Update
Quick update on the rat bastard selling his fake 180+ shot collection on eBay.

It reached $8,600 US on Friday morning.

However, by the sheer number of emails he received from my yahoo group of collectors, he panicked and took it down.

Score a small 1 for the good collectors.

Faker
So as posted a few times now, I collect Hard Rock Cafe shot glasses. I have a lot but I don't have them all. There are a few, near impossible shots that I don't actually believe I will ever own. The rarest, in my opinion, came from Taichung, Taiwan. This cafe was open just under a year - Dec 22, 1995 to Dec. 1996.

Unfortunately for most die hard collectors, the cafe didn't have the shot in stock most of its existence and because that was so short, very few people own it. I know of exactly 2 collectors that have one.

So imagine the shock to my collecting group when one shows up on evil bay (eBay for those not in the know).

When I first saw the auction I was skeptical for 2 reasons. This seller had put up the auction with no pictures and had included 179 other shot glasses in the auction. Out of the remaining 179 shots, at least 10 were hard to get and expensive shots (Tel Aviv, Amman, Shenzhen, etc). Most people with this size of a collection would know that the shots are worth more as individual auctions than as a group. One can understand not doing 180 separate auctions but you'd at least put the hard ones up on their own - to not do so is just stupid.

For example, Taichung, being so rare is estimated to fetch a minimum of $1000 US in auction. I'd bet it would go for double that as too many collectors are missing it and have deep, deep pockets (too deep for me).

Tel Aviv will go as high as $150 - $350 depending on the version of the shot (there are 4). The others previously mentioned fetch a minimum $200 - 300.

So, the pessimist that I am, I contacted the seller requesting pictures.

The original Taichung is known as a Asian yellow logo. Unlike present day HRC shots, the circle is a bright, bright yellow. The seller sends me a 3rd generation orange USA logo Taichung picture to my inbox. He also sends another 10 pictures of other shots.

Know what? All fakes. Counterfeit. Reproductions. No mistake. Taichung closed in 1996. 3rd generation orange USA logos didn't come out until 2002 - and never for an overseas shot glass.

eBay auction currently sits at $1500.00 US.

So the problem becomes that the seller has never posted pictures of the shots in the auction. eBay cannot verify that they are counterfeit. eBay also has secured themselves against pulling auctions of bid shilling by hiding all bidder names when an auction hits $200. So it is impossible to warn the buyers that they are buying fakes and eBay will not remove the auction.

I mention the bid shilling as I believe this is also going on. 3 out of the 8 bidders have had 33 - 57% prior bidding history with this seller. He doesn't sell that much on eBay and now he's bidding up his own auction of fake merchandise. Rat bastard.

Buyer beware still stands true.