Re: Atwood's sales of "parts" and fake daggers. I don't KNOW for sure if he sold things saying they were original or not as I never bought anything directly from him. Many will say he did not in his defense. Perhaps, but we will address that, IF true.
S0--the rest of the story--Many serious collectors knew or found out early on that much of his stuff was not right-
-so they did not buy ANYTHING from him. We did not know a lot then-sometimes/oftentimes we were very unsure of MANY things
because he, and others too, had confused collectors so much with different bad and , Yes, good stuff too, entering the market all the time. So--many bought nearly nothing for a period of a few years and MANY others just quit, some to return later, others never to return, selling their "closet" collections containing some of these fakes later and even now. Some of these old collections contain ALL fakes-or 98%.
But--Here is the thing. If you look at his book, MANY of his fakes are in there shown as originals. RZM Himmler, 1936 NSKK, etc. Now why would he do that if he was not selling this stuff as original?? If not, then he was doing it so his dealer customers could sell them as original. Just as bad IMO, and IMO he did more damage to the hobby than anyone else before or after.
So--take care--there is a lot of fake stuff out there from the old days and new fakes enter the market all the time. Go to shows-look at all the stuff-keep up with what is going on-It's the "closet" collector who has the most to fear.
Buy Books! Read to study-not to accept or refute the information -but to compare, discuss and consider-and find the truth. If possible.