StoryBook Ceramics : We Hate Fakes Too
29 November
The Price of Honesty on eBay
Two fake Little Red Riding Hood cookie jars sold on Ebay auction only hours apart on the same day. One jar sold for $171.49. The second sold for a mere $22.50.
What was the difference between the two jars?
One seller told the truth.
As pottery lovers, and collectors ourselves, we often encourage sellers we see selling reproduction jars on eBay to amend their ads to tell the truth about the pottery. Although we still don't think selling mismarked counterfeit ceramics is a good idea, at the very, very least, sellers should tell their prospective buyers the nature of the product they are selling. It's morally (and legally) wrong to misrepresent an item as an antique that you know not to be, and we try to take a positive and upbeat approach to inspire the wayward seller to come clean.
This week, we came across a made-in-heaven example of the issues we have all faced as sellers and buyers on eBay. The truth it revealed is troubling.
On 11/26/06, two fake Little Red Riding Hood cookie jars closed on eBay. Each jar was adequately photographed, and each seller had good feedback. The jars were extremely similar in physical appearance, with only a slight difference in the floral decal colors used on the skirts. They were in similar repair, and neither had any obvious chips or breaks. Yet the closing prices varied by nearly $150.00. Let's look at why this happened.
The first seller wrote in her ad, "I cannot attest to whether it is authentic or reproduction but I suspect repro. This doesn't make her bad, just different!!!"
The second seller wrote in her ad, "This is an earlier piece. This antique is in near perfect condition. It was part of an elderly lady's collection for many years." (Ah, the "elderly lady" story. How original)
The second seller goes on to embellish her ad with all kinds of creative nonsense. For clarity, let's parse the entire ad.
"This is a very rare, old, first run Hull Ware Little Red Riding Hood cookie jar."
Really? And you would know this a "first run" jar, how?
The bottom of the cookie jar has a hand-written inscription: "Hull Ware Little Red Riding Hood". There are no machine stamps or numbers or copyright notices on it, which speaks to the fact that this is a very early sample of this style of cookie jar.
Rubbish. Hull, nor Regal, ever hand wrote any inscription on the Red Riding Hood cookie jars, at any time during their history. This statement is complete fantasy.
Others I have seen have numbers and notices. This is an earlier piece.
See Above.
This antique is in near perfect condition. It was part of an elderly lady's collection for many years.
Is this the same elderly lady all the fake sellers on eBay buy from, or are their different ones?
The gold is in excellent condition with the exception of some crazing which can be seen on the collar detail photo.
No, the gold is burnt and purpled from firing it improperly. It's also one of the key ways to determine that Roger Jensen created both this jar, and the other jar. 99% of Jensen fakes carry this defect due to his poor firing habits. It is one of the most easily discernable signs that an item in question came from one of his kilns.
Item is described to the best of our ability and knowledge.
That, dear lady, I doubt very much.
Sadly, the honest seller, who at least tried to describe the item she was selling properly, ended up with a poor sale, while the "creative license" of the deceptive seller landed her a big profit.
This type of comparison illustrates the nearly impossible task collectors face in trying to help clean up the eBay collectibles marketplace. The competition on eBay is ferocious even when the playing field is level. Then, when unscrupulous sellers realize that very often eBay ignores and looks the other way if they write misleading ads and sell fraudulently, it makes the situation far worse. The market environment becomes completely impossible for the "good" sellers who are still trying to do the right thing, and one by one, they simply give up and leave.
eBay's reputation has suffered for years due to the high fraud rate in electronics, jewelry, and designer clothing. Unless something marked changes, and soon, I fear that soon, in the collectible niche, there will be nothing left but scammers trying to outdo each other and unsuspecting victims waiting to learn the hard way that buying collectibles from eBay is a dangerous gamble if you aren't a genuine expert.
We have created a pictorial analysis of the auctions referenced above in our StoryBook Ceramics Image Information Gallery if you'd like more information on these two auctions.
What was the difference between the two jars?
One seller told the truth.
As pottery lovers, and collectors ourselves, we often encourage sellers we see selling reproduction jars on eBay to amend their ads to tell the truth about the pottery. Although we still don't think selling mismarked counterfeit ceramics is a good idea, at the very, very least, sellers should tell their prospective buyers the nature of the product they are selling. It's morally (and legally) wrong to misrepresent an item as an antique that you know not to be, and we try to take a positive and upbeat approach to inspire the wayward seller to come clean.
This week, we came across a made-in-heaven example of the issues we have all faced as sellers and buyers on eBay. The truth it revealed is troubling.
On 11/26/06, two fake Little Red Riding Hood cookie jars closed on eBay. Each jar was adequately photographed, and each seller had good feedback. The jars were extremely similar in physical appearance, with only a slight difference in the floral decal colors used on the skirts. They were in similar repair, and neither had any obvious chips or breaks. Yet the closing prices varied by nearly $150.00. Let's look at why this happened.
The first seller wrote in her ad, "I cannot attest to whether it is authentic or reproduction but I suspect repro. This doesn't make her bad, just different!!!"
The second seller wrote in her ad, "This is an earlier piece. This antique is in near perfect condition. It was part of an elderly lady's collection for many years." (Ah, the "elderly lady" story. How original)
The second seller goes on to embellish her ad with all kinds of creative nonsense. For clarity, let's parse the entire ad.
