Opinions on EBAY PLM please

[kyokashinkai]

Just spotted this on Ebay , is it the real deal or a run of the mill fake as usual ????

cheers

Steve

EBAY 140073735544

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...p;rd=1&rd=1

[Schießplatzmeister]

Hello Kyokashinkai:

The piece is a better-quality forgery, but not the best quality forgery that is available. Don't bid, save your money for something else!

Best regards,

"SPM"

[Ed_Haynes]

What would possibly make anyone think that any "PLM" on eBay was anything other that sewage?

[Tim Tezer]

Ed,

Strictly speaking, it is entirely possible that a real, awarded PLM could turn up on Ebay. I have yet to see one that could be verified, but that doesn't mean it couldn't happen. Much as I dislike Ebay, and particularly the buffoons who manage it, I use it as a selling venue all the time, and it helps to support my collecting. A lot of other collectors and dealers do the same, and they're not selling sewage.

If I had an awarded wartime PLM, I probably wouldn't sell it anyway, but certainly not on Ebay. I did offer a post-1918 example last year on Ebay - accurately described as such - and it failed to sell because it was tainted by all the other sewage on Ebay. What I failed to realize is that I had to compete with people who take one of the Spanish copies like the one referenced in this thread and put fake marks on it, then offer it as "absolutely original."

The only PLM I have ever seen on Ebay that MIGHT have been good was back in 2003. It had a tiny blurry picture, but looked right in the photo. I called the seller and spoke to him at length, and he identified the marks "W 938" on it, even though they were not described in his auction listing. I asked him if he could get me detailed close-up photos, and he said he would try, but he was an elderly gent and had to get help from somebody else. That was the last I heard from him. The item was pulled off of Ebay the next day with the explanation "This item is no longer available." So I'll never know if it was real or not, but somebody out there apparently thought it was.

Tim