One that got past Detlev?

[JAMES.M]

If the "mistakes" being pointed out are for the good of the community, I am all for it. If the mistakes (if indeed they are mistakes) are being pointed out as part of some vendetta and not accurate, then this would not be a good thing,.

In regards to "he should exhaust all avenues to assure its authenticity before considering putting it up for sale" what avenues should one take? And should you run every piece by some so-called "expert"? Which "expert" should we use, mine or yours?

I can only assume that Herr Niemann has access to the internet other than just putting up his site. Does he not converse with other “respected” dealers? Could he not discuss the piece with them, or does this fall under the category, which my wife likes to use, that men won’t ask for directions, and the same should apply to dealers not asking for opinions.

If the dealers are learning too, how do they learn if they don’t ask questions? So, when you ask which expert we should use, it should be a collective “all of them” instead of the collector policing their faults or laziness.

We as collectors are supposed to learn as much of our area of collecting as possible, whether it be buying and reading books, visiting forums, as many as you can, and asking questions. Is it beyond the scope of reasoning that dealers should not do the same thing?? You be the expert!!

Cheers,
James

[Biro]

I can only assume that Herr Niemann has access to the internet other than just putting up his site. Does he not converse with other “respected” dealers? Could he not discuss the piece with them.....James

James

I'd be pretty certain Niemann dosen't need help identifying Flochs!

It seems pretty apparent, given his recent arrival back from a trip to Russia, and the size of his pre-prepared inventory, what has happened here - and while we are 100% within our rights to point it out, personally, I'm not sure there's a big deal to be made out of this particular instance.

An embarrasing slip-up for Detlev certainly, but one I'd put down to lack of time, not lack of judgement.

Marshall

[Graeme R]

If I take my car to the garage for a service and they return it with faulty brakes and offer the excuse that the mechanic didn’t have the time to do it properly or had passed the work onto someone with less experience than him I wouldn’t accept it as an excuse. Why should I accept that excuse when it comes to a medal.

I can and do accept genuine mistakes will be made by dealers. They do happen if their level of expertise isn’t as great on certain items as it is on others. Nobody can know everything about everything. However, I can’t accept that it is one of those things that happens due to a lack of time and/or getting someone else, with less experience, in the organisation to check that item out.

If Detlev didn’t have the time that week and nobody else had the experience to check this item out, would it have hurt to hold that item back until Detlev did have the time. When you pay out large sums of money for items you expect them to have been scrutinised to the highest degree possible.

I have bought from Detlev in the past and hope to do so again in the future but to offer this as an excuse for him, to me, isn’t acceptable.

Best wishes

Graeme

[Giel VW]

You buy it Giel?

No I didn't, I only got a "sorry sold mail" for some other items, like always

Anyone snached that cased ek2 ?

[JAMES.M]

Marshal,

I really didn’t think I was making a big deal out of it, rather, I was voicing an opinion on the principal of the matter. I think Graeme expressed it quite nicely though in his response.

As the matter of a Floch piece being over looked, I’m sure DN needs no help with that either. However, I wasn’t just referring to Floch items. I’m talking about items that range in the thousands of Euros.

I have seen collectors chastised for not authenticating their pieces before putting them up for sale here, on stand, and on other forums. I would expect no less from “any” dealer.

As Graeme said, the item could have waited until such a time as it passed inspection. The stuff, other than the Floch items, have been around for 60+ years. Another week or two for positive authentication really won’t make that much difference, would it?

Cheers,
James