANNOT UNDERSTAND WHY YOU SAY THAT I HAVE TO GET OFF EBAY? PLEASE READ ALL THE COMMENTS ON THIS STAMP AS POSTED.
Q: Hi: This is a very crude fake. It is irrelevant how long you have had it. Here is the award-winning site of Roger Kirby, where you can verify it easily for yourself:
https://www.theswedishtiger.com/usstamps/ You can also do a search on ebay-US itself for USA #1 and compare the sharp design of the ones available to this one. The differences are obvious. Regards, George Kopecky, Atlanta GA USA May-04-08
A: HI GEORGE, THANKS FOR YOUR OPINION, BUT I HAD OTHERS STAMP SPECIALISTS TO INSPECT THE SCAN & THEY CANNOT BE SURE IF THIS STAMP IS A FAKE. eg. REFER TO POSTED QUESTION No, 2 also if it is a fake it could be worth a lot more as noted on the USA web site. HOWEVER IF THE WINNING BUYER OF THIS STAMP IS NOT SATISFIED WITH THIS STAMP , A FULL REFUND WILL BE GIVEN. nb. THIS RESPONSE WILL BE POSTED FOR BUYERS TO READ BEFORE THE FINAL BIDDING,
Q: I noticed someone has said that this is a fake,that's his opinion-i dont think it is,i have made a bid on this,and if im not happy i know you will take it back-but if you like you can take it out for any other reason its ok--Regards,Michael.S.1 May-02-08
A: HI MICHAEL, THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT. I HAVE CHECKED THE USA WEB & APPARENTLY FAKE STAMPS OF THIS 10C BLACK IS WORTH EVEN MORE THAN THE ISSUED STAMP. I WILL LEAVE IT ON EBAY AND WILL REVIEW ANY FURTHER OPINIONS BY OTHERS. REGARDS FROM ALEX
Q: The stamp scanned is an obvious fake. I suggest that you withdraw it before I report it. Best, Alex R May-01-08
A: HI, THANKS FOR YOUR CONCERN, BUT HOW CAN YOU DETERMINE IT AS A FAKE ? IT HAS BEEN IN OUR FAMILY ALBUM FOR OVER 40 YEARS. IT ALSO HAS A GOOD POSTAL CANCELLATION ON IT. REGARDS FROM ALEX
(End of Q and A section on eBay).
What do stampboard readers think of this? Forget 'Funniest home videos' - maybe we should start a section on
'Funniest questions and answers'!!! The only trouble is that it is quite a sad state of affairs.
As a final note, if you have time, look at the ROGER KIRBY web site noted in George's reply above and read through the page on the 10¢ Washington. It is brilliant! Enough said.
Simon Dunkerley