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Ebay's Worst Offerings

kuhli

By kuhli
in Free for all

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hibernianscribe Newbie

hibernianscribe

Posted
Posted
4 minutes ago, hibernianscribe said:

Declan, your post is most interesting and explains a lot now to me why my messages to Catawiki asking about provenance of the Newark ninepence in their coin auction on Xmas Eve (it sold for £595) were met with silence. As detailed in my previous post, I also mentioned to their "expert" (Marcel Spijkerbosch) my concerns that the seller (going under the name "anglosaxonandviking") was based in Bulgaria. It would seem that my concerns were justified and Catawiki's silence speaks a thousand words!

Thinking about it, perhaps a separate thread in the 'Free for All' would be appropriate to warn all to be cautious of Catawiki coin auctions.

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PWA 1967
PWA 1967

Yes i use gloves to photograph mine.  

Diaconis
Diaconis

Here's a reply she sent to me last week when I suggested that she be careful not to give it away as it is an extremely valuable coin.   "Hello im not going to give it away I don't have to se

bagerap
bagerap

There's an area of Bournemouth called Boscombe which boasts around 10 "antique" shops, although the majority are selling high end tat. I visit one regularly because he knows nothing about medals and i

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declanwmagee Newbie

declanwmagee

Posted
Posted

I produced a dossier detailing Hibbs' activities while I was working there, but a lot of it covered fakes that had already passed through Catawiki unnoticed, so it didn't go down particularly well, politically!  

That Newark siege piece was one of the first to alert me that there was something fishy going on - he attempted to submit it (or an identical one) for auction in April 2016.  It didn't get past me, but many of his coins had been approved before I started there.  Sadly, I'm not surprised that he's at it again.  Although he has registered under a different name, many of the coins he is selling are, like the Newark, identical.  The Edward the Elder penny in the recent Catawiki auction was rejected by me in May 2016.

 

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hibernianscribe Newbie

hibernianscribe

Posted
Posted (edited)
10 hours ago, declanwmagee said:

The seller is an extremely well known seller of fakes called Michael Hibbs.  Last year he was operating out of Istanbul, now it's Bulgaria.  Anyone who has been in the Anglo-Saxon field for a while might know the name.  Tony Abramson devoted a whole chapter to him in his cracking tome on Anglo-Saxon counterfeits. 

The thing about Bulgaria is that in that country one cannot be held to account for selling fakes. This is why it has become the international hub for counterfeit antiquities. 

Frank

Edited by hibernianscribe
hibernianscribe Newbie

hibernianscribe

Posted
Posted
32 minutes ago, declanwmagee said:

That Newark siege piece was one of the first to alert me that there was something fishy going on - he attempted to submit it (or an identical one) for auction in April 2016.  It didn't get past me, but many of his coins had been approved before I started there.  Sadly, I'm not surprised that he's at it again.  Although he has registered under a different name, many of the coins he is selling are, like the Newark, identical.  The Edward the Elder penny in the recent Catawiki auction was rejected by me in May 2016.

I'm so relieved that I had misgivings about it and did to blindly go for it!

declanwmagee Newbie

declanwmagee

Posted
Posted

Bloody Catawiki operate out of the Netherlands, and you can certainly be held accountable there. 

This was the closing statement of the report  I did for them:


" It is my professional opinion that we do ourselves serious and long lasting reputational damage by not carrying out basic due diligence, and that allowing ourselves to be used as a conduit for the forgery industry is the biggest problem we currently face.  "

As this issue was highlighted to them eighteen months ago, they can no longer claim ignorance.  In my view this borders on complicit.

I am so glad I got out when I did!

  • Like 1
Rob Newbie

Rob

Posted
Posted

Money speaks louder than words. Where have I seen that before?

Less experienced collectors please note. At least the main auction houses will listen and pull things if they can be shown to be iffy. By main auction houses I mean those that have specialist coin auctions with a team of in-house experts capable of doing the due diligence referred to by Declan. By that I mean places like BSJ, DNW, LCA, Spink etc in this country or the big ones in the US, though they may hide behind the TPG label where applicable. The T&Cs of all auctions will inevitably state that all items are guaranteed genuine and that refunds will be given for those proven not to be, but the cost of proof and the time element is likely to put people off.

