this ebay seller refuses to stop selling fake russian archive photos

[germanww2photos]

I'm so sick of these fly by night sellers that have no clue about what they sell ruining the hobby that it's time to start calling them out one at a time!
Prove that what you are selling as an "original" photo made by the Russians is original.
The samples I've had in my hands are all crude reproductions meant to decieve the buyer, some have even been 2 pieces of photo paper chemically treated on the outside but when peeled away the inside glows under black light!
All those stories of Ukraine military school, or the kgb widow, or the large stash of negatives captured in Berlin are comical, but for some reason people are falling for it at great cost!

Seller, prove it to everyone that has collected and/or sold photos for years what makes your russian fakes original, we'd like to hear another good story.

here is the link to this seller's garbage:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/WWII-German-...item27c600cc90

[Helene]

Fake Photos From Russia

Yes, it makes you vomit, as to what these 'thieves' are doing. Someone needs to buy a photo, then give them bad Negative feedback. I am surprised they have 99.9% feedback. It is possible that they have 'shill bidders 'to get such a high rating. Very dissapointing. Helene

[Karl B]

Best way to look at these sellers is that they are a leaning curve for the new collector. Eventually the long term collector will find sites such as this, buy from other sources and begin to get a feel and a "collectors 6th sense" for what are genuine photos and what are fakes. This experience will cost some more than others. The one or two photos buyers, not long term collectors, will always be an open wallet.

[S Ballantyne]

Sometimes....

Hi gyys,

While I agree with everything that has been said on this, in this particular case, he has a photo of a LAH Panzer IV at Kursk that I have not seen anywhere else. I bought a copy for about $10, and am happy to have the information in the image, and safe in the knowledge that I am not dealing with a genuine photo.

So, for the odd case, this sort of thing can work out ok for both parties.

However, in the main, it is for the learner to beware.

Cheers
Steve

[Darrell]

Plenty of big time dealers that keep showing up at the SOS and the major shows every year, yet they are allowed to sell the same fake crap. Yet nothing is done by ANYONE.

That disgusts me more than some nobodies peddling fakes on e-bay.

[jmark]

He has a photo of a LAH Panzer IV at Kursk that I have not seen anywhere else. I bought a copy for about $10, and am happy to have the information in the image, and safe in the knowledge that I am not dealing with a genuine photo.

Good point, Steve. When someone studies a certain subject in-depth for many years, it is easy to spot the fakes just by what is represented in the image. For instance, I can spot a Stalingrad photo at ten paces, so when something new pops up, it grabs my attention. That's when the back of the photo becomes more important than the front, in order to determine if it's genuine or not. If it's an image I've not seen before but is fake, I'll still buy it (but will not pay more than a few dollars). Having said that, cases of fake unseen Stalingrad images are so rare that I struggle to think of the last time I bought one.

If, like most photo collectors, you trawl through Ebay and other auctions regularly, it is dead simple to see the same photos appearing time and time again. Even if you've not seen them before, the crinkle-cut edges, lack of sharpness and lack of contrast give them away. And it's usually the same shysters peddling them.

As Karl wrote, it's not the experienced collectors getting stung, it's the newcomers.

Jason

[Mart90]

I still find it hard to believe that people are so gullible that they believe that such photos are original.