Fake No32 scopes for sale now on e-PaY

he also has in his ad

"
I'm not a british scopes collector so I don't have many informations about No.32 scopes. Everything I know on this scope is what I can see engraved on it. Some of you tell me it's a reproduction, other ones send me high offers to buy it out of the auction. Everything I can say is that I've never seen reproductions of this scope but this one is very clean for an old specimen. So, be careful before bidding, look for informations. I can't give warranty on the originality of this scope.
"
 
This is fraud, pure and simple.

And fraud is illegal in Canada.

Interestingly, it is also illegal in the US of A, which is where E-Bay is based.

I wonder if they would really like a nice visit from the FBI?

This is an old problem in the coin business, where there have been fakes since about 700BC, when Croesus of Lydia had the first coins made. There are lots of sites on the Internet where you can get superb reproductions of extreme rarities... but they are all marked, usually with the word COPY or FACSIMILE impressed into the edge of the coin. They are bought by collectors who can't afford a real coin to fill a blank space in a set, much as we buy rare rifles in crud condition because we can't afford the pretty ones. There's nothing wrong with it.... but it would BECOME wrong if a person knowingly bought fakes, removed the special markins and sold them as originals. Matter of fact, it is covered under 'counterfeiting' and it gets you 10 years of free board and room in a secure environment... even if the food is lousy.

The guy who is selling these things (a) is based in North America, (b) has been advised that his wares are not genuine, (c) therefore knows that he is committing a crime. If he happens to be raided and found in possession of two or three more, it simply would be additional proof of malfeasance.

Today it's Number 32 scopes. Tomorrow it might be Armaguerra 39s. I have one of those.

Anyone wants to make a phone call, I'll send them two bits!

IF they were being sold (and marked) as repros, I would be interested in one myself.... but not a fake 'original'.
 
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Problem is that these fakers aren't in it as an intellectual exercise; they are in it to make money.

Every time we detect one of their technical errors, they can read what we have discovered, correct their error and then fleece the next poor chap who comes along looking for either a scope for that rifle he bought when he was a kid.... or a better pickup-truck so he can go to work a little more efficiently. That's the scale of the money involved.

Somewhere, there is a factory with really decent lens-grinding equipment and a few very good technicians, turning these things out. It could be a man-and-a-boy operation or it could be a bigger place that made up a batch and is releasing them a few at a time to select customers, sitting back and having a laugh. Who has current-day experience in manufacturing brand-new World War Two scopes? Who actually hates us enough to do this? Alternately, who doesn't really hate us any longer, but has a wicked enough sense of humour to get a laugh from this?

The original scopes were made during World War Two, in the second-best optical industry in the world. The best optical industry was in Germany. Where did the German lens-grinding machines go in 1945? Who has them and still is using them? For quality of image, these lenses require hand-finishing. Who, today, has the world's best lens-finishing technicians? Remember, everyone else has gone over to CNC finishing. What are these scopes sealed with? Silicone? Betcha not: too modern. Originals would have been sealed with Canada Balsam. There is, as far as I know, only one place in the world left which still was sealing with Canada Balsam only 20 years ago; they still have the knowledge and the expertise.

There are the clues, gentlemen. Do with them as ye will.

But this has to be stopped.

What's next? Counterfeit VCs?

No: that one's already been done!

Repros must be marked as repros. Mark them unobtrusively, but they must be marked.
 
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There was conjecture on Milsurps.com that they were being made in Russia, by the same factory that's turning out repro PE/PEM and PU scopes.

However, lots of optics come out of China too.

I'll be interested to hear the reports when the scope experts get one on their bench and tear em down.

It'd be nice if the parts fit 100% at least, parts have dried up over the years.

Agreed, they should be clearly marked as reproductions, even if only on the bottom of the tube.




Problem is that these fakers aren't in it as an intellectual exercise; they are in it to make money.

Every time we detect one of their technical errors, they can read what we have discovered, correct their error and then fleece the next poor chap who comes along looking for either a scope for that rifle he bought when he was a kid.... or a better pickup-truck so he can go to work a little more efficiently. That's the scale of the money involved.

Somewhere, there is a factory with really decent lens-grinding equipment and a few very good technicians, turning these things out. It could be a man-and-a-boy operation or it could be a bigger place that made up a batch and is releasing them a few at a time to select customers, sitting back and having a laugh. Who has current-day experience in manufacturing brand-new World War Two scopes? Who actually hates us enough to do this? Alternately, who doesn't really hate us any longer, but has a wicked enough sense of humour to get a laugh from this?

The original scopes were made during World War Two, in the second-best optical industry in the world. The best optical industry was in Germany. Where did the German lens-grinding machines go in 1945? Who has them and still is using them? For quality of image, these lenses require hand-finishing. Who, today, has the world's best lens-finishing technicians? Remember, everyone else has gone over to CNC finishing. What are these scopes sealed with? Silicone? Betcha not: too modern. Originals would have been sealed with Canada Balsam. There is, as far as I know, only one place in the world left which still was sealing with Canada Balsam only 20 years ago; they still have the knowledge and the expertise.

There are the clues, gentlemen. Do with them as ye will.

But this has to be stopped.

What's next? Counterfeit VCs?

No: that one's already been done!

Repros must be marked as repros. Mark them unobtrusively, but they must be marked.
 
There was conjecture on Milsurps.com that they were being made in Russia, by the same factory that's turning out repro PE/PEM and PU scopes.

I think Roger Payne is now saying Poland ...

Regardless, without any clear "repro" markings, I agree with you that they are going to cause problems in the collector market.

Regards,
Badger
 
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