Red Baron Memorabilia

[George Armstrong Custer]

no im having sothebys appraise it so i know what to insure it for

Even though the owner clearly wants to sell the item it would seem that, for whatever reason, Sotheby's have not become involved in its sale and several months later it is now an ebay listing.

ciao,

GAC

[Ice Tiger]

He was probably hoping one of us would make him an offer for it with the my family is well known at Southerby's line. Had Southerby's been satisfied with the provenance they would have put it in their catalog.

Obviously no pal has offered to part with their hard earned cash so he's giving ebay a go.

Bet it doesn't sell there either.

I'm also in the ban him camp

Andy

[SiegeGunner]

In light of his translation etc. being used almost verbatim, I wonder if Siege Gunner is up for a commission?

I'm already a Brigadier General — and if I could, I'd have this particular L/Cpl on FP No 1 so fast that his feet wouldn't touch the floor

[AndyHollinger]

There used to be a report this thread button ... where is it when we need it?

[MartH]

Bottom left where it always is.

Regards

Mart

[SiegeGunner]

Bottom left of your post, Andy ...

I'm not sure if this would be an appropriate use of it, though. We helped the guy, knowing that he was possibly going to sell the card. The disreputable thing about it is that, having evidently failed to get proper authentication of the item, he has used our/my material as part of a smokescreen of flummery to try and compensate for the lack of provenance and talk up his eBay listing.

[Moonraker]

My eyebrows went up when I saw the guy's first posts on this, then I followed the eBay link, before reverting to this thread and noting the flow of cynicism and criticism. He's not saying who is providing the guarantee as to authenticity (him, presumably) and there was a touch of naivete and lack of logic about his comment of February 24:

"the positiveis sothebys has sold a bunch of stuff for my family in the past including fabrege eggs ( not actually eggs but figurines made by fabrege) , civil wat memorabilia, jewelry from the 17 and 1800s so they will no its a reputable piece"

One might speculate if he did go to Sotheby's? If they thought it reputable he's presumably got a letter to that effect that he hasn't mentioned.

His eBay selling profile shows that he sells this, that and the other, including cycling bits and pieces, and I think it was not too unreasonable for him to get advice of the card from the Forum. I would feel less unhappy about buying this card (at a much, much lower price) than I would have been about purchasing the bit of fabric said to come from von Richthofen's aircraft that sold on eBay earlier this month.

(And there I was wondering whether to marvel at the £100 starting price currently being asked for each of two postcards showing Colonel Cody at Lark Hill; I know the dealer, and he's reputable, but the cards are worth £20-35 apiece.)

I'm "watching" the von Richthofen sale with interest.

Moonraker

[Moonraker]

Still watching, but no interest yet. A curious piece of logic from another vendor offering a postcard:

"The location may be RAF Stonehenge as the card is nicely printed on the reverse: 'W.H.Christmas, Camp Photographer, Aylesbury Road, Wendover, Bucks.' This suggests they are in the Salisbury Plain area at least."

Wendover is 60 miles from Salisbury Plain and 80 from Stonehenge. I've pointed this out to the guy, who graciously concedes I may be right as he's no expert. I suspect that the card shows RAF or RFC Halton, a mile or two from Wendover. He's had one bid already from someone, I hope, who has not been misled by the description.

Moonraker

[Moonraker]

Oh dear, the Richthofen postcard didn't sell; wonder if it'll be relisted at a sensible starting price.

Moonraker