I was in Los Angeles yesterday interviewing Joe Maddalena as part of my coverage of the upcoming Profiles in History “Hollywood Auction 37” event scheduled for next month, and took the opportunity to discuss the recent news of fraud in the poster collecting hobby. [Read more…]
Various reports have surfaced in recent weeks about a scandal involving what experts claim are counterfeit ’30s-’40s horror movie posters, window cards, and lobby cards. Some reporting on this story estimate that several million dollars worth of this material has been sold and traded into the marketplace, which has purportedly resulted in at least two lawsuits. [Read more…]
I’ve found that there are many concepts in the original prop hobby for which words do not exist. Having words to use with specific and unique meaning are powerful tools, and when there are none available that fit the need, putting together a new word with hopes it may be adopted can be productive. In this case, a term is needed to describe an instance in which the source or an entity in the chain of ownership of a prop, costume, or other artifact has a distinctive and negative impact on the authentication of such a piece. The word I plan to use to describe such a circumstance is “anti-provenance”. [Read more…]
As was the case last year (see 2007 Year in Review), what follows is an editorial review of my personal views with regards to the hobby, looking back at the top trends and news stories of 2008. As always, there were a lot of interesting developments and events, and quite a bit to review and consider. [Read more…]
This is a follow-up to previous articles (see kellysheroesmilitaria Original Props…, Update 1, Update 2, Update 3, Update 4, Update 5, Update 6) in which “original prop” auctions by “kellysheroesmilitaria” on eBay were compared with non-movie prop matching items available for sale from online retailers, as well as non-movie prop purchases made on eBay by “kellysheroesmilitaria” and items that appear to match being offered for sale as “original props” from the same eBay account. [Read more…]
As noted previously (see kellysheroesmilitaria Original Props: Update 4, eBay Third Party Reporting Case Study), I had used the eBay third party reporting systems (see eBay & Third Party Reporting (Fraud, Violations of Policy) to alert eBay to problematic listings while testing the effectiveness of sharing material information directly with eBay through their public systems in an effort to help them to enforce their own policies. This article serves as an update and conclusion, marked by the occasion of kellysheroesmilitaria relisting one of the primary auctions reported to eBay. [Read more…]
This is a follow-up to previous articles (see kellysheroesmilitaria Original Props…, Update 1, Update 2, Update 3) in which original prop auctions by “kellysheroesmilitaria” on eBay were compared with matching items available for sale from online retailers, as well as non-movie prop purchases made on eBay by “kellysheroesmilitaria” and items that appear to match being offered for sale as original props under the same eBay account. The subject eBay listing of the Update 4 article has been canceled by the seller for the following stated reason:
This is a follow-up to previous articles (see kellysheroesmilitaria Original Props…, Update 1, Update 2, Update 3) in which original prop auctions by “kellysheroesmilitaria” on eBay were compared with matching items available for sale from online retailers, as well as non-movie prop purchases made on eBay by “kellysheroesmilitaria” and items that appear to match being offered for sale as original props under the same eBay account. A reader drew my attention to a new set of auctions, which is followed by a note about eBay third party reporting in practice. [Read more…]