Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums Online Auctions, eBay Craigslist Petroliana Your thoughts on this ebay sellers items

I almost jumped in a few weeks back on a Smokey porcelain sign it closed at $1700. a few weeks later I see an underbidder got a 2nd chance offer and bought one, Now he has another one listed. I looked at his completed auctions and quite a few suspected items sold, Most ALL in multple sales. The AIR signs are pulling good money everytime he lists them. I am looking for others opinions based on FACTS if his items are legit.


http://www.ebay.com/csc/service_station/m.html?item=171017102319&LH_Complete=1&rt=nc

also was looking at the Smokey lic. attach & bid on the latest one, but after I looked at his completed auctions a red flag went up..

Man this guy is ripping people off! there is no way he has NOS in the numbers he is selling these in. There needs to be some accountability on sellers like this. I noticed someone called him out on it and he ridiculed him.

what makes everyone think this stuff isn't the real deal,,people do find boxes of signs, NOS,,, the air signs he says are made at a university, ( quite possible) he doesn't say there old, old,,there are only 2 of the smokey signs,,, quite possible,,he also offers a money back quarantee if not satisfied, full refund for 14 days, whats wrong with all that ? sounds good to me..
How do you get to call the guy a crook when you have no proof. ??? Your only assuming,,,

Everything is fake

There are an insane amount of small repop porcelain signs now...insane...while on the worlds longest yard sale this past year one guy had a few hundred different ones...these are NOT EASY to tell from 50s 60s porcelain signs unless you know...One dude on ebay has at least 4 different handles...each of them sell fire king mugs and small porcelain signs...most have graphics or the "it" factor to get folks to bid high on them...newer ones include Snoboy...Piggly Wiggly...Highway Assoc, its a laundry list...etc...These signs do "look" cool...but I'd bet my keeper wall they are not right... If you watch ebay enough you can keep from getting burned while at a swap meet,etc. Look at the way they are made...grommets used...backs,etc (most of the pops are made the same way).

Another example is the Polar Bear door push sign...I talked with a well known collector (has written multiple books on porcelain signs)...he said back in the day you were lucky to find one collector that had a Polar Bear push...of course this was pre ebay but why are there 2+ on ebay per week now...something doesn't add up unless every country store in America had one or two on the door...not so likely...

One can find multiple NOS signs for sure...so not saying all small mint porcelain signs or tin signs are fake...just be careful. The joys of unmarked pops....

This is also the seller of that wonderful, one-of-a-kind, VINTAGE Texaco birdcage! : )

...it's called 'computer type'...the fonts on the Smokey sign were set using whatever font was handy on a computer...





...that's three, by my math...

email from ebay on this subject..

Dear advertologist(advertologist@yahoo.com),

Thanks for your interest in this listing:

171017102319 - 1956 Please Help Smokey the Bear Prevent Forest Fires Porcelain Sign USFS Minty!

We're sorry to tell you that the item isn't available for purchase anymore. We removed the listing because it likely fell into one of these three categories:

-- The listing doesn't follow eBay guidelines.
-- The item isn't allowed on eBay or can only be listed under certain conditions.
-- The listing contains pictures or words that may have violated copyright or trademark rights.

Thanks KZ for the thread. I almost "won" one of those NOS Firestone signs but backed off when it looked too good to be true. In short order I've become very cynical and assume that when something looks too good to be true-well its likely not true. Guys are putting in peripheral dings into the porcelain, holes into tin and acid burnishing to make it look used. It's only suspicion and hands on examining and a trained eye (too bad my vision is going!) that will tell the truth.
Fred

These people have ruined the door push/palm press market. Unlike signs, therms and clocks; door pushes were touched 100+ times a day. Key chains, bottles, rings beat door pushes to hell. Why are there so many mint door pushes? I would never ever buy a door push off the computer......and you better know what your looking at in person! As a potential collector......i have zero interest anymore.

Look at this sellers location dead giveaway who this person really is ....going under a diffent name... All fake junk

Same guy who sells the Sinclair Gasoline PP seems like 3 a week for the last year. Quite a NOS find he claims. He also has another handle he goes by

The only wrong assumption one can make or wrong conclusion one can jump to, is that this ***** is real! Seller is a well known crook that has been discussed in numerous threads here.

I think Mark Twain said something to the effect that it is easier to fool people than it is to convince them they have been fooled.

If I had the luck this guy seems to have in finding this amount of NOS stuff, I'd take the proceeds from the sales and hit a casino. It just ain't so.... IMHO

Well it appears he's been shut down since this a.m.'s posting. EBay IS paying attention.

Are you sure ebay is watching or this guy saw this post and took his own actions so he would not get caught?