It is incumbent on collectors to help identify coins that don't pass muster, as nobody is infallible and not every seller of an iffy coin has a broken moral compass.

  • Like 1
HistoricCoinage Newbie

HistoricCoinage

Posted
Posted
19 hours ago, declanwmagee said:

I used to work at Catawiki as their British coin auctioneer and was horrified to see that they had allowed this guy to register under a different seller ID and start selling his fakes again.  I told my old boss but it doesn't seem to have changed anything.  I fell out with them while I was there over exactly this issue.  That's why I don't work there any more...

 

The seller is an extremely well known seller of fakes called Michael Hibbs.  Last year he was operating out of Istanbul, now it's Bulgaria.  Anyone who has been in the Anglo-Saxon field for a while might know the name.  Tony Abramson devoted a whole chapter to him in his cracking tome on Anglo-Saxon counterfeits. 

 

Ah. Mr Thomas/Michael Millard/Hibbs... :rolleyes:

 

Have a look here where Tony describes him as ‘An Alleged Miscreant of the 21st Century’ and I can think of at least another dozen places he's listed including Robert Matthew's site here.

  • Like 1
ozjohn Newbie

ozjohn

Posted
Posted

I have already reported this item https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/One-florin-1870-Great-Britain-England-UK-United-Kingdom-1-gothic-silver-coin/273003745559?hash=item3f904a9117:g:zEoAAOSwBjdaSA-i

to no avail. Perhaps a few more reports  may  move Ebay to remove this item.

  • Like 1
Peckris Newbie

Peckris

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, Rob said:

............ the seller being one Archibald Spooner, or his descendant. :ph34r:

:lol: Hey, give him his due, he did reduce it from $425 to $170... :lol:

PWA 1967 Newbie

PWA 1967

Posted
Posted
17 minutes ago, secret santa said:

which of course doesn't help if you've never seen the real thing.......

Anyone got a pic of a genuine one ?

Its been discussed on here recently with pictures of both.

Just type in aquatic in the search box.

secret santa Enthusiast

secret santa

Posted
Posted

Just had a look at at a picture that Rob put up (of a genuine one I assume) and I can't see any obvious difference from the one mentioned above in the sealed pack. What am I missing ?

Rob Newbie

Rob

Posted
Posted
39 minutes ago, secret santa said:

Just had a look at at a picture that Rob put up (of a genuine one I assume) and I can't see any obvious difference from the one mentioned above in the sealed pack. What am I missing ?

Genuine ones have uneven wavy lines in front of the face, the copies have straighter lines of uniform thickness.

Nonmortuus Newbie

Nonmortuus

Posted
Posted
15 hours ago, secret santa said:

Help me out here, how can you tell it's a fake ?

Look at the obverse and the Queens eye also. Clearly a fake.

Rob Newbie

Rob

Posted
Posted

Although not set in stone, the serial numbers of the genuine pieces should be close together if still in a package. The numbers are discussed somewhere in a previous thread about these. Sorry, can't remember the range.

Chingford Newbie

Chingford

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, secret santa said:

Just had a look at at a picture that Rob put up (of a genuine one I assume) and I can't see any obvious difference from the one mentioned above in the sealed pack. What am I missing ?

http://www.predecimal.com/forum/topic/11554-rare-aquatic-50-pence-copies/#comment-154624

 

  • Like 1
jelida Newbie

jelida

Posted
Posted

What do you think of these??

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cnut-Short-Cross-Silver-Penny-Waldlos-Of-Lincoln-1029-35/222779920673?hash=item33deb7d121:g:i-EAAOSwzXxaS~OX

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/KING-CNUT-SHORT-CROSS-SILVER-PENNY-1029-1035-AD/332506461339?hash=item4d6aedf49b:g:454AAOSwyYFaS7ly

Ignore the mis-identification of the first, which we have discussed before, the pics to me appear to show reverse matches, even to the peck marks!  I.e. more cast fakes. And the rest of their stock. Get reporting, guys!

Jerry

 

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