19th Century or 1940s reproduction; can eBay tell?

John Regan

A French court sided with Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior in a case involving the sale of counterfeit accessories sold on eBay. The June 30th judgement requires that eBay pay $63.2 million in damages.

The suit is significant in that it places eBay as a responsible party in the sales of fake goods. The suit follows similar successful suits brought by Hermes and Rolex. EBay says that it will appeal.

While high-end luxury goods manufacturers have recourse against the sale of fake goods in the courts. The situation in the antique market is very different.

Fake goods sold as antiques are often not new. 19th Century copper luster was reproduced in the 1940s; Victorian style cranberry glass was imported from Italy in the 1960’s; Roseville pottery reproductions were imported from China in the 1990s. Today, some expertise is required to tell the old from the not-so-old.

Specialization in the antique industry is dispersed. It is difficult to imagine any single segment of the collectable part of the antique industry having the financial resources to launch a lawsuit against the sale of fakes. Our thought is that the dominant philosophy for purchasing goods from anonymous sellers on-line remains “Let the buyer beware.”

EBay has 2,000 employees and claims to spend more $20 million a year to “sniff out and remove fakes from its site.”

(Resource: WSJ “Ebay Fined Over Selling Counterfeits” 7/1/2008)

Tim Regan We live in a time of nearly invisible money. When we pay for goods or services we have a multitude of options other than dumping cash on the counter. Our wallets are stuffed with credit cards that help us buy all the things we need without ever seeing a real dollar exchange hands. Our bank accounts are digital blips in an electronic world mostly revealed to us through account statements rather than actual cash in hand. [more]

Fenton Cranberry and Rose Satin vases on display in Centralia Square. After 102 Years of operation The Fenton Art Glass Company of Williamstown, West Virginia announced on August 9, 2007 that it would cease its operations. “After discussions with our largest creditor, we agreed on an orderly plan to wind down our business,” company President George Fenton said. “We want to pay off as much of our debt as possible before we cease operations altogether, and this plan allows us to do that. We met with our employees today, and [more]