Because I have been comparing his items to known originals for a long time. They are not right. Checkn the back of most if not all, of his porcelain signs. We've been watching this guy sell one door push after the next for well over a couple years now. People are still paying good money for them. This guy (he either has multiple accounts, or there are a few people from the same area) has been a red flag for years with me. Sickening.

...ain't that the truth...

Does this mean that our member " JKYOCOM from GA. member since 2006" is selling repro's because he has 15 of these little porcelain signs for sale... JUST TRYING TO MAKE A POINT HERE,, some of you may think I am trying to protect the repo sellers, I AM NOT,,,, but because we know him we are certain they are ok and original,,,

Wes,

You're taking everything personal. What you do on JKYOCOM, is ask for a photo of the backs. You look at the back and make a decision. When you see a seller, selling known re-pops all of the time You just leave their stuff alone. I buy as many signs as anyone, and I look them over real good, even if I know the seller.

Butch, I have no doubt what JKYOCOM is selling is original, I'm just trying to make a point to all the experts on here that condemn peoples stuff based on,,,,,
" no way can a guy have that many signs the same "
"must be repo's cause I haven't seen that sign before "
it goes on and on,,, My other bone of contention is I try selling a reproduction door push and a pair of reproduction globe lenses on here and say in capital letters this item is a REPRODUCTION but was made before they dated stuff in the 80's , MAKE NO MISTAKE these are reproduction and they get knocked off the website. There are a few on here that think that if every seller /collector in the world doesn't think like they do about original collectibles and that all reproduction pieces should be scrapped then they should be banned from selling .... Every auction I go too in the USA and Canada has reproduction stuff in it, it all sells and the people that pay for it are happy, ( for the most part ) not any different than people that buy original stuff sometimes they get home and have buyers remorse... This kind of thinking in a hobby that attracts people from all walks of life ( rich or not rich )is wrong in my opinion.. Why doesn't OLDGAS have a thread for just reproduction items for sale,, there's lots of it out there , it all sells.. My opinions are not directed at anyone in particular, but the experts direct their opinion directly at the person their referring too... Not everyone has a lot of money to buy the good stuff They like their stuff too..

Wes, not to start an argument, but just to be clear, are you saying that you feel the ebay seller's door pushes may be legitimate and authentic? I believe in my heart the door pushes are new, made to deceive items. And that in turn taints his other stuff, to me anyway. And, before I quit watching him and wrote him off as dishonest, I had noticed that all his porcelain signs had tha same black backs as the ones I was convinced were phony.- Not that some original porcelain signs didnt have black backs.By the way, if I'm not mistaken, Joe's signs have black backs too. And his are 100% legit.LOL Of course there are boxes of NOS item found and sold on ebay and elsewhere. I'm pretty sure any one thats been around a while knows that. I myself have a few boxes stashed here and there. Again, not to start an augument, because I respect your opinion, and sometimes typed comments don't express a persons true feelings. BUT, lol. Not trying to put words in your mouth, but it almost sounds to me like you feel like good quality , unmarked,repops are OK and we should just accept them and let them "blend in". I believe that unmarked reproductions are ruining the porcelain sign hobby. Its hard for me to believe that a serious collector would feel other wise. And when I say serious collector, I mean anyone who is in this hobby because they love old original items because the items they collect represent, or are a microcosm of a period in time. Not how much money they have or spend on an item because its cool looking.. And thats not to say that someone who has some reproductions isnt serious about collecting "this" stuff. Its the "rotten apples" that turn my stomach.- Items I've bought as original that turned out to be phony. It happens less and less to me, but to consider myself as an "expert" and to think it could never happen again would be foolish. My bone of contention is modern day carpet baggers cashing in on peoples passion for this stuff by selling unmarked reproductions as original. Of course your items weren't put on Oldgas with the intention to deceive. But there is a rule that repops need to be marked. Not simply stated as such. No exceptions. (Thanks Jim P). You seem to be taking that rule personally. Reproduction items can be sold on Oldgas, as long as they are marked. Rare items in a persons (wealthy or not) collection aren't rare if next week there are 500 or a thousand new, high quality, hard to discern replicas punched out. What don't you get about that? If a person wants to deceive, all they have to do is list it on ebay and describe it as original. Then people who are serious about not getting screwed can talk about it here. Honestly, I work hard for my money and put most of any spare cash into this stuff or tools. It makes me sick when some "fast buck sales artist" takes or attempts to take it from me or anyone else.
Believe me, When I first noticed this sellers items, I was excited to see and wanted to buy some of his stuff. If his items were original, there would be a number of them in my possession. I, for one, did try to give him the benefit of the doubt.