Monday, October 8, 2012

Request for Help to Authenticate a Toy

Wednesday, October 10, 2012
A Request to Authenticate a Toy
(Is it Real or a Reproduction?)

Mr. Oliver Colt
coltoliver@gmail.com

     I had a burst of  inspiration to write several instalments today, so don't worry if you open this instalment and see that it's Wednesday's date. I'm writing this onMonday October 8.

     A few days ago, I received an interesting e-mail from Mr. Oliver Colt.  Oliver, who is  very knowledgeable about antique furniture and has a fine store in San Francisco, wrote to me. He had purchased what was told to him was a "real" Hubley taxi. He hd kept it, but decided to sell it.

     A woman purchased the item, then found my website and looked at my post about a "Reproduction Hubley Taxi".  As a consequence, Oliver had a dilemma. Being a reputable merchant, he would most likely refund the woman her money. However since he was  originally sold what was an "authentic Hubley Cast Iron Taxi, he asked me if I could authenticate it.  

    I looked on the Net, I looked in my books, buy I couldn't give a "yes" answer. Never having had a "real" Hubley Tax, but a reproduction, How would I know the real one from the reproduction. 

   I made an offer to Oliver. How about he send me photos of his item, and perhaps someone who reads this blog might help us out.  So that's what this blog is all about. 

  Oliver told me that he once spent a month researching an antique piece of furniture to verify that it was an authentic and antique original item. His thorough search was well worth the effort, and he was able to make a fine sale. So when I got 4 e-mails with large-sized photo attachments, I knew that Oliver was certainly  wanting to verify that this toy either is or isn't the "real thing".

  So below are the 21 images that he sent me, and that I improved in Photoshop. If anyone can help Mr. Oliver Colt out, his e-mail address is above his name. Don't judge the colour 100%, as I  colour-corrected without a reference (grey card, 100% white o 100% black reference) in the photo.





















 If anyone can help Oliver out, would you please contact him at his e-mail address below.

Mr. Oliver Colt
coltoliver@gmail.com



So this is another  instalment, thanks to Oliver's helping me out.

Thanks to everyone for dropping by, 
and as usual,  
ghave a good morning, afternoon, or evening wherever
you happen to be.

Stacey Bindman





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4 comments:

  1. AnonymousOctober 23, 2013 at 2:24 PM

    At the time of this writing, your original request is over a year old so I hope you've found your answer. I'm sure you know by now that it's a complete fake. For this type of work you should also always include the measurements, but in this case even without the dimensions it's simple to diagnose.

    ReplyDelete
  2. toysearcherOctober 23, 2013 at 5:16 PM

    Hello,

    Thanks for writing. Based on a "reproduction" that I had, I thought that this item might also be a "reproduction". No one ever sent me a reply.

    You're correct about the dimensions of course. 99.9% of the time, I would have asked, as you can see whenever I use photos on my blog.

    If you're a collector or seller, how would you like to be a guest on my blog? I'm always looking for a personal slant post to vary from my day-to-day posts.

    Hoping to hear from you,

    (Mr.) Stacey Bindman
    toysearcher@gmail.com
    oldantiquetoys.blogspot.com (author)

    ReplyDelete
  3. reconstructorDecember 26, 2015 at 6:45 PM

    Is every thing with a lespaul name plate on it a reproduction or is it redone by lespaul ?

    ReplyDelete
  4. toysearcherDecember 30, 2015 at 10:08 PM

    Hello Reconstructor,

    Below is the post that I wrote about the Les Paul toys:

    http://oldantiquetoys.blogspot.ca/2014/06/les-paul-toys.html

    I really can't answer your question, but if you have dome Les Paul toys, send me the photos to toy searcher@gmaiul.com
    and I will add a post, and make this a question to ask viewers.

    I would say that I doubt that someone would actually go through the effort to manufacture for the Les Paul nameplate, but one never knows. There's a limited production to the toys, and I'm sure collectors would want to be reassured that the toys
    that they are purchasing are in fact "real"

    Thanks for writing,

    Stacey Bindman
    toysearcher@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete