More fun with ebay!

[doctahg]

Here's a good one:

"Hammig" violin for sale

Wow, a $10,000 violin with NO RESERVE! Now that's a motivated seller. Note that this seller lives in New York City, but allegedly traveled all the way to Boston for a verbal comment by an expert. I guess there are no violin experts in NYC. And why, in the name of all that is sacred, would anyone lay a $10,000+ violin on a dirty vinyl floor in order to photograph it????

I am never sure whether to feel outraged at these things, sorry for anyone who falls for this claptrap, or just amused at the things people are capable of. So I'm settling for amused and sharing it with you all.

Mary

[Guest erich_zann]

call me naive, but why are the Tarisio invoice prices blank ???

I guess that it would be easy enough to find out if it was bought through Tarisio's,

but the paper makes no sense.....

.....(I will assume that everyone can now make a good looking fake invoice.....).........

E.

[krugwaffle]

Now, if the pictures were too good you would be suspect that he cut and pasted them from a professional site!

I feel sorry for the guy. He lists the pegs and the strings as being brand new. I don't know how they do it up in New Yawk but, new pegs usually aren't mounted up to their shoulders in the pegbox and new Dominants usually don't come all corroded and kinky lookin'.

I'd bid $5 but I know it's going to cost me a fortune in shipping & handling.

If a big Bostonian appraiser tells you "that this violin was one of the best examples of Hammig's work that he had ever seen" isn't there usually an appraisal sheet to go along with that or what? Well, he didn't say he took it there to have it appraised.

Definitely one to keep an eye on...

[doctahg]

He lists the pegs and the strings as being brand new. I don't know how they do it up in New Yawk but, new pegs usually aren't mounted up to their shoulders in the pegbox and new Dominants usually don't come all corroded and kinky lookin'.

You're right - I didn't read down to the part about the "new" pegs and strings! Those pegs look pretty beat-up, don't they? In a couple of the photos, you can see that the strings are not tightened; the G is very loose. Maybe that's because the pegs are no good, ha ha!

[bean_fidhleir]

An inexpensive Geigenfluss instrument from about 1910-1920? I'm fairly sure the label is a fraud, since it appears to be offset rather than letterpress. The inked in numbers look nice, though, although I've never seen a German do the little curliques on 7s, only on Fs.

[Maestrolover]

If you look REALLY closely at that invoice, you can see that all the relevant numbers have actually been Tippex-ed out, or else someone has done a great job with sticking white paper over whatever info was there and photocopying the "edited" results, so it isn't strictly a blank invoice.

I love looking at things like this - the mind boggles...

[lvlagneto]

Yeah... it almost looks like someone did a bad photoshop clone job on the form... hmmm.

Well, it looks like a real violin to me. Happy bidding!

[RWOlson]

Doesn't it appear that there are at least 3 different types of pegs used here? Do the repairers mix and match so often?

[piaffe]

Maestrolover wrote:

"If you look REALLY closely at that invoice, you can see that all the relevant numbers have actually been Tippex-ed out..."

But there is one relevant number - the credit card fees, which I believe Tarisio charges at 3 percent of the total price. Just a bit of math gets us to around $1800.00, no?

[fiddlecollector]

Here's a good one:

"Hammig" violin for sale

Wow, a $10,000 violin with NO RESERVE! Now that's a motivated seller. Note that this seller lives in New York City, but allegedly traveled all the way to Boston for a verbal comment by an expert. I guess there are no violin experts in NYC. And why, in the name of all that is sacred, would anyone lay a $10,000+ violin on a dirty vinyl floor in order to photograph it????

I am never sure whether to feel outraged at these things, sorry for anyone who falls for this claptrap, or just amused at the things people are capable of. So I'm settling for amused and sharing it with you all.

Mary

Gas prices $4 a gallon,they should live in the UK for a while!

[doctahg]

Maestrolover wrote:

"If you look REALLY closely at that invoice, you can see that all the relevant numbers have actually been Tippex-ed out..."

But there is one relevant number - the credit card fees, which I believe Tarisio charges at 3 percent of the total price. Just a bit of math gets us to around $1800.00, no?

Oooooh, good catch! I just love it!

[Jeny Mahon]

I for one think that the handle

"SLICK_DEALS"

can, perhaps, further inform us as to the seller's, um.... modus operandi

Ahem!

[Marie Brown]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that by offering a mere five dollars above the current bid of $338, I will own an instrument that can enable me to fulfill my lifelong dream of performing the Saint-Saens "Intrufaction and Rondo Capuscioso" ENTIRELY ON THE AFTERLENGTH?!

Quick! Help me find my bow. My credit card number is inscribed in mirror writing inside its ferrule, and I am in a HURRRY!

[Maestrolover]

Hmmm, it went for $1875... some very strange bidding patterns towards the end of the auction.

So Piaffe's calculations actually panned out spot on!

[germanbeckham]

Yeah... it almost looks like someone did a bad photoshop clone job on the form... hmmm.

Well, it looks like a real violin to me. Happy bidding!

Maestrolover wrote:

"If you look REALLY closely at that invoice, you can see that all the relevant numbers have actually been Tippex-ed out..."

But there is one relevant number - the credit card fees, which I believe Tarisio charges at 3 percent of the total price. Just a bit of math gets us to around $1800.00, no?

Are you sure it's even worth that much?

But seriously, when someone starts their item description with the old song and dance routine of: "I really shouldn't be giving common people (who, by the way, are SO much lower than me) the opportunity to buy such an amazing work of art, canvas of beauty, piece of wood that exudes elegance, but have to, due to": (Insert one of the following here: "My Aunt having three of her legs amputated", "The fact that a soon-to-expire bag of Doritos now costs three bucks, "My Chihuahua needing marijuana for medicinal purposes", etc.), isn't that enough to scare off even the most clueless potential buyer?

[Rokovak]

Step 1. Buy a cruddy violin for $1800.

Step 2. Post proof that other examples from the violin's maker go for thousands.

Step 3. Show an invoice, but be sure to cover up what you paid. We wouldn't want anyone to find out that we paid so little for one of the maker's subprime examples would we?

That poor schmuck, I'll bet he had pinned his hopes on making a profit far in excess of $65 or so. <snaps fingers> Ahhh well, better luck next time buddy!

[priya]

But what does that tell you about Ebay and Tarisio.

No difference in the outcome? Let us not miss the point.

It's not about the violin, it's the same violin, it about the selling venues

Does a Ebay sale yield the same as Tarisio?