Dirty Laundry

Hi,  Everybody!

First, today is Gerhard's "Moments of Cerebus" art auction.

Second:

If you know the words, SING ALONG!

So, 'emember the post where I listed the comiclink auctions, and all sorts of other fun stuff you guys could buy, including Tim P's eBay auctions, including his Counterfeit #1? Yeah, that one.

In the comments, Jeff Seiler said:

That's DEFINITELY a counterfeit #1. The Overstreet Guide used to list the counterfeit #1 as being worth exactly $0.00. Now, as of the 2017 issue, it just lists a brief description. Regardless, I think it is a crime that Tim should make any part of the (current) bid of £149 from selling it. Furthermore, Tim most certainly could (and should) have done his due diligence and discovered for himself that his copy is counterfeit. That he did not speaks volumes about him as a seller. He should strongly consider removing the listing, if that is possible.

 To which I replied:

Hey Jeff,

How's the weather up there on your high horse?

Matt
(Tim DID say he didn't know if it was legit or not, and I had three people compare it to the photos on Margaret's website, and WE all thought it was real...)

Well, I got an email from Everybody's friend, Sean Michael Robinson, which had a fax from the reason we're all here, Dave Sim:

There's a lot to unpack here, but let me start with the most germane part:

That Rat Bastard Seiler ratted me out!!! There's a REASON I call him "Shecky McAssrape"!

 I WAS going to post this fax ASAP, but then Ditko died, and I was working, and I needed to respond to Sean, who offered to make up a simple "how to" guide to tell real copies from the fakes.

Then "Shecky" sent me this:

Hi, Matt!  Hope you and yours are all well.  I was just wondering:  It's been a week since I last spoke on the phone with Dave, in which conversation he told me that he faxed you, via Sean, a response to my question about what his current stance is on counterfeit issues of Cerebus #1 being sold on ebay (or, elsewhere) for profit.  He told me, essentially, that he supported my view of it as being criminal and that he had, in his fax to you, indicated that he didn't think that I had been (as you put it), "up on [my] high horse", but that I had spoken the truth about the reality of selling counterfeit items for profit.  

There are, currently, multiple copies of Cerebus #1 for sale on ebay and only a few of them show anything besides the front and back covers.  And, when you zoom in on the photos, the resolution is too poor to make the differentiation on the red dot tone.  Personally, I believe that the dragon page is the "make or break", but I've only seen one recent offering on ebay that showed a photo of that page.  Almost all of them show just the front and back covers, with very poor resolution.

Oh, and, Dave told me that he had included in the fax, once again, very clear guidelines for determining whether or not any given copy of Cerebus #1 is counterfeit.

I'm just wondering:  Have you received that letter/fax?  And, if so, when will you be posting it at AMOC?  Clearly, that was what Dave wanted you to do.  In part, to vindicate me, but also to try to keep the record clear.

So, when?

Best to you and all the lovely ladies, 

Jeff

When? WHEN Shecky? When I G-D D-MN feel like it!

Ya know, now.

So, before anybody gets the impression that I'ma about to pay Shecky a late night visit with a crowbar and some VERY stern words, allow me to clarify myself:

When I asked Jeff, "How's the weather up there on your high horse?", I wasn't referring to his position on the legality of selling a counterfeit Cerebus #1. I was responding to the inferred use of his "school marm" voice.

As regular readers of the Wild and Wooly AMOC comment section know (Hi, Damian!), Jeff has at times come across as... (how do I put this?)...(ya know, "nicely"?)...a bit of a... "pompous ass."

My reply to his comment was specifically made to the phrase: "Tim most certainly could (and should) have done his due diligence".

Sorry, Jeff, but to quote one of my favorite people (no, really!): "render unto me a fucking break!"

I spent ten minutes on Margaret's delicious CerebusFanGirl site, looking at the various ways of determining a genuine from a fake. I had other people look at the photos. We all agreed that Tim's copy was most likely a genuine copy. As everybody's friend, Sean Robinson said in the comments of the post:

There are other obvious differences, but they all involve having an authentic #1 on hand for comparison. 

