Hello gentlemen,
I have finally completed my page on the fake Champagne runes decals. Instead of putting it all in my blog I decided to put it under the fake and repro section of the website. At the bottom is a link to the website page.
While outed already in 2015 it is still a hot topic today in 2018. Just yesterday a topic was closed by the moderators on German Helmet Walhalla after 2 dealers had their say on the matter (one of them was Kelly Hicks , author of SS steel whom first published the Champagne rune decals). If you haven’t read their responses you probably can guess the gist of it. See no evil hear no evil. Right.
Today another CR topic popped up on the Wehrmacht awards forum. It brought back the times when Kelly Hicks was involved with XRF authentication. Some of you will remember the business he was starting up with another collector to try and monopolize the authentication of German helmets , decals in particular. With a ray gun they would point at a decal , pie chart it in components and tell you for 250$ it’s real or not. Not only is it absurd to try and monopolize and monetize helmet authentication I would even call it unethical. The fact that they started churning out certificates of originality for fakes marked the end of that. So this topic from 2009 that was just bumped up relives those interesting times.
Sometimes things can be as simple as 1+1. Don’t be a victim and keep in charge of your knowledge , the next fraud is already lurking in the dark alleyway ahead.
Click here to go the Fake Champagne rune page.
Keep things interesting in 2018.
Take care,
Frank
Very well exposed. clear as usual Frank!
who actually started this isn’t clear at all, albeit a name came out (the hand) but probaly not the instigator of this fraud.
It won’t be this the place where to discuss this again…but talking about collecting german helmets the page you dedicated was absolutely necessary since this is the bigger fraud ever made. it still will create damages to the community in the future, if new collectors won’t get their knowledge on such issue.
Mooi stuk Frank! Je zou maar ge?nvesteerd hebben in 1 of meer van deze potten….. auw.
Groetjes,
Jac
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Great Post Frank – much appreciated. Valuable information that is now available to all collectors. The sooner the instigators of this fraud are openly exposed and shown for what they are the better. Too many fraudsters are still protected and accepted on forums and as respected dealers of German helmets.
Good job Frank, your site gets better every day. Jim G.