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My Prediction: Antiquorum Will Pull This Fake Autavia
In Response To: Re: "To be sold without reserve." ()


maybe I am just the hopeless optimist, too often believing that people will "do the right thing", but I predict that Antiquorum will not sell this fake Autavia, for the following reasons:

  • It is Easily Proven that This One is a Blatant Fake. Last time (with the fake Index Mobile), the watch was weird enough, and the actual history of the genuine Index Mobile watches such a narrow topic, that Antiquorum could have claimed "not to know", at least for a few days, until the proof became much more conclusive. This time, there would seem to be no possibility or explanation for this one being genuine. We see hundreds of automatic Autavias each year, and we never see any that look like this. If they will spend five minutes on the research, this one will be "case closed".

  • The Lost Commission Will be Small. This one would be petty larceny, compared with what we saw last time, when the estimate was something like $4,500 (to the best of my recollection). Also, Antiquorum had sold the fake Index Mobile in December 2007, so if Antiquorum had pulled the November 2008 auction, the owner (having bought the thing in December 2007), might have demanded a rescission. So Antiquorum would have lost out on the 2008 commission and they might have also faced a demand for repayment of the 2007 pruchase price. That's a fair amount of money, and seems to have been enough to have motivated Antiqourum to proceed with the sale.

  • It's Just the Right Thing to Do. I mean, that's a good enough reason, isn't it?

So we will keep watching and see what happens.

Jeff

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

: Times are tough all over.

: Why are you giving Antiquorum a hard time over selling a clearly
: fake watch to earn a few bucks in commission?

: Just because they are trading on their eroding reputation to sell
: another relatively meagerly priced item on which they will earn
: this month's rent . . . ah, no, not enough for that.
: Earn a fine meal for the staff at a New York or Geneva restaurant .
: . . ah, no, not enough for that.
: Starbucks coffee for the staff for a week? They'll earn a little
: more than that, . . . . . . . .and tarnish their reputation even
: more.

: You are going to make them come up with some clever wording to
: cover themselves again . . . . what was it last time?
: "This watch is custom-made" . . . wasn't that it?

: So leave those poor prevaricating entrepreneurs at Antiquorum alone
: and stop making them use their creative energy on describing the
: inexpensive watches.
: And let them concentrate on the more expensive ones -- where their
: actions to date on recent Heuer and Omega auctions imply, that
: they must be working on creating adequate provenance under their
: so-called expertise, with which to allow sullied sales of other
: doubtful watches . . . . that just don't happen to come to
: notice to our expertise.

: Of course, I could be wrong . . . and it could be I wrote the above
: with absolutely no sarcasm intended.
: I think one is as likely as the other.
: You be the judge.

Current Position
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