So, short of having both, it's a bit of a crapshoot.

(There was also an inferred "peevishness" since Jeff doesn't have a copy of #1, and I figured he was pissed that he bid on it before finding out it wasn't genuine. Possibly pure fantasy on my part, but possibly not.)

So, THAT'S why I asked about Jeff's "high horse".

Back to Dave's Fax.

Yes, the form e-mail isn't the worst idea.

And everybody's friend, Sean Robinson, has kindly agreed to make up a post/email for these purposes. So, yes Sean, please do.

I do question the need to contact the local cops, but that's more my aversion to dealing with The Fuzz.

As to counterfeit #1s being immoral, I agree that the initial counterfeiting was definitely an immoral (and criminal) act. But, I believe that selling a counterfeit is only immoral if you KNOW that it's a counterfeit and DON'T disclose that. As far as buying a counterfeit, I believe it was the Romans ("terrific race, the Romans") who coined the phrase: "caveat emptor". (Which, the post/email will hopefully help to educate the buying public.) (Who would do well to remember the sage advise of the late Harry Anderson: "a fool and his money were lucky to get together in the first place.")

As to counterfeits having no value, this is a "eye of the beholder" situation. What exactly is the value of a Cerebus #1? Is it the content? Or is it the physical object? If you believe that the value is in the content, then a Cerebus Bi-weekly #1 has a higher value than a Cerebus #1, because it has the entirety of Cerebus #1, plus the introduction from Swords #1. If you believe that the value is in the physical object, then one would assume that you'd not be reading it, but slabbing it to ascertain it's value, and preserve said value.

All my research into counterfeit #1s, says that CGC knows the difference between genuine and counterfeit copies. So, if you want to buy a Cerebus #1 for it's inherent value, and not to read the beginnings of our favorite Aardvark, I'd suggest either ponying up for a slabbed and certified copy, or schooling yourself in all the myriad differences between real and fake copies, and hoping for the best.

One of the BIGGEST problems, with the whole "counterfeit" issue, is that we don't know EXACTLY how many copies of Cerebus #1 there are. There WERE 2000 copies of the real Cerebus #1. (If I'm remembering right.) Now there has to be an attrition rate of copies that were bought and thrown away/read to pieces/lost in "misadventure". So that means there's <2000 copies that are real.

And, as far as I know, no one really knows how many copies of the counterfeits there are.

It would be really awesome if somebody (not me), set up a census of Cerebus #1s.

And as far as buyers/sellers sending Dave a cut of the money for the sale of counterfeits...

While the initial counterfeiting was a crime, is it REALLY a crime for retailers who were hoodwinked by the counterfeiter, to try to make up their loss by selling the counterfeits AS counterfeits? In my researches, I came across retailers who paid five dollars a copy for the counterfeits, and sold them for ten, (clearly labeled as counterfeits.) (There was also the case of the retailer who bought 54 copies for $770, that then sold them as counterfeits for 20 or 25 bucks.)

I mean, I agree that it would be nice, but I don't expect it to be the rule instead of the exception.

(I also wonder about Dave's "illegally acquired personal property" line. I'm no lawyer, but is it really illegal to buy a counterfeit? And Dave was GIVING away the story contents of Cerebus #1 when he was giving away the first phonebook a few years back. (Which was my idea (sorta), so I apologize for bringing it up in an asshole way right now. But the point kinda stands. (Especially in light of Dave's saying that Cerebus is essentially in the Public Domain.) (I mean, I get that in 1982, Cerebus #1 was VERY much a protected and copyrighted property, but here almost 40 years later, not so much.))

I'm sending this to Dave, so I'll let everybody know what he says in reply.

Next Time: All the deals on oats I can find so Jeff can feed his high horse. (I kid, I kid...)