Are you sitting down? Good, this may be a little hard to deal with.

Many of the high-end models you see at car shows are (* sigh *) fakes. You can buy the custom chrome off of junkyard wrecks or catalogs (or hello, Interwebz!). There are a lot of special, low-production cars that are upgraded grocery getters. You can't easily change body styles, although yes, I have seen a 1957 Chevrolet Two-Ten passed off as a Bel Air. But heck, people were up-scaling Model As to Customs by adding the fancier trim, even back in the 1930s.

Someone with a prurient interest and access to the VIN block books can detect a fake by the serial number. Fantomworks has not only done just that, they have created fakes for clients.

Anyway, real or ideal, it's as pretty as a posy.

Aaaaaaaa! Say it ain't so, Perfesser!

All that glitters, as you know...

There, there, your not to blame. *My paw over your shoulder*
Thanks, for the Inf, Perfesser-Bear.

*chuckles... there are counterfeits in everything, eh?

V.

Yes, everything...

I used to collect Japanese swords... my introduction to it was by an older gentleman, when he showed me a counterfeit Katana made some 400 years ago, made to look like it was produced by a very very well known smith. He told me that, because of its historic significance, it too was now a very valuable sword.

*chuckles... as much as society changes, it stays the same...

V.

I have a friend who collects antique Japanese swords, as well. He has a Katana with a very similar story. It was one of his first purchases, and he took it to a pawn shop owned by a Japanese gentleman who was also a renowned authority on Japanese weapons. The pawnbroker looked the sword over and asked my friend if he wanted a full appraisal. My friend said yes, and the man proceeded to knock the sword apart, exposing the tang of the blade.

"The bad news is, this is not a true Samurai sword, having been made around 1650, during the Tokugawa shogunate. The maker, however, was a very famous sword-smith of his era, trained in the art by his ancestors." The man asked my friend what he paid for the 'fake' sword, and he told him. The pawnbroker reverently reassembled the sword and handed it back to him, asking, "Are you looking to sell it? I will double your money right now." My friend declined but he thanked the man for his time (and paid him for the appraisal).

I'm so glad the Kitsune made me learn all this history. She has five Samurai swords. Since she teaches martial arts, she owns a sword that looks flashy, but is less than ten years old and has a blunt. brightly plated edge -- for demonstration only. She has a real sword that's more than 500 years old, nice, but it's not by a particularly well-known maker. Eight years or so ago she went back to Japan and ordered a set of swords from one of the top living makers. He made her audition for them, to ensure it was going to a worthy owner. He measured her and made her try over a dozen swords before he She finally picked it up about a year ago, just before CoViD stifled air travel. Good thing she has a job that pays well!

Anyway, she has a katana or long sword, a wakizashi medium-length, and a tantō -- sash knife. They live in traditional sheaths, in a case you might expect carried a musical instrument, in a safe in her room with her other swords (about eight, in total). And yes, she's met my friend the collector!

That is so wonderful... I sold mine to a Japanese fellow for exactly what I paid for them, since I knew he would send them back to Japan. I had three Wakizashis. One was a pre-1600 (and I stupidly took the rust off the tang) a pre-1600 Naganata blade converted to a waki, and one that was done by a smith who was no. 222 in the book of smiths.

I'm glad they went back to Japan.

V.

There's a part of me that wants to sit in one of these in that Californian city with a glass of Malibu rum. :)

In Mexico in the Aztec Codex's Cocoa Beans were much more value than gold or silver.
Now, not anyone cud have or buy such Cocoa Beans only The King, royals & some very few noble houses.
back then they hade people counterfeiting in Cocoa Beans made out of "Barro" clay if you got busted, eater they cut your head off or a sacrifice to the god's.

Cocoa Bean's = Chocolate.

That's a fascinating bit of history. Thanks for sharing.

You're Most Welcome.