posted 04-10-2003 08:16 AM            

I've heard rumors for some time about forged/faked silver coming out of Virginia the last few years. Is there a shop churning this stuff out on order? I have seen the fake "AB" Blanchard spoons, with the mark struck onto newly "cast" silver spoons (demitasse size). I've also been advised that some mid-19th century Virginia silver has been so marked onto previously unmarked coin silver.

posted 04-11-2003 09:01 AM            

This is rather suspicious and could be criminal.

posted 04-17-2003 07:29 AM            

The faking or remarking of southern silver is just the tip of the iceberg. This is what we are interested in. And if it were not for ebay, we would not be exposed to so much of it.

With all the new printing and engraving technology available today, I am amazed that there isn't more faked marked silver. And rather then doing the old and expensive like Paul Revere, where you will be questioned at every turn, it is easier to turn to the southern makers who will bring good money and fewer questions.

Actually making these goodies is tough, and most of the fakes are remarked silver or newly stamped unmarked silver.

Ebay is an easy place to scam a novice and now that "southern silver" has become a buzzword, we can expect more fakes and remarks.

So, when you see multiples of an item, or a form you haven't seen before, ask yourself

1. why you have not seen this form.

2. how easy would it be to make this out of another piece (teaspoons into mustard ladles, or pie servers into pasta servers).

3. how easy it would be to remark the piece.

All for now.

Marc

posted 04-25-2003 07:25 PM            

An apparently related potential eBay scam: the same dealer is listing an impressive-looking Southern tea set with a fancy presentation inscription. A month or so ago, this tea set appeared in eBay's coin silver listings, illustrated by the same photos the dealer had posted elsewhere but described as belonging to someone in Italy. The sale was by private auction, no names visible. The seller (who had no feedback rating) also said he would accept offers to end the auction early. I smelled a rat and emailed him, and got an email in reply in which he claimed his late father had bought the set in America, that he knew nothing of its value, and that he would sell it to me for $1000. (And yet the eBay listing was very precise in its description of the set.) Of course, I didn't bite, but at least two other bidders did, because as I recall, the set sold for a few thousand dollars. (And who knows how many other eBayers had wired their $1000 to an Italian bank in hopes of getting a steal.)

When I checked back a week or so later, the seller was "Not a registered user."

posted 04-28-2003 08:59 AM            

As for the part about the unusual forms of Southern silver, I agree, and that's why I posted this to begin with. I've examined and studied Southern silver for 20 years, and many of these forms I have never seen or heard of. It's a red flag that likely there's something questionable.

posted 04-28-2003 11:21 AM            

Good for you for notifying eBay's fraud department, although we all know how much that's worth.

Did you also notify the set's real owner of its being "auctioned"?

As for the mote spoon, I assume you have seen the same photos that I've seen; what do you think? In the picture of the mark I see the curves of a C under the H; the long bottom crossbar of an I under the P; and the diagonal of an N under the E.