When considering purchasing memorabilia on eBay you’ve got to be careful. Often items are misrepresented and it takes a little research to get to the truth. Some sellers are probably ignorant or were told something misleading when they originally acquired the piece. Or…they are devious, crafting the ruse to inflate the sale price.
This edition of eBay Watch takes a look at two items that are not what the seller suggested.
The first fraud is a pennant, with the auction title claiming it was a “killer 1910’s MICHIGAN WOLVERINES FOOTBALL PENNANT”:
While it still might be “killer”, it’s definitely not from the 1910s as described. The seller is apparently hanging the 1910s date on the fact that it “turned up in the same estate as the 1915 Michigan yearbook & 1915 Michigan commencement program.”
So Encyclopedia Brown, do you know why this can’t be from the 1910s? Avid eBay Watch fans should know.
The key is the Michigan seal with the 1817 date. As discussed in late March of this year, the university didn’t use the 1817 date on the seal until the late 1920s, as prior to that the accepted founding date of the school was 1837.
While I don’t know how that would impact the value of the pennant, bidders paid nearly $50. I’m guessing the buyer was fooled by the bogus date.
