The Savage Truth:
Flea Market Fraud
Flea markets have always been a fun place to shop and browse in the hopes that you might find a lost artifact or just some item that someone else tossed out that fits a project you are doing. One mans junk is another mans treasure. But in the world of fake Civil War and even Indian relics, flea markets are fast becoming a last dumping ground for the worst of the worst of the trash, and there is not a lot that can be done to stop it.
When I was a kid, I used to go with my cousins in the summer to prowl through the 441 Flea market on the highway to Atlanta. My cousins liked to shoplift pocket knives and I liked to buy pirated cassette tapes of Def Leppard and Men at Work. Even back then I was a fan of military artifacts, and I loved to poke around the booths and see if any cool militaria were available. I remember seeing a hat badge that was claimed to be Civil war era, and a uniform coat that was supposed to be World War II German. Back then, I was wary of the claims but now I know that they were totally false. This happened in 1983. Now here we are 25 years later and the amount of fake militaria being offered at flea markets has increased by a large margin. Why, you might ask, have the flea markets gotten worse? It is because the efforts to clear the fakes from e-bay have been working and have been working well.
In the war against fakes, the Civil War Fake Busters Forum (www.civilwarfakebusters.com) or formerly the e-bay fakes Forum on American Relic Hunters, has lead the charge in getting the junk out of e-bay’s CIVIL WAR ORIGINAL PERIOD categories. Working directly with e-bay, this dedicated group has made e-bay safer for collectors to shop. The side effect has been that the sellers of the fakes have found flea markets as a last-ditch venue to sell their fraudulent items. Fakers are like anyone else, if they invest money in a fake, they want to sell it and get their money back and make a profit. Since the e-bay sales have been drying up, they are invading their local flea markets and setting up shop there hoping to prey on the unsuspecting. Are they getting the experienced collectors and historians? No, they get the bargain-browser that has no idea what is real or fake, they just want that cool looking CS buckle with the bullet in it or that Wells Fargo shotgun as a decoration for their finished basement or office. They have no idea how much the real items go for and the fakers are not much of a roadmap to the truth either. So a new fake enters the pipeline that one day this unsuspecting buyer may try to resell on e-bay, or sell somewhere else or even trade. It becomes a vicious cycle.
Below is an experience had by a relic collector:
"My wife and I went to an Antique/Flea Market Mall today where my son said he saw a case full of Civil War items. It turns out that the case is filled with fake and fantasy items. There are "Confederate Belt Buckles," "Slave Tags," and "Indian" items that are not identified as "reproductions," or "replicas." I spoke to the owner of the place and she said she would not give me the name of the dealer but that she would ask him to call me (he hasn't). To make matters worse when I told her that she could easily check on the authenticity of many of the items by simply doing a search on the internet she responded that if a buckle "says C.S.A. on it then it is a C.S.A. buckle." When I tried to explain that the Confederacy ceased to exist in 1865 and that items made after that time baring those initials are NOT Confederate she responded, "Well buyer beware."
This is the reality. Fighting fakes is like playing Wack-A-Mole; you just keep hitting them wherever they appear. I would suggest to anyone reading this that you go to your local flea market and see if there are any sellers hawking bogus relics. If so, first try to go to the owner or manager of the flea market and make them aware of the fraud. If this does not work (and it probably will not) you are about out of options. The police will tell you they have no way of knowing if things are real or fake themselves and they do not have time to deal with such trivial matters. If you want to REALLY play detective, ask the fake seller if they sell on e-bay and get their user ID. Then go home and view what they are selling. If you see fakes, as I am sure you will, go to the Civil War fake Busters and alert them to the seller. Then at least his online flea market business can be disrupted.
I know that I have not given any real solutions to stopping flea market fraud, but at least by writing this I hope I have made you aware of this venue that the sellers of fakes use to peddle their wares. This is just one of many places and it may be the hardest to stop. But just remember, always keep your feet on the ground and a hand on your wallet.
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Frank
Huguelet, aka “Heavy Metal Ric Savage”,
served in the U.S. Army prior to beginning a
career as a professional wrestler. Throughout the 1990’s he wrestled all over
the east coast with a variety of wrestling associations and under several
aliases. At 6’5” and 300+ lbs. Ric was a favorite with wrestling promoters. In
1997 Ric retired from wrestling after undergoing reconstruction of his left
knee and three major back surgeries. He moved to Gettysburg where he performed
in a presentation called “Haunted Gettysburg” at the now defunct Conflict
Theater. Later he moved to New Jersey where he now resides. Ric is an avid
Civil War artifact collector and he maintains a website (www.savage-station.com)
which helps identify fake Civil War relics. He writes a column, “The Savage
Facts” for American Digger magazine.
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