Real or fake? Sunburst flask in bright apple green

[zanes_antiques]

yeah, you can name it....SIMILAR TO BUT NOT REALLY....

 

[GuntherHess]

When I first saw those auctions a while ago, I had never seen the word "Excogitated" before, so i had to remember my Latin classes in order to decipher the meaning. I would imagine that most potential bidders just gloss right over the word and assume that they are real. I gotta give them some points for creativity though. I'd say that the Baxterco!'s auctions are slightly more upfront than the fark auctions but maybe that's just me. They still get people who think they are original though, people who adhere to the "a picture is worth a thousand words" belief and neglect to read the words that actually go with it.

My concern with people making fakes is, EVEN IF they truthfully market them as fakes, what will happen to them 10 years down the road. I can just about guarantee you they will evenually end up on the market and intentionally or unintentionally be sold as originals.
Those funky colored Glovers bottles are a good example. They made them in Italy, Shipped them over with stickers on the bottom. People take off the stickers and 30 years later they are sold on ebay as antiques.

 

[Plumbata]

That's a great point sir, I hadn't really thought about it but with that being the case, there is an even greater need to document such items for what they are and make the information available to an audience greater than oneself. If this place is around in 10 years, and if there is a consistently updated list of fakes and repros available to the masses here and elsewhere, then perhaps the hammer actually will smite such unworthy glass before they bounce around peoples' collections too many times.

 

[appliedlips]

Plumb, you make a good point. It would be a service to the hobby for the members here to try and make a complete list of reproductions ( excluding fantasy bottles ) as a resource. Complete with photos and pointing out discrepencies between them and their real counterparts. If we could get this in one, uninterupted thread it would make for an excellent resource. I doubt any of us are aware of all or even most, yet collectively we could probably give it a good go..

 

[annie44]

This one had me going for a bit......but I am quite sure it is not a GIX-40.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Rare-Miniature-Scroll-Flask-GIX-40-Awesome-LOOK_W0QQitemZ110419489395QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item19b583b273&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

 

[amblypygi]

ORIGINAL: annie44

This one had me going for a bit......but I am quite sure it is not a GIX-40.
...

Nope, not even close. The line drawings in McKearin and Wilson are extremely accurate, and this flask can easily be seen to be a poor copy. Whoever wins this auction will be learning an expensive lesson, although as Matt says that lesson may get deferred down the line to the next buyer. This is why I prefer to find my bottles rather than buy them; rivers don't lie as much as humans!

Sean

 

[ktbi]

Interesting story on real/fake issue. I collect seashells. One of them, the Wentletrap, was very valuable in the 16th and 17th centuries. Enough so that the Chinese fashioned fakes out of rice paper and sold them for big bucks. Over the years, many were found and their value diminished enough so that fakes weren't worth it. Now the rice paper fakes are worth a small fortune if you can find one and the real things are a $20 item.....Ron

 

[GuntherHess]

I collect seashells

Have any Ecphoras?

 

[GuntherHess]

I have a feeling that this could be turned into an informative thread in a different forum category, where people can post the suspicious items they see for sale,or post the scams that they might see going on, for others to evaluate and/or watch out for.

I mostly deal with embossed medicines.
I have a fakes and repros section on my web site at ...
http://www.antiquemedicines.com/Repros/Repros.htm

There is also a fakes/repros section on my medicine board...
http://antiquemedicines.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=6&sid=34ee64926edf3f2f1368d9cb858351ee

I try not to get into label authentication issues too much since its often really difficult to do without examining the item in person. Fortunately, there hasnt been a significant history of fakes/repros as far as embossed medicines are concerned. The effort doesnt support the payoff.
I collected Civil War relics for 30 years and was so disgusted by the proliferation of fakes in that hobby that I sold off my collection. So far I consider bottle collecting one of the "cleaner" hobbies as far as shady dealings go. But you can be sure that if there is a buck to be made there are slackers who will try to exploit the hobby.

 

[ktbi]

Have any Ecphoras?

No Matt - none of mine are quite that old, but I do have a small, but nice collection of more recent Murex's. BTW - did you get my email the other day about Nevada bottles?? Ron