Quote:
Originally Posted by alvin
Don't know this stamp being a fake or not. But it's not pantographed, it's a stamp. There is a picture in PIA web site.
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Alvin, to put it simply, you don't know what you are talking about.
I have held it in my hand and examined it with a lighted magnifying glass, it is most assuredly pantographed.
I stupidly set aside my concerns about PIA and purchased this pistol around two years ago. I did so based on the same information from George that he posted in this thread: the pistol was from the estate of the noted Navy collector Tom Armstrong and had not been messed with by PIA. At the time, the one picture with a different background that clearly shows the C/M was not on the website and the markings were filled in white.
When I received the pistol I was immediately suspicious of the C/M, so I carefully removed the white substance with a soft toothbrush and a bit of gun cleaner. Without the white it was glaringly obvious it was a fake, so I photographed it and sent a message saying I wanted to return it. I copied George as a courtesy, since he had told me he was the one who consigned it to PIA on behalf of the estate.
Then it got ugly. Etowski said to send it back, but he was irate that I had removed the white and said I had damaged the guns value by publicly saying it was a fake. At that point, I had only communicated with PIA and George, who I had been told was the agent for the estate. Once he got it back, Etowski said I had damaged the gun by removing the white, hurt its value by telling the world it was fake (which I had not done) and denying I could prove it was a fake. According to his terms, he will only accept a gun isn't correct if an acknowledged expert says so, and in this case his only expert would be Krauss. He also said he had no knowledge of pantographing. While he was at it, he also claimed I stole a copy of the photo by opening the frame and scanning it.
In the end he withheld a 20% restocking fee unless I would sign a very long non-disclosure agreement. By signing it I would have agreed that I damaged the gun by removing the white, reduced its value by claiming it was a fake, and destroy all copies of any photos I had taken, along with a lot of other onerous language. Clearly written to make it impossible to sign.
So, I paid my "stupid tax" for dealing with a crook like Etowski in the form of a restocking fee and learned a few lessons.
- Never buy anything from PIA
- Just because a well known collector owned it doesn't make it any better.