Posted 8 years ago
Daddy_Nobu…
(151 items)
Always happy to share my good deals collecting old Coca-Cola, only fair that I do the same when making a misstep. Such was the case recently when I purchased these beautiful framed signs for $500 total off an eBay BIN. I'd never seen anything like them.
I thought there was a pretty good chance they were a pair of 1929 10x30 paper Coca-Cola signs that had been conserved some time ago by being mounted on canvas and stretched across painted frames. But I wasn't sure, so I contacted TGBWC and Edisonfan for input.
After an hour or so of back and forth, we concluded they were not right. The first alarm bell went off when we found the same two retro style posters on the Best Buy Euro website. Next we assessed the logo wasn't quite right, comparing against collector guides and an original price list at TGBWC's archive. Chad was skeptical from the start, his good instincts were dead on as usual. The clincher was hearing from Ray that one of his sources recognized these as German retro art put out around Y2K.
So I canceled the transaction same night with explanation and funds were soon restored. It was a close call. This reinforces a couple important rules of Coca-Cola collecting: Examine the logo carefully and if the deal seems too good to be true, it likely ain't a good deal.
Having a couple rock solid good guys with which to bounce things around, helps too. (Thanks Dudes)
Great catch and lesson for all of us. Thanks for schooling us yet again.
And the thing about collecting Coca-Cola, we never graduate CK!
And here we thought Daddy was infallible ! Going to take me some time to recover from this revelation !
bb2, I'm still licking my wounds, LOL!!!
You dodged a pretty good size bullet there, Dave! Glad you were able to get your money back.
Thanks Perry. I still haven't found another reference to these signs on line. Nothing about them out there.
No, you're right. Some of the most valuable Coke stuff is impossible to find anywhere! As for the rarest pieces, I always check the big auctions, with a somewhat careful eye. Don't want the Schmidt kicked out of me again!
thanks for sharing and good catch. curious...what about the logo struck you as odd?
jpsII, see added image. The tail of the first C extends nearly to Cola on the 20's logo, and is nice and fat. If you look at the comparison, on the repro poster, the tail doesn't extend nearly enough and is too thin. Also, it's hard to tell from the guides, but Trademark Registered should be printed within the tail, and it's not on the repro.
Wow...good eye. Appreciate the education.
I'll remember that too ! What were we talking about ?
Good eye, has everyone noticed the two tin signs on ebay, gas today sign and triple bottle sign, being sold as replicas, but kind of scary. It's my first time seeing those, I believe even the size is the same as originals, not embossed. Viewable on the cw most watched list I believe.
Yeah, saw those. At least not trying to pass of as original.
Agreed, I just worry that after some of them gain a little surface rust and pass hands, they will have a few people confused. They are done very well.
Guys, things have developed in the faking world where you can't tell without inspecting with a lope, & not even sure then. Counterfeiting things has reached the level of being art ! We purists get pissed off about it, but when you take an objective look from their side, - some of it, you have to admit admiration ! In militaria, you just can't tell what is real & the market is dropping out because of it. Even personal inspection can be shaky, even if you are well versed. People are afraid to buy now. I know I am !!
The fakes complicate things and make collecting old/authentic "interesting", that's for sure. Here's the sign to which Robeo was referring.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/201557785254