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Can you guess why you probably shouldn't buy this "Jack Kirby" piece?
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376 posts in this topic

23 hours ago, glendgold said:
On 9/8/2020 at 9:42 AM, Will_K said:

ebay has added an "authenticity guarantee".  As of now, it only applies to wristwatches.

https://pages.ebay.com/authenticity-guarantee/

 

They must be making money on this but I don't see the link explaining how. 

I imagine ebay lost significant $$$ due to refunds re: fakes.  Or genuine sales that were returned and a fake was sent back. 

Maybe ebay isn't making $$$, just protecting sales that already occur.  Authentication is not optional if the value or expected sale price is over $2,000.  I'd also be wary of collusion among authenticators.

Since he did post something re: wristwatches a while back, maybe @delekkerste is plugged into the ebay angle on wristwatches ?? 

Edited by Will_K
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As a watch dabbler I can say that eBay was/is FLUSH with out and out fakes being sold as the real thing, especially in the entry-level luxury market where there's lots of brand recognition but an audience who aren't necessarily tuned into watches. 

Basically no Rolex or modern-era Omega goes for less than 2k-4k barring it being undesirable (poor condition, major flaws, it being a childs or women's size) and any auction purporting to be legit selling for 1k or under is guaranteed fake. 

We're also in an era where the fakes (or replicas as some would have it) are getting close to 1:1 to the naked eye, which means vetting by looking at pics is getting harder and harder. Add to that a healthy grey market for legit product (ie real watches being sold by non-authorized dealers) and you have a situation where eBay probably felt compelled to step in. 

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1 minute ago, rlextherobot said:

As a watch dabbler I can say that eBay was/is FLUSH with out and out fakes being sold as the real thing, especially in the entry-level luxury market where there's lots of brand recognition but an audience who aren't necessarily tuned into watches. 

Basically no Rolex or modern-era Omega goes for less than 2k-4k barring it being undesirable (poor condition, major flaws, it being a childs or women's size) and any auction purporting to be legit selling for 1k or under is guaranteed fake. 

We're also in an era where the fakes (or replicas as some would have it) are getting close to 1:1 to the naked eye, which means vetting by looking at pics is getting harder and harder. Add to that a healthy grey market for legit product (ie real watches being sold by non-authorized dealers) and you have a situation where eBay probably felt compelled to step in. 

I'm looking at my first Rolex and research turned up a very unique market for these watches.  Waiting lists?  Developing a relationship with your authorized dealer in order to get a watch?  Gray market?  Lot to digest for a guy who just wants something to pass down to his son.  

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3 minutes ago, Andahaion said:

I'm looking at my first Rolex and research turned up a very unique market for these watches.  Waiting lists?  Developing a relationship with your authorized dealer in order to get a watch?  Gray market?  Lot to digest for a guy who just wants something to pass down to his son.  

Rolex has some of the most anti-intuitive policies with supply imaginable. They create insane demand for their actually not all that rare product (like they produce a very very large number of watches per year) and then limit how many dealers can get certain very desirable models, like steel sports watches. This creates a neverending demand and keeps the secondary market prices up and keeps their cachet high. Its now not just a status thing to be able to afford a Rolex, it's a status thing to be able to obtain one. 

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So where do all these very very many produced watches go, if they make it difficult to buy one? Does each buyer sequester a hundred of them in polybags as an investment for forty years down the line, like an issue of Youngblood #1?

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18 minutes ago, RBerman said:

So where do all these very very many produced watches go, if they make it difficult to buy one? Does each buyer sequester a hundred of them in polybags as an investment for forty years down the line, like an issue of Youngblood #1?

Well the grey market sucks a lot of them up pretty quick: although Rolex has cracked down on it over the last few years, there's certainly dealers who sell product to non-authorized dealers at a markup from the MSRP which are then sold to consumers at an even bigger markup. Also, their practices have created a very large demand that does exceed the number of watches available. Thus dealers do not put watches for sale in the display case, they hoard them for their regular customers. It's all pretty perverse and is one of the reasons I gave up on ever wanting to own a modern Rolex. There are lots of nice watches that don't require giving up your dignity to get them. 

Edited by rlextherobot
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1 hour ago, rlextherobot said:

Thus dealers do not put watches for sale in the display case, they hoard them for their regular customers. It's all pretty perverse and is one of the reasons I gave up on ever wanting to own a modern Rolex. There are lots of nice watches that don't require giving up your dignity to get them. 

You just described the red hot Contemporary Art Market -Primary Edition.

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13 hours ago, rlextherobot said:

Thus dealers do not put watches for sale in the display case, they hoard them for their regular customers. It's all pretty perverse and is one of the reasons I gave up on ever wanting to own a modern Rolex. There are lots of nice watches that don't require giving up your dignity to get them. 

Yep, as a buddy of mine who is a watch collector explained it to me, certain models (such as the Daytona, IIRC) are almost always held back and never see a display case.  Instead, they are sold to the buyers who buy multiple watches a year.  So in return for buying a half dozen or so more common watches, those guys get the opportunity to buy something they can then flip/resell for an instant return, given the pricing on the secondary market.

The part I found most interesting (which you alluded to) is that there are waaaay more Rolex watches manufactured in a year than most folks would ever guess.  As I understand things, they don't release hard numbers of watches manufactured, in part I'm guessing to keep the impression of them being much more limited in supply than they in fact are.    

Edited by ShallowDan
correcting typo
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This is a masterpiece, only not in the way the artist intended.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/124355697122

Every escalating detail in the description makes it almost glorious in its struggle to be even remotely related in any way to Jack Kirby. Chapeau bas, dude. I'm particularly fond of his use of the words "re-envisioned," "embellished," and "completed."  Although his covering all bases by ALSO coming out with a litho of this piece is a kind of genius.  Especially given that there's debate about whether Jack even drew the piece that he traced.

 

Edited by glendgold
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1 hour ago, glendgold said:

If only this was a wristwatch: https://www.ebay.com/itm/373282622540

 

Why?????  The seller has 100% positive feedback, while also selling cowboy boots and anime statues...

I did get a laugh out of the "Jack Kirby signed" part of the description/title though.  It definitely reads Jack Kirby, so he's got us there.

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58 minutes ago, grapeape said:

 

Totally fake. No chest hair a dead give away!!

I saw this one too.

The crudeness of this fake is indeed creepy compared to the original :

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6Dg8I1epHlU/VAGK939aFXI/AAAAAAAAwdg/Jvv7NH_Zu94/s1600/aha%2B(355).jpg

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