Forgery request?

[sam]

I received an email from a guy about a week ago inquiring about engraving a name and inscription on a valuable antique gold pocket watch and a name on an antique silver jewelry box. After about 8-10 email exchanges I find out that the names and "Presented to..." inscription are from turn-of-the-century sports figures.

I told him that from my side of the emails that it appeared he was asking me to engrave things that would be forgeries. He said no, and that they were for his own personal use and would be "great conversation pieces" on display in his home blah blah. He also said that he'd never ask me to engrave something I was uncomfortable with. I told him I was definitely uncomfortable with this and would not do it.

So heads up engraver friends. You might be contacted by this person. Come to your own conclusions, but I think if it smells like fish it's probably fish.

 

[JJ Roberts]

Sam,Thanks for the stay out of trouble information,an engraver could find him or her self in trouble doing forgeries. J.J.

 

[DakotaDocMartin]

He said no, and that they were for his own personal use and would be "great conversation pieces" on display in his home blah blah.

Up here in the North Dakota - Minnesota part of the country we'd probably use the phrase "Ya sure yabetcha!"

 

[mdengraver]

But my name really is John Hancock! Just look at the size of my signature!

 

[Phil Coggan]

Sam...so he would have no objection to you adding your name and date next to the inscription but very small and not immediately noticable

Phil

 

[sam]

Sam...so he would have no objection to you adding your name and date next to the inscription but very small and not immediately noticable

Phil

I thought about that Phil! I would have loved to see his reaction to that, but I really want no part of it. The watch itself is probably in the neighborhood of $10,000+ so why would someone take a watch of that value and make a "conversation piece" out of it?

I would imagine he'll keep trying until he finds someone to do the work.

 

[jerrywh]

A few years ago I had a request to change the serial number on a gun. NO THANKS.

 

[Roger Bleile]

I would imagine he'll keep trying until he finds someone to do the work.

Judging by the number of fakes that I have seen bearing L. D. Nimschke's signature, he won't have too much trouble finding someone to accommodate him.

 

[mitch]

send him my way. i learned years ago a conscience was just holding me back in life.

 

[sam]

send him my way. i learned years ago a conscience was just holding me back in life.

You should consider politics, Mitch!

 

[JJ Roberts]

Many years ago I was approached to print twenty dollar bills this person had a offset press,paper plates & ink in a ware house in Newark N.J. I told told him forget it once the bill get noticed the FBI will be on your trial real quick.This person was arrested and did nine years in a Federal prison in Danberry Connecticut.

 

[DakotaDocMartin]

this person had a offset press,paper & ink

But, our money is really printed on cotton and not paper made from wood. That's one of many reasons the crooks get extended stays in the Graybar Hotel... they think they have it all thought out but they don't.

 

[JMiller]

But, our money is really printed on cotton and not paper made from wood.

Once saw a $100 bill worth $5 bucks... they did a good job bleaching the bill and reprinting but the watermark and strip said otherwise.

 

[Ed Westerly]

I've had three potential "customers" try to get me to copy someone else's engraving, but I've never had one ask me to help them counterfeit any money!!! That's just incredible! I guess if youn don't have the talent yourself, your only choice is to farm it out!!

 

[Archie Woodworth]

Along those same lines ...
I spent my entire business career employed by the corporation that invented / developed the xerographic coping/printing process ... when the first color copier was developed (early to mid 70's), the "Government Men" stopped in for a visit to see just how close the copier could duplicate money. Some of these units were being located in public locations (for non supervised coping of printed material) and counterfeit money was turning up around some of those locations. The design engineers and techs were asked "tuned" the copier for color/reproduction size ect., to see just how accurately they could reproduce money (all the time while being "supervised" by the Government Men). At the end of the demonstration, all parties were very concerned with the quality of the output. Those first color copier really piled on the toner creating a somewhat textured feel, similar to actual currency. Many safeguards were added to successfully foil criminal activities on those early copiers and significantly more advanced technology had been designed into todays printers.

 

[mitch]

Along those same lines ...
I spent my entire business career employed by the corporation that invented / developed the xerographic coping/printing process ...

"Copies in Seconds" by David Owen is a fascinating book about Chester Carlson and the birth of Xerox.

 

[Archie Woodworth]

Correct Mitch ... I was involved long after Mr. Carlson patented the process ... interesting times just the same as the company improved on the process and additionally invented and contributed to various technologies along the way. We all felt we were on the "leading edge" of various inventions, creating great technologies/systems to share with the world. Tho sometimes senior management/marketing had difficulty fully grasping the magnitude of the inventions ... sometimes(often) "giving away the farm".
This is a link to an article describing some of the inventions Xerox engineers made along the way...some of the language is a little rough but if you get beyond that you will get a idea of the magnitude of their contributions.
http://www.cracked.com/article_18807_how-xerox-invented-information-age-and-gave-it-away.html

 

[Roger B]

Along those same lines ...
I spent my entire business career employed by the corporation that invented / developed the xerographic coping/printing process ...

I'll go along with the development part of your statement but it seems that that development came on the back of the xerography invention by a certain Prof O U Vonwiller at Sydney Uni in 1907.

Don't mean to cause a stir but just giving credit where credit is due.

Xerography (1907)

The dry photographic copying process called xerography, works by forming an electrostatic mirror image of the item to be copied on a selenium-coated surface by exposing it to light. The charged surface attracts the dark powder particles, which are transferred to a sheet of paper and cured by heating. A research paper on the photoconductivity properties of selenium, published in 1907 by Professor O U Vonwiller from the University of Sydney, provided the key technology for the subsequent invention of the xerographic process in the United States by Chester Carlston in 1937. The result was the Xerox copier.

Taken from http://www.apc-online.com/twa/history6.html