"This is a very rare, old, first run Hull Ware Little Red Riding Hood cookie jar."
Really? And you would know this a "first run" jar, how?
The bottom of the cookie jar has a hand-written inscription: "Hull Ware Little Red Riding Hood". There are no machine stamps or numbers or copyright notices on it, which speaks to the fact that this is a very early sample of this style of cookie jar.
Rubbish. Hull, nor Regal, ever hand wrote any inscription on the Red Riding Hood cookie jars, at any time during their history. This statement is complete fantasy.
Others I have seen have numbers and notices. This is an earlier piece.
See Above.
This antique is in near perfect condition. It was part of an elderly lady's collection for many years.
Is this the same elderly lady all the fake sellers on eBay buy from, or are their different ones?
The gold is in excellent condition with the exception of some crazing which can be seen on the collar detail photo.
No, the gold is burnt and purpled from firing it improperly. It's also one of the key ways to determine that Roger Jensen created both this jar, and the other jar. 99% of Jensen fakes carry this defect due to his poor firing habits. It is one of the most easily discernable signs that an item in question came from one of his kilns.
Item is described to the best of our ability and knowledge.
That, dear lady, I doubt very much.
Sadly, the honest seller, who at least tried to describe the item she was selling properly, ended up with a poor sale, while the "creative license" of the deceptive seller landed her a big profit.
This type of comparison illustrates the nearly impossible task collectors face in trying to help clean up the eBay collectibles marketplace. The competition on eBay is ferocious even when the playing field is level. Then, when unscrupulous sellers realize that very often eBay ignores and looks the other way if they write misleading ads and sell fraudulently, it makes the situation far worse. The market environment becomes completely impossible for the "good" sellers who are still trying to do the right thing, and one by one, they simply give up and leave.
eBay's reputation has suffered for years due to the high fraud rate in electronics, jewelry, and designer clothing. Unless something marked changes, and soon, I fear that soon, in the collectible niche, there will be nothing left but scammers trying to outdo each other and unsuspecting victims waiting to learn the hard way that buying collectibles from eBay is a dangerous gamble if you aren't a genuine expert.
We have created a pictorial analysis of the auctions referenced above in our StoryBook Ceramics Image Information Gallery if you'd like more information on these two auctions.
Comments
WJ Elvin wrote:
Very interesting and worthwhile post, good luck in your crusade. Seems to me I've seen stories on these on these sorts of fakes off and on for 25 years ... I looked through half a dozen pages of Google for Roger Jensen and nothing pertinent shows up. Is there a book that talks about his copies? Is he still active? Thanks for any info, I'll check back.
11/30/06 00:34:53
Michelle Tanner wrote:
Roger Jensen has been documented in at least one cookie jar collector book. There is a write up in the back of one of the Joyce Roerig books describing his "work".
Otherwise, he keeps a very low profile whenever possible. But, all you have to do is visit the online website for Rosso's Wholesale and Glass to see his work.
http://www.wholesale-glass-...
Jensen and his former partner Larry Martin are responsible for about 80% of the items there under the cookie jars section. The other 20% are coming from ACK, a company that seems to be importing from overseas.
At the moment, most of Jensen's work is going to three different wholesale outlets where it is mostly bought by a well known group of eBay sellers. The rest of his items are being sold by his neighbor in Tennessee. They are "partners". He has been banned from eBay literally a half a dozen times when he has tried to sell directly. He has a bad habit of taking money and not shipping products that tends to get him NARU very quickly, even without our "help".
He's a mess. It's a darn shame it's proven so hard for law enforcement to deal with him.
Otherwise, he keeps a very low profile whenever possible. But, all you have to do is visit the online website for Rosso's Wholesale and Glass to see his work.
http://www.wholesale-glass-...
Jensen and his former partner Larry Martin are responsible for about 80% of the items there under the cookie jars section. The other 20% are coming from ACK, a company that seems to be importing from overseas.
At the moment, most of Jensen's work is going to three different wholesale outlets where it is mostly bought by a well known group of eBay sellers. The rest of his items are being sold by his neighbor in Tennessee. They are "partners". He has been banned from eBay literally a half a dozen times when he has tried to sell directly. He has a bad habit of taking money and not shipping products that tends to get him NARU very quickly, even without our "help".
He's a mess. It's a darn shame it's proven so hard for law enforcement to deal with him.
11/30/06 15:23:49
Carol Pena wrote:
How are your items marked on the bottom? I hope you are not using the usa mark.
12/27/06 10:16:55
KReffitt wrote:
Hi Carol,
All StoryBook Ceramics pottery is marked, under the glaze, with a stylized representation of our name. This mark insures that our pottery will never be confused with the vintage items.
Thank you for your concern, and please remember, WE are as concerned as you are.
Kevin Reffitt
StoryBook Ceramics
All StoryBook Ceramics pottery is marked, under the glaze, with a stylized representation of our name. This mark insures that our pottery will never be confused with the vintage items.
Thank you for your concern, and please remember, WE are as concerned as you are.
Kevin Reffitt
StoryBook Ceramics
04/30/07 02:08:54