Mos6502
Well-known
I'm in the middle of a strange interaction with an ebay seller, who for now will remain unnamed. I was watching a set of "original" "blueprints" for a Miranda D SLR. The seller made an offer, I accepted, paid, and they sent me the "original" "blueprints". Now, what it looked like I was buying was a parts book, not blueprints. So I'm not going to get hung up on the drawings not being blueprints. The book contains drawings of every part in the Miranda D and a parts number. So what I was expecting was an original parts book. The pages have been three hole punched, but are currently bound with a plastic comb binder. When I first received the book what I thought I had was a mimeographed parts book. Within minutes though I noticed something was wrong.
As I flipped through the pages, I noticed that some of the pages had "tape" on them which was not actually there. It was printed onto the paper. I also noticed that several of the pages, on their bottom edges had been torn or mangled - but the paper was smooth, and in some cases the white platen of a copier or scanner was visible behind the damage. Most bizarrely the backs of the pages (all of which are single sided) had also been color-copied. This would add significantly to the cost of making a copy of the book, and suggests to me this copy wasn't the work of a repairman or shop making a backup copy, but that the copy was intended to deceive. Why would you make a color copy of the blank back of the page, except to ensure both front and back appeared equally yellowed by age?
I'm not particularly upset, because a color copy of the full parts book would easily have cost as much to make as I paid for it, but I was puzzled by it. I asked the seller about why many of the pages appeared to be obvious copies, pointing out the photocopied tape and tears, and I asked them where they got the book. They reiterated their opinion that the book is "blueprints" and stated it "probably" came from "Japan". They sell books and collectable stamps, so vaguely sidestepping the question of provenance is also weird. If they had actually flipped through it, it would have been obvious to anybody specializing in collectables that it is a copy and not original.
As I flipped through the pages, I noticed that some of the pages had "tape" on them which was not actually there. It was printed onto the paper. I also noticed that several of the pages, on their bottom edges had been torn or mangled - but the paper was smooth, and in some cases the white platen of a copier or scanner was visible behind the damage. Most bizarrely the backs of the pages (all of which are single sided) had also been color-copied. This would add significantly to the cost of making a copy of the book, and suggests to me this copy wasn't the work of a repairman or shop making a backup copy, but that the copy was intended to deceive. Why would you make a color copy of the blank back of the page, except to ensure both front and back appeared equally yellowed by age?
I'm not particularly upset, because a color copy of the full parts book would easily have cost as much to make as I paid for it, but I was puzzled by it. I asked the seller about why many of the pages appeared to be obvious copies, pointing out the photocopied tape and tears, and I asked them where they got the book. They reiterated their opinion that the book is "blueprints" and stated it "probably" came from "Japan". They sell books and collectable stamps, so vaguely sidestepping the question of provenance is also weird. If they had actually flipped through it, it would have been obvious to anybody specializing in collectables that it is a copy and not original.
