[ Post a Response | 1250 Scale Message Board ]
Posted by Martin Brown
on 10/29/2009, 9:24 am, in reply to "Re: BEWARE OF A COUNTERFEIT"
86.146.227.75
It seems a sad fact that there are people contributing to this board who are intent on leaping in with both feet without taking a little moment out to think through what they are implying. A simple email to me could have saved all this and would, in my view have been the gentlemanly thing to do.
In this time of recession, dealers and producers struggle hard to provide a good service and unfounded accusations such as this do nothing but harm. This is a hobby after all, we are not talking about works of fine art worth thousands, whose provenance can be verified and proved during its whole life! Most models aren't even worth hundreds and models can be passed from collectors to dealers, back to collectors etc several times over the years gaining mods, repaints, and indeed damage etc en route. I suppose there is a chance that the 80+ year old collector I bought these two from could have invested a few thousand pounds in a casting machine and copied the model but I unfortunately didn't think to ask at the time. I am pretty sure of the provenance of these two, as it happens, as he bought his models mainly from one German and one US dealer, so I have contacted him to verify this and if possible I will scan the original receipt and post it here. How the boats became uneven I can only speculate, maybe they came loose, and he refixed them himself or maybe they slipped through quality control at the time.
My only connection with Mr Love of Mountford is that of me as a dealer-and him a supplier and I have found him to be 100% professional in all my dealings with him over the years. Mr Eagan's implication is clearly that there has been some 'under the counter' deal with Mountford to pass off sub standard models by the crate via the web site that everyone loves to hate. It took me a long time to sell off my original stock of Eagan models which I purchased from him when they first came out, which is why I decided to go via the auction route on these two, especially since some dealers still have them listed as in stock.
I too produce my own range of models but realise as a producer that my only rights are to the master and original mouldings, if I were to see (which I have done) a model of mine on a dealer's table at Kassel, Theale ,Welton or wherever which was a different colour, or had been modified in some way my first reaction wouldn't be to run around the hall screaming "FAKE,FAKE, SOMEONE CALL THE POLICE". This is the second time in almost as many months when cries of "FAKE" have been posted on this board, both of which have been unfounded and I find it tiresome and a shame for the hobby in general that this happens.
--Previous Message--
: I am very surprised that someone who I thought
: knew me well could question my integrity in
: this way when a simple email to me would
: have found that I had nothing to do with it.
:
: MOUNTFORD do not counterfeit anything nor do
: they make and sell things in other peoples
: names without their permission - we do not
: need to.
:
: Anyone who wants to question my integrity
: and honesty had better have a very good
: platform from which to do it from -
: especially in writing on this board.
:
: When we are commissioned to produce ships
: and models in other people's names we do all
: the manufacturing in house (we prefer to
: make masters ourselves usually) then we sell
: the whole batch of finished items to the
: commissioning customer who then sells these
: on to dealers etc and we ship the items out
: as per their instructions.
:
: We don't sell anything in their name to
: anyone - and if necessary I can show the
: balance of all the UNSOLD stock in my
: stores.
:
: Someone has made a mistake here and
: underestimated how offensive it would be to
: jump to conclusions which are a direct
: defamation of mine and my company name.
:
: --Previous Message--
: At the present time Martin Brown is selling
: copies of my "R" class cruise
: ships on eBay. He states that these models
: have misaligned lifeboats with one missing
: and were manufactured by me. I would like
: everybody to know that I built the master
: for this ship but MONTFORD MANUFACTURING
: cast them and those flaws were rejected by
: me before the original casting was supposed
: to be done. THEY DO NOT REPRESENT MY WORK
: !!! I do not blame MB for this mixup I have
: always found him to be an honest and
: reputable person however MONTFORD had no
: right to sell this junk with my name on it.
: Please be advised that I would never allow
: work like this to carry my name. I am deeply
: offended that my name has been used without
: my permission.
:
:
:
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