Never Seen One of These Before...

[TinfoilPhono]

Adding to my comments: one of my hobbies is French bistrot antiques relating to the famous drink, absinthe. There are hundreds of collectors in France, and a surprising number in the US. The problem is: the vast majority of absinthe antiques are fake. eBay is a horrific minefield, as are French flea markets. When something obviously real, and rare, shows up on eBay the sky is the limit.

Just as an example: match strikers. These were advertising pieces used on every café table in the Belle Époque. Originals typically sell for $300-$400 for the more common styles, and well over $1K for rarer ones. But -- there are probably 50 fakes for every original. Check out this photo taken at a French flea market. These are all Chinese fakes. Good ones. Very deceptive. If the dealer hadn't been so greedy as to put them all out at once and offered only one or two at a time he could have faked out a lot of collectors who would have gone home with $100 "bargains", only to learn later that they had worthless junk. It is literally killing the hobby.