One thing always amazes me about these kinds of counterfeits. If someone can build a counterfeit good enough to deceive some of the most knowledgeable dealers and collectors in the US (albeit not the redoubtable Mr. Etherton from UK), why does he waste his time for the limited profit to be made from such deception, when he could probably do at least as well applying his obvious talents to legitimate framebuilding or restorations? It just doesn't seem that classic bike prices are yet high enough to make really high quality counterfeiting profitable. But maybe there is some sort of odd thrill these people get from perpetrating a scam.
Regards,
Jerry Moos
-----Original Message----- From: Bicycle Classics inc [mailto:bikevint@tiac.net] Sent: Wednesday, May 09, 2001 1:04 PM To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Subject: [CR]Re: The Cirque, my folly, and VeloSwap
Wow! The Cirque was an amazing event but as folks have already stated, it was the people that made it spectacular. Dale did a fabulous job - thanks again Dale!
For myself, I experienced one of the most bizzare events in all my vintage days. 2 bicycle frames that passed through my hands over the years that were once owned by the same gent in Colorado years ago showed up at the same time at the Cirque. One was a Hetchins and one was an Ephgraves. Ray saw the Epgrave first and declared it a counterfeit. Then I recalled that there was a Hetchins that came from the same gent at about the same time - and then it walked through the door with another seller! Even more strange was the fact that the person I bought the Hetchins from years ago (who had no idea it was a fake) was also at the Cirque. The Hetchins experts including Ray agreed that the Hetchins if anything was better built than a typical 70's Hetchins - it is gorgeous looking! Both will soon be back in my hands. Its now time to buy a metal stamping set so that I can brand the bb's of these bikes with the word "fake" so that nobody else will ever be duped.
This demonstrates how important it is for all of us to share info and knowledge (or maybe in this case the occasional "lack-of-knowledge" with all our peers).
For curiosity, I'm wondering if folks might be interested in some "activites" during Veloswap weekend this October (not sure of date). There isn't much of vintage interest at VelowSwap these days, but it is a great excuse to get people together for a fun bike weekend. If enough CR folks were to make the trip to scenic Boulder, perhaps I could try to organize some activities such as seminars or fun vintage rides (in Boulder, you can either climb or do rolling rides for the elevationally challanged).
If folks have interest in such a get together please let me know off list and we'll see what we can do.
Thanks again to all the wonderfull CR folks - Mike "Have-I-got-A-Hetchins-for-you" Kone