: Jeff's "Get Lucky" post below just amazed me, that finds
: like that still pop up on EBAY, given all the eyeballs on
: everything these days. Sometimes it goes another way, as it did
: for me recently. Late one night I was browsing EBAY, and came
: across a lot of 10 watches, with these pictures focusing on the
: obvious one that caught my eye.

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: At first I was quick to dismiss it as a fake (as the seller
: proclaimed in his listing), but the more I looked at it and
: examined some unique characteristics about the dial, I thought
: it might be a late '50s/early '60s tropicalized real Rolex Sub.
: I bought the lot as a Buy It Now for $100 knowing other watches
: in the group were worth at least that, and went to bed. The next
: morning about an hour after I got on the computer, the seller
: canceled the sale. He'd been flooded with emails after I bought
: the lot telling him the watch was worth $5,000-$6,000 (way low
: estimates if it really it was what I hoped it would be). The
: circus that ensued was so silly. The buyer ignored all
: communication from me but I ultimately got him on the phone. He
: said he was taking it in for an appraisal and would offer it
: again to me first. A few days later, I called him again. He said
: the watch was pronounced a fake by the famous local jeweler in
: town: No reference numbers between the lugs. Rust in the
: movement (probably what tropicalized the dial).

: Could he be lying and the watch is real? I'll never know. One
: footnote on EBAY's actions. Even after the buyer had canceled
: the auction, EBAY stepped in and cancelled it completely on
: their behalf (presumably because a fake Rolex was sold), wiping
: all record of the transaction from their system. Question
: becomes, if it wasn't fake (only described as such in his
: listing), would I have been out a real Rolex I rightly bought
: because they canceled the auction based on his description that
: it was a fake? How bizarre. As I said, sometimes we just have to
: laugh at ourselves about how crazy the search for the next real
: "find" can be.

: Just a tale I thought you might find interesting.

: Happy hunting! Bill