More Fun With eBay Mislabelling

**artificer** · 21st October 12, 06:58 AM

A quick stroll through the "aisles" on eBay this AM brought a few interesting items up-

First, a GORGEOUS totally-not-a-sporran chatelaine. I guess they do call it a purse, but it's also tagged as a sporran.

If this were an actual sporran I would NOT be posting the link

as I'd be madly bidding on it myself.

And a double mis-label on this one, which is described as antique (it's not) and rabbit (it's seal).

I'm going to file this under "It's not an antique, but the fur may be"

Nothing mislabeled here, just beautiful (and expensive)- Dirk Kilt Pin.

I'm guessing this one is more of a broach than a kilt pin, but it's quite nice.

This one is just for laughs. You too can buy 130 "kilt pins" for just $5.

And last but certainly not least, the piper door knocker. I'd consider this for my workshop door if only my son wouldn't continually use it. I'm not attaching a pic because they're all blurry.

ith:

**OC Richard** · 22nd October 12, 04:40 AM

Ha! A fellow Ebay watcher! I love looking at all that old cool stuff.

The things that seem to crop up on Ebay most often are 1) labelling things as sporrans, which are not and 2) labelling things as military, which are not.

Every conceivable civilian item of Highland Dress has been sold on Ebay at one time or other labelled as a "military Officer's such-and-such." And I come across vintage photos and postcards and cdvs all the time of men in civilian Highland Dress labelled as "soldiers".

One of the craziest Ebay bagpipe auctions I've ever seen is going on now. Seems that the University of Iowa has loads of vintage pipes that their pipe band used to play, which are all up on Ebay now. BUT evidently whoever is running the auctions doesn't know much about bagpipes, because the "complete sets" they're selling are "Frankenpipes" cobbled together of mismatched parts from various makers, often with missing mounts or ferrules, and often missing major parts like the bass drone midsection. And they're wildly overpriced. BUT a few of these mixed up mislabelled overpriced things have bidders!

Here's one. Frankenpipes with a missing bass midsection for $800, when you can get complete pipes in better condition for less than that

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Complete-Bas...item3f1d8e6111

**shooter102** · 22nd October 12, 04:40 AM

Great catches Artificer

That is a beautiful kilt pin, just a bit out of my price range.

**artificer** · 22nd October 12, 06:26 AM

Originally Posted by OC Richard

Ha! A fellow Ebay watcher! I love looking at all that old cool stuff.

The things that seem to crop up on Ebay most often are 1) labelling things as sporrans, which are not and 2) labelling things as military, which are not.

Every conceivable civilian item of Highland Dress has been sold on Ebay at one time or other labelled as a "military Officer's such-and-such." And I come across vintage photos and postcards and cdvs all the time of men in civilian Highland Dress labelled as "soldiers".

One of the craziest Ebay bagpipe auctions I've ever seen is going on now. Seems that the University of Iowa has loads of vintage pipes that their pipe band used to play, which are all up on Ebay now. BUT evidently whoever is running the auctions doesn't know much about bagpipes, because the "complete sets" they're selling are "Frankenpipes" cobbled together of mismatched parts from various makers, often with missing mounts or ferrules, and often missing major parts like the bass drone midsection. And they're wildly overpriced. BUT a few of these mixed up mislabelled overpriced things have bidders!

Here's one. Frankenpipes with a missing bass midsection for $800, when you can get complete pipes in better condition for less than that

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Complete-Bas...item3f1d8e6111

I don't know much about full sets of pipes (I'm still slaving away on the chanter when I get a chance) but I particularly like this bit of the description:
"Purchased sometime between 1936-1980"

Originally Posted by shooter102

Great catches Artificer

That is a beautiful kilt pin, just a bit out of my price range.

I assume you mean the dirk and not the safety pin

.
I love the look of the dirk pin, and would love to have it in my display case, but it's really too fancy for me to wear. AND I don't exactly have $500 laying around with nothing to do either.

ith:

**OC Richard** · 23rd October 12, 04:44 AM

Ha! I just saw this now, "army kilt Scots Guards" !!

Obviously a civilian kilt tho

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Army-Scottis...item3f1da7b3d0

Possibly the most outrageous "Army" mislabelling was this one, so strange that I saved the photo from the auction.

The listing was something like "complete Liverpool Scottish officer's uniform".

**OC Richard** · 24th October 12, 03:52 AM

and now, to go with the "Scots Guards kilt" which ain't, here's a "Scot's Guards sporran" which ain't

http://www.ebay.com/itm/WORLD-WAR-1-...item19d6169d7d

**mbhandy** · 24th October 12, 08:54 AM

Originally Posted by OC Richard

Here's one. Frankenpipes with a missing bass midsection for $800, when you can get complete pipes in better condition for less than that

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Complete-Bas...item3f1d8e6111

And the shipping price is $79.

But wait - it must be shipping and handling.

MrBill

**ForresterModern** · 25th October 12, 02:23 AM

After looking at the listing closely I think the "antique" "rabbit" sporran it is interesting to note that this "antique" is just one of at least ten described as new in box. They must be describing the metal finish as antique rather than the item. But agreed these definitely are not rabbit but appear to be seal.

**Tobus** · 25th October 12, 05:30 AM

Originally Posted by ForresterModern

After looking at the listing closely I think the "antique" "rabbit" sporran it is interesting to note that this "antique" is just one of at least ten described as new in box. They must be describing the metal finish as antique rather than the item. But agreed these definitely are not rabbit but appear to be seal.

I agree on the "antique" description. I see that a lot when searching for antique sporrans. People use the term "antique" to describe the finish, rather than the age of the item. It's annoying.

But since these are obviously new sporrans, I don't think it's seal skin. It's illegal to produce new seal-skin sporrans in the UK, isn't it? I'm betting that it is indeed rabbit fur, trimmed to a shorter length and dyed to look like seal skin.

**artificer** · 25th October 12, 05:47 AM

Originally Posted by Tobus

I agree on the "antique" description. I see that a lot when searching for antique sporrans. People use the term "antique" to describe the finish, rather than the age of the item. It's annoying.

But since these are obviously new sporrans, I don't think it's seal skin. It's illegal to produce new seal-skin sporrans in the UK, isn't it? I'm betting that it is indeed rabbit fur, trimmed to a shorter length and dyed to look like seal skin.

I thought the UK government okay'd a deal where the fur could be sourced from North American Inuit hunters...?

There is no way this is rabbit. Rabbit is too fluffy, if you look at the individual hairs on this piece they are bristly and the hair is uniform (there is no guard hair & downy undercoat). If this isn't seal it is the best imitation I have ever seen.

ith: