Purloined pottery: Pieces
that were put up for bogus "auction" on eBay by a fradulent
seller or sellers from Indonesia included this large Grueby
vase modeled by Gertrude Priest...
By W.A. Demers
SYRACUSE, N.Y. - David Rudd, an upstate New York dealer in
American decorative arts furniture and accessories, will tell you
that his website www.daltons.com is pretty popular.
"We get a lot of hits," said Rudd, "probably on the order of 800
to 1,000 hits per day." It is a testament, he said, to having a
virtual showroom that is well designed, easy to navigate and full
of fine examples of American Twentieth Century decorative arts -
from Gustav Stickley, L&JG Stickley, Roycroft and other Arts
and Crafts Mission oak furniture to Rookwood pottery.
Unfortunately, not all of the visitors have been surfing the site
to shop for mid-Twentieth Century antiques. At least one
unscrupulous visitor was appropriating images and descriptions of
American art pottery, then putting the pieces up for bogus
auctions on eBay. If this sounds familiar, it is only one of the
latest examples of such fraudulent eBay auctions. [See "Another
Cautionary Auction Tale Surfaces From The World Of eBay,"
Antiques and The Arts Weekly, October 10, 2002.]. "It's
very annoying," exclaimed Rudd. "Apart from the audacity, is the
time it takes to undo it."
Rudd was made aware of the rip-offs by a customer who noticed
that the photos and descriptions at Dalton's website and the eBay
auction page were dead ringers - except for the fractured
English. For example, a Wheatley vase is displayed in four
photographs on the Dalton's website and described as "a sizable
piece measuring 101/4 inches tall by 9 inches in diameter. Nicely
carved with high relief leaves alternating with buds running
nearly the full height of the piece." In the background of one of
the pictures of the base one can clearly see a distinctive Dirk
van Erp-style lamp.
On eBay, a seller who identified himself as "Palingsuk," from
Indonesia, had posted the exact same photos - complete with the
lamp in the background - and described the piece as a "Very Nice
Green Wheatly Vase, this is a size able piece. . ."
Two other vases - a Grueby vase by Gertrude Priest and a Rookwood
vase decorated with cascading flora by Lenore Asbury in 1930 -
were also hijacked from Dalton's website by the eBay seller.
After Rudd notified eBay, the auctions on those three items were
cancelled, but just a day later the same Wheatley vase was again
being "offered" in an eBay auction by "Dodolanjiyembut," no doubt
the same Indonesian seller operating with a new name.
To add further insult, another of Rudd's vases - this one a piece
of Pewabic - was being auctioned on the same day by
"Dodolanraniat," who of course would only accept Western Union or
bank wire transfer as payment. Such payment arrangements are
standard fare among scam artists.
Michael Lehr, a private collector in Rockaway, N.J., has risen to
"power seller" status on eBay since he began doing business over
the online bazaar in 1997. Even he admits to have been stung.
"I was personally ripped off $1,220 a couple of weeks ago on a
Rookwood vase," said Lehr.
Lehr acknowledged that, for eBay, policing fraud is tantamount to
keeping away mayflies on a warm spring day, but he faults the
company for not doing a better job warning its buyer community.
He has sent eBay lists of users associated with fraud that he has
compiled, including one that had www.iraq.com listed as one of
the seller's favorite links. "As far as I can see, this person or
persons have raised thousands of dollars from this fraud," said
Lehr. "I can only be hopeful the money isn't going towards
terrorism against the United States."
...and this Wheatley vase with a deep green matte glaze.
Typically, the Indonesian sellers use bad English, do not employ
electronic payment systems like PayPal or any of the usual
methods of payment, but require money transfers or cashiers
check. The fraudulent seller of the American art pottery, for
example, directed prospective buyers to "Bank Deposite Express or
Wire transfer, Westren Union. For shipping cost please contact me
or email me. Serius Bid only . . . please don't bid it if you not
pay. Thank You."
"How hard could it be for eBay to warn buyers?" asked Lehr. "They
could stop the problem or in the least cut down on the risks to
their users by sending an email when any new seller comes online.
They pretty much control all emails and know who is contacting
who. It should not be hard for them to monitor and warn users who
are specifically at risk." Lehr said he has experienced instances
in which one of these fraudulent sellers was identified, had his
ID removed by eBay a couple of days later, but eBay never
contacted Lehr to let him know of its actions.
"Daily I am getting emails from people who have either wired
money or are about to," said Lehr. "This should not be hard to
put a stop to."
More diabolical, Lehr added, is the fact that even those who do
not win the bidding can be open to victimization. "These people
are contacting underbidders or anyone who expresses interest
looking to sell their nonexistent pieces," he said. Lehr added
that while he knows eBay has the technology to provide safe
harbor warning to members of its buyer community, the advantage
is clearly given to the seller.
In the meantime, Rudd, who said that a distinctive feature of his
Dalton's website were prices posted for each of the items, has
decided for the time being that he will discontinue including the
prices. "That's unfortunate, because we're one of the few Arts
and Crafts houses that do that," he said.
EBay was contacted to comment for this article and did not
respond by press time.
