Recently C.H.A.I.N. had an auction in Baden-Baden Germany. This consisted of multiple lots some listed others bid for blind.

I secured a number of escape items which I knew would be of use to me but had to bid also on the blind lots which were included within the same section.

The crates arrived after an eight week shipping delay and sorting began, two weeks later we finished the task.

Now the reason I post this here is upon inspection a large quantity of escape props from SJ`s to cuffs turned up as being fake. I first noticed this with a Deval SJ (White canvas with a black trim) The trim was composite plastic and not leather. Further inspection showed single stitching where double was required etc etc.

I know I have no claim on bidding for unknown lots at an auction but it is clear to me that there are copies doing the rounds. So beware.

Not only the escapology gear but general magic, DVD`s and typed scripts were also suspect.

So buyer beware is all I can say. Although the props which I viewed were worth more than the whole auction bid I made it still lies a bit unsteady with me to think that escapology with such a limited appeal should suffer from counterfiet.

Ken.

That stinks! I hope your investment was small!

No but his thingie is!

Ouch!

Well if £5000 is small then it was small !

For Dave to know how small my thingy is has dropped him completly in it. So he is out of the closet at last, be warned and keep your backs to the wall in his company !

Ken.

A blind auction is different from a jam auction... how exactly?

Chance I think the difference is that Ken would spends £5k in a blind auction BUT not in a Jam auction. He does not like Jam (or as you Yanks put it "jelly" - we call Jelly Jelly in the UK)

Rosalyn told me about Kens thingie - he solicited him at a service station on the Motorway at 5 am one morning ... but don't tell anyone I let you know! I beleive Kn aso offered Ros some 'fire crackers' at the same time!

I may be off, but I am thinking that in a blind auction all you get is a written or spoken description of the item(s) up for grabs.

I believe in a Jam auction you see the item(s) and also see the bids of others.

Another type of blind auction is where you put in a sealed bid for the items. You have no idea what other people bid and its highest bid takes the lot.

Dave

I'm poking fun at Ken, guys. I'm guessing he really feels like a sucker about now, and I couldn't resist taking the pi$$. He wouldn't be caught dead wasting $8500US at a jam auction, and yet....

It's all in good fun. Ken can give as good as he gets.

Dave, Dave, Dave... I do despair. You got completely the wrong end of the wotsit.

Not fire crackers... No, no, no... It was Cheese N Crackers. I'm a West Country boy living in London. Every now and then I need a quick hit of Extra Mature Cheddar to keep me going. But that had nothing to do with Ken. A cheese moment is a very private thing.

As for Ken's thingy, well that had to stay at home. Or was it in school? I forget. Either way they're not joined at the hip you know.

On a serious note, I'm a bit pi55ed off myself about the whole fakes issue and I didn't just spend 5K. Not good, especially in a community as close knit as ours.

Very few EA's exist in the world today and our numbers are slowly getting smaller.

Any ideas as to who made them? They deserve a slap.. I have an urge to write a letter!

OK to clear up a couple of things.

The Auction was closed lots on offer to the entertainment industry. My interest was in a few items which I viewed and wanted. Each lot had a number and consisted of multiple items some visible, some crated but offered as a whole. Had I paid £5000 and recieved the items I was after, I would have been more than happy with that, so the extra`s were just a bit of cream on the pudding for me.

After close inspection what had been done was >>>> cheap goods re-packaged and labeled. The cuffs were from the Eastern block (Exactly the same as the carded cuffs I sell on the swag stall which cost me around £1 each and boxed in Hyatt boxes with photo copied instructions but with a dealer logo added to the top of the instructions !). The SJ`s were from the same source,,Eastern block and are the same as the SJ`s you can get through Joke/Novelty supply outlets, the gaffing for effect being PVC duct tape and false label and instructions. See Bristol Novelty catalogue for priceing and pics then you will see how easy it is to scam the originals.

Now from this I gather its not a major deal and I think someone with knowledge of escape props and escape dealers could quite easily con a person not so clued up and therefore make a bob or two for themselves. Yes, I do think magicians are capable of this and pretty sure it stemmed from within the ranks.

I am more than pleased with my purchases and price paid but have disposed of much of the other already. The cuffs I repacked and repriced and will sell through my swag stall.

So maybe this is happening in other branches of entertainment as well and could equate to the huge differential in cost dealer to dealer which we have all experienced doing this biz.

Ken,

PS Anyone interested in some cheap condoms !

Are you sayig Ken is a bit of an old crusty cheese? I mean it wouldn't be the first time someone said it! (all be it incorrectly)

Dave

To think some people (Not many) Actualy pretended to miss him !!!!

Ah but enough missed the twit whilst he was away!

Hey hold on are you talking about me?

:)

Yep ill have some cheap condoms ...... just don't sell me any more of those you did last tme .... the ones with the price stapled on them! They leak ...... but if you tape them up they are really good for balloon animals and I like the way they come in lots of colours as well.

The teat at the end makes good poodle tails too.