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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;all_fakes, post: 85295, member: 55&quot;]Komokwa writes &quot;<b>someone is roughing them up , gooing them up , and putting cedar bark on some in a clear attempt to defraud buyers.&quot;</b></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p>Yes, exactly.&nbsp;&nbsp; I tried writing an ebay guide, just in case somebody <u>was</u> checking out &quot;Bear Thompson.&quot; </p><p>&nbsp; &nbsp; In the past that trick has sometimes brought some folks out of the woodwork......I managed to annoy the heck out of &quot;Freddy Fencepost&quot; once, anyhow.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>But as an avid follower of fakery I find several things interesting about the Bear Thompson items.&nbsp; &nbsp; It is pretty uncommon, or used to be, to find any NW coast fakes with anything real attached, and I swear the chest we&#039;ve both seen has what appear to be real opercula.&nbsp;&nbsp; Who would bother?&nbsp; And many do have some cedar-bark.&nbsp; That is more energy than most of the fakers expend.</p><p>&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; And there are so many of them appearing, all at once, from multiple sellers...I find that curious also.&nbsp; Possibly a single importer has adopted the &quot;Bear&quot; thing, just as another did several years ago with the fake &quot;Ye Olde Curiosity Shop&quot; labels.</p><p>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; One trick I&#039;ve known some fake-sellers to use is to intentionally saturate the market, even if prices are low; because over time that lends credibility.&nbsp; That is the trick used by ebayer Calabar/Ransom.h.h; sell one or two fakes every week, for 15 years or so.</p><p>Certainly true that the buyers deserve it; though I&#039;ve often speculated that some of the buyers know they are fakes, and simply hope to resell for more than they paid.</p><p>&nbsp; &nbsp; And it just annoys me to see a new batch of fakes.&nbsp;&nbsp; So I thought I&#039;d vent a bit, choosing one of the worst examples.&nbsp; I agree certainly with post #562...I rarely write the sellers, it just raises my blood pressure; but sometimes is informative about the motives/knowledge of the seller.</p><p><br /></p><p>So, here is my speculation:&nbsp; Floyd Fagan aka &quot;Freddy Fencepost&quot; is known for carving fake masks, and putting fake signatures on them; and in the past I&#039;ve seen sellers with large numbers - up to 30 - of his fakes, being sold as &quot;from an estate.&quot; I kind of wonder if he has graduated to buying fakes and modifying them.&nbsp; The clumsiness of the &quot;Bear&quot; items reminds me of him, somehow.</p><p>If so, someone has probably seen &quot;Bear Thompson&quot; fakes at Vancouver BC flea markets.</p><p><br /></p><p>(As Bakersgma mentions, nobody&#039;s ever heard of the &quot;collectors&quot; mentioned in the auction listings.)&nbsp; </p><p>&nbsp; &nbsp; </p><p>I&#039;m just venting and ranting, I guess.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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