[Mccoypottery-talk] A "Fake" Idea

[Mark Jennings]

Hi y'all,

I'm not sure, but my neurons may have just fired away with something that's 
actually worth thinking about, so try to hear me out, please.

It could be that there's a *legitimate* lucrative upside for someone 
because of all the reproduction & fake stuff whizzing around in cyberspace. 
(Maybe for someone on this list?) Someone who can spot a reproduction or 
fake practically at a glance should offer your services online - for a fee.

I'm only writing as I think ... You could "hook" more potential customers 
by stating that their credit card, which must be given before 
consideration, (then check for it's validity!) won't be charged unless 
you're 100% sure with your "yes or no" answer, thereby "guaranteeing" your 
services ... Or maybe you could guarantee by saying that if you tell them 
it's an authentic piece and they can later prove that it's not, you'll buy 
it from them for the amount (with proof) that they paid ?? ... Like I said, 
I'm just thinking ...

This service wouldn't be needed, of course, if all sellers plainly stated 
whether the listed item is a reproduction or fake. But many describe their 
items in such sneaky ways. You have to read between the lines to "catch on" 
to the fact that it's not authentic. And as I think we all agree, unknowing 
people need to be aware of this.

I don't know all the "how-to's" for getting your website "out there", so to 
speak, to inform the public of your services, but I know the basics of what 
would have to be done. And I'm sure there's someone on this list with the 
logistics - or someone who knows someone who does.

There would be the up-front cost of having a user-friendly website 
developed with a professional appearance unless you know how to do that 
yourself. Then the cost of having it listed in the correct way with the 
major search engines so that your site shows up any time a search is done 
with anything having to do with the subject, being linked with many key 
words including anything having to do with pottery, major manufacturers' 
names, etc., etc. And it would be very important that this be done in a way 
(we're talking money, here) that the link to your site appears **near the 
beginning** of the search results, not only for people to find you, but 
also to make people aware that they even need your services. Then there's 
the monthly cost of keeping your website online with a good web server 
..... Maybe I was wrong about the "lucrative" part, but maybe there's some 
pottery lover who would like to do this as a labor of love. You could use 
your fees to recuperate the up-front expense and to cover operating costs - 
hopefully.

I know there are appraisers with websites with ways of contacting them, but 
I'm not aware of any who offer to evaluate a piece that's for sale on the 
internet, or at least none who specifically target their services 
exclusively to online customers. Of all the searches I've done lately 
(mostly on Google.com) including searches for "McCoy", "McCoy for sale", 
"buy McCoy", "American pottery" (also w/ "for sale"),  "Hull" (also w/ "for 
sale") "Roseville", etc., etc., etc., I've found many good results, but so 
far I haven't ran across a service like this. Is there someone who 
specifically targets online folks, and I've missed it?


[still just thinking ..... I know that there are many times when you could 
be sure that a piece definitely is or is not authentic simply by looking at 
photos, but would there be too many cases where it'd be impossible to 
evaluate/appraise something that you can't actually have in your hands?]

If any of you highly qualified people are feeling "entrepreneurial" you 
should think about this, in my opinion. Several times on this list alone, 
just since I recently subscribed, I've read ... "Could someone take a look 
on tias, ebay, etc. and tell me what you think of item ' X ' ?"  I've done 
that, myself ..... Knowing myself the way I do, I know that I'm getting 
closer as time goes by about starting a serious (for my standards) 
collection - not just buying a few pieces here and there, now and then. And 
until I'm sure that I can spot "fakes" on my own, it would be worth a few 
bucks to me to save even *more* than a few bucks by unwittingly buying 
junk. If I could be guaranteed a correct answer, even if it's, "Don't buy 
it!", it'd be worth it to me. Hey, there's another idea! You could say that 
if it's not an authentic piece, you'd be willing to try and help them find 
one - for an added fee ...... oh boy - I just had another thought - you 
might have the added expense of getting an attorney involved to cover 
yourself from law suits, etc. from these sellers of junk.

For all I know, there's someone who already does all I've talked about and 
more, or you've already discussed all this. Maybe the ones who've read this 
far are laughing by this point. I'd better stop now. I could go on and on, 
but it's very late. I think I'll take an Ambien and go to bed.

Goodnight,
Mark