A one-off newsletter

To make you aware of a blatant con artist

I will keep this brief.

I’m sure many collectors of vintage Grand Seiko will have noticed an auction on Yahoo this week for a rather spectacular looking set.

First Grand Seiko (almost) full set in early box

This was actually first listed a few days ago at a minimum bid of 3,500,000 Yen, with a buyout price of 5,000,000. And I very nearly pulled the trigger, were it not for the fact that the seller has covered up all but the first two digits of the movement serial number, the serial number on the certificate, and the serial number on the warranty card. Which gave pause for thought.

I sent the seller a question asking whether he could confirm the numbers matched or not, and then shortly after - purportedly due to the US Fed’s decision to cut interest rates by 0.5% (I kid you not - check out the description) - the seller canceled the auction before it had received a bid, and relisted it as you can see here.

Those with very good memories might have them jogged by the second photo in the auction -

Ring any bells?

Dom will never see it coming.

Well, Dom may well not have seen it coming, but “Don” did.

Probably the most egregious attempt at conning the vintage Grand Seiko collecting community since the time that guy listed a fake Imperial VFA.

Here are the questions from interested potential buyers, and the seller’s responses…

Pay particular attention to the answer to the fourth question. It seems this sorry excuse for a human being considers it “fun” to misrepresent what he has, and attempt to con someone into falling into a rather expensive trap.

What a sleazeball!