Fraudulent Comoy Blue Riband eBay listing

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zulucollector

Lurker
Nov 19, 2013
30
4
Heads up: There is a fraudulent listing for a Comoy Blue Riband Shape 110 on eBay now. There are several tells:

1. Comoy never made a cross grain Blue Riband.

2. Shape 110 is a cutty, not a billiard.

3. Close inspection reveals that the nomenclature was photoshopped. None of the wood grain runs through.
The seller does not accept returns and says he doesn't know much about pipes. Obviously, he knows enough to try and pull this off.
I've contacted him and given him 8 hours to pull the listing or I go to eBay with a report.
I'm letting you know because there are bidders already on this auction.
38403433054_27772c7392_o.png


 

georged

Lifer
Mar 7, 2013
5,491
13,920
Photoshopped stamping!? The Bad Guys are upping their game.
It would be funny if it wasn't, you know, NOT funny. :evil:

 

zulucollector

Lurker
Nov 19, 2013
30
4
Unfortunately, it appears I caught this late. The auction is over in a couple of hours.
The guy messaged me back saying he was going to report me to eBay for bad manners for implying his auction was fraudulent. He let me know he is a person of high integrity.
Obviously, his integrity is not high enough for him to worry first and foremost that he is selling a fake object at auction.
I went ahead and reported the listing as fraudulent, but who knows whether eBay will get to it in a timely manner.

 

georged

Lifer
Mar 7, 2013
5,491
13,920
OK, this is getting weird. The "Blue Riband" line of the stamp does look suspiciously lighter, like it's an overlay, but that could be a lighting thing:
Screen_Shot_2017-12-17_at_1.37.25_PM.jpg

.
And it appears Comoy's did produce at least a few billiards that were given the shape number 110:
http://estatepipes.co.uk/shop/Comoys-Deluxe-Straight-Grain-1930s-Billiard-1240
https://www.smokingpipes.com/pipes/estate/england/moreinfo.cfm?product_id=109973

 

zack24

Lifer
May 11, 2013
1,726
2
Be very careful on this one- I spent years retouching professionally in Photoshop for one of the top pre-press companies in the country. This looks like a pixelated image, not a photoshopped logo on top of another picture. A giveaway would be if one were pixelated and the merged logo sharp...but these both appear to be the same. I would not say it's a fake based strictly on the image I see. The other two issues, I can't comment on...

 

lazar

Can't Leave
May 5, 2015
445
3
Nothing looks photoshopped to me, and the guy has 718 positive feedbacks (100%). Perhaps he's actually being honest, admitting he knows nothing about pipes and describing it to the best of his ability.

 

samcoffeeman

Can't Leave
Apr 6, 2015
441
4
Tough to tell from the poor images. I have seen a few post-Cadogan Blue Ribands with less than stellar grain. It is possible this is one of those, if it's not a 3 piece C.

 

achtman

Might Stick Around
Nov 25, 2017
62
159
According to Neil Archer’s shape list, the 110 is a billiard.
The one thing I see is that the Blue Riband logo seems to float above the pipe in the photo rather than being embedded. If I were trying to sell a pipe frsudulently, I wouldn’t choose one that is in this lousy unrestored condition.Maybe he has augmented the Blue Riband nomenclature because it was difficult to photograph.
Mark

 

beefeater33

Lifer
Apr 14, 2014
4,063
6,119
Central Ohio
Looks legit to me.............. How can one claim that " Comoy never made a cross grain Blue Riband." with such certainty?

Comoy's made a BUNCH of pipes............

 

cynicismandsugar

Part of the Furniture Now
Nov 17, 2015
773
4
Springfield, Mo
+1 @zack24
I've also spent years working with photo editing and photo editing software (as both a graphic designer, and later photographer), and I agree with Zack's assessment of the image.

 

georged

Lifer
Mar 7, 2013
5,491
13,920
How can one claim that " Comoy never made a cross grain Blue Riband." with such certainty?
Because Neill literally wrote the book on the subject. He's one of---if not THE---top Blue Riband collector/historians in the world.
That doesn't mean he's right 100% of the time, of course, but pretty close to it.
https://www.smokingpipes.com/accessories/books/moreinfo.cfm?product_id=152341

 

pitchfork

Lifer
May 25, 2012
4,030
605
I thought 'zulucollector' WAS Neil Archer Roan. Maybe not?
Photo looks legit to me.
EDIT: Just saw georged's post.

 

cynicismandsugar

Part of the Furniture Now
Nov 17, 2015
773
4
Springfield, Mo
... I should add that a similar effect might be achieved by resizing the layers, color mapping, saving down (the individual layers) at a similar dpi, warping, blah, blah, blah, blah... but I don't believe anything has been done to the particular image provided.

 

georged

Lifer
Mar 7, 2013
5,491
13,920
So that means that he's seen and inspected every Blue Riband EVER produced in Comoy's history?
Of course not.
You asked how someone could make a statement about a subject with a high level of certainty. Well, studying it for thousands of hours and talking to everyone still alive who was significantly connected to the Comoy's company in its glory days is how.
Whether or not a mistake was made in this instance is an entirely separate issue.

 

zack24

Lifer
May 11, 2013
1,726
2
If your background ever included retouching images from a Crossfield scanner back in the early days when a Mac retouching station cost $50k...and the 40meg RAM disk attached to it cost another $40k ...you know what I’m talking about..

 

dmcmtk

Lifer
Aug 23, 2013
3,672
1,685
It looks correct to me, but I wouldn't buy it. The grain is basically what one would expect on a Tradition. For its condition, I'd say it's already overpriced at the current bid, GBP 83/$115.

 

beefeater33

Lifer
Apr 14, 2014
4,063
6,119
Central Ohio
Whether or not a mistake was made is an entirely separate issue.

And therein lies the rub.......... That's exactly how facts get distorted. Maybe Neil should have stated "I have never seen a cross grained Blue Riband", instead "They NEVER made one." A quick google search turns up several 110 billiards also.
Accusing a a guy of (intentionally) selling fake pipes is not right either, look at his other pipes for sale. Looks to me like the chap stumbled onto some pipes at an estate sale and is trying to sell them. He states he knows nothing about pipes.
I'm not trying to start something here, and I'm well aware of Neil's acumen, but accuracy is something that I take seriously......
EDIT- OK George, I see you bolded the "HOW"..... maybe I should have used the word "why"...... my bad.....

 
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