I personally have sworn off buying anything ever from a few dealers, Craig included after the HR scam, that was enough for me ,,, Then again, I am not much into the high end, -edit-
The dealers like Craig don't care about beginner or mid-range collectors like you. They are looking for the Big Buck, well healed, deep pocket collector. who will buy their humped up sleds for the big ticket. They know that the courts combined with the stigma of collecting 'Nazi items' will work against the buyer should he want to take legal action. So the Deep Pockets newbie trusting buyer just eats it and stays quiet and they move on, or in many cases, quits the hobby.
As far as self policing; sure wish that was possible, but it's not. Bob Johnson still sells his SS wedding rings and Himmler chairs. Charley Snyder (as mentioned earlier), a whole host of fakes. However, the last auction of Craig's came up there was a thread on WAF mentioning the two scarce daggers being auctioned, the SS Full Rohm and a SA high leader. Both of them IMO ( and other knowledgeable veteran collectors), were humped-up sleds. I knew it, others knew it, but did we post any comment on the thread? -NO. And neither do the well known good dealers who see it. why? because it's just not good for business.
On these high end humpers, they are looking to get Big Dollars from the guys who have the big dollars, but don't have the big knowledge. So a SA High leader goes for $41,000, with a blade that was acid dipped, gold re-gilded, leather replaced (Craig said it was original), with what looked like a 'Manion's chain' that had fresh brass braising on the link connectors. Now I was not the only one that saw that, yet nobody made a comment out in the open. In private, we all agreed. So that's how it is now with this hobby. If you have serious money to spend on 'high end', you better have a knowledgeable friend who will guide you, or you may very well end up with a super collection of 'parts', worth a fraction of what you paid and no one to turn to when you see the light.
