The current buying situation for the new or starter collector is at a nightmare at present – the sheer number of misdescribed sets on offer from internet sellers is frightening. Even worse, some Saleroom auction houses appear to have have joined The Misleading Description Club, their 30 percent auction fee not giving the required accuracy. Buyer beware of terms and wording like ‘Jaques style’ and ‘in the manner ofJaques pattern’ – no evidence is ever offered by the sellers. None of these twisted descriptions is a guarantee that the maker is correctly described. When in the future Mick Muggins tries to pass off these purchased items as real to any serious minded collector, the fun will start and the moaning will become a howl of despair – getting close to the original purchase price will not be easy!
When I first started chess collecting, I wisely joined an Ebay chess collectors group – a very prudent decision, and a flood of mistakes that I had made were quickly discovered. Examples were at least a dozen composite sets, and other items were faked up to my cost. Buying chess collector books turned out to be most useful, and even when talking to experienced collectors I discovered that some descriptions by so- called ‘experts’ were incorrect. Once the very kind late Gareth Williams let me know that some descriptions were dreadful. Joining the CCI was a masterstroke – I made some badly needed fresh contacts, started researching with great gusto, and soon found that some well known website views needed contesting. My reasons for taking this action were pretty obvious, and the number of research clues from fresh Ebay sellers offered huge assistance. Photos were taken, stored and discussed
with fellow collectors, then we jointly came to conclusions with confidence. To the many, researching is all about copying, it’s easy of course, and it has become rampant
polluting published research as the dealer’s initial description was dubious. The Ebay statistics are very untrustworthy as the many simply don’t know about what they are selling nor the buyers. Hence my conclusion that a huge number of chess items have been traded with poor descriptions, some vastly overpriced, and the purchasers have no idea of their precarious situation. Most of us don’t want to know the reality, and denial is the natural stance taken. This compounds the problem of misdescriptions getting out of control. Recently I have seen a handful of so-called ‘Barleycorn’ sets which are commonly known as English bone sets, and some auction houses using the wording ‘in the style of’ at a cost of over 30 percent commission. Will ill informed Ebay sellers use this misleading nonsense? Of course they will, then add ‘pattern’, and over time the description ‘Barleycorn’ is erased! The current overuse of the adjective ‘rare’ is so bad that it is close to worthless, and sadly
cannot be taken seriously. Should anyone be buying for a collector as a surprise gift don’t be surprised if the recepient of said gift is disappointed since so many descriptions currently out there are incorrect.
Hard hitting stuff I know, but in my personal opinion it is sadly the real truth.
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