DougB exposes "Champagne Rune" SS Decal Fraud and Adds a Coffin Nail to XRFacts
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M45
Well-known member
Good! Now maybe C-SS discussion can continue without further interruptions. Also, hopefully those who in the past have been banned for C-SS discussion can be reinstated.
I do believe that probing questions are necessary to get to the bottom of this. If I don't ask them, then someone with authority probably will. I think the first thing I'll ask after I get reinstated is for an explanation of the two statements below:
Yesterday: No such thing as a CH decal. These are all fakes painted by 1 person in Michigan who had many helmets supplied to him for this express purpose.
23 June 2011: I have magnified many of these as well. They exhibit clear period print technique, pulver and base construction and have a unique tone due to the make up which can only happen with long natural age and oxidation.
I do believe that probing questions are necessary to get to the bottom of this. If I don't ask them, then someone with authority probably will. I think the first thing I'll ask after I get reinstated is for an explanation of the two statements below:
Yesterday: No such thing as a CH decal. These are all fakes painted by 1 person in Michigan who had many helmets supplied to him for this express purpose.
23 June 2011: I have magnified many of these as well. They exhibit clear period print technique, pulver and base construction and have a unique tone due to the make up which can only happen with long natural age and oxidation.
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tjg79
Senior Member
It's refreshing to read something like that. Most lid collectors are sheeple. That's why they are so gullible and bought in to XRF lid testing. They did it in spite of all the information available on the web that conflicted with XRFacts claims.
Doug has done an analysis on the Shampain ruin fraud. He has laid out the structure on GHW2 on its composure:
"There are several parts to this fraud.
1. The most obvious, the person who created the fakes to begin with.
2. Those who supplied the artist with very specific helmets.
3. Those who knew of the fakes and remained silent.
4. The validation of them by publication and single source expertise.
5. The failure by said expert to admit error and then further compound the error by creating an entire class of "decal" to further validate and expand the fraud.
6. What is happening now with anyone stating that there have been a small amount of real CH "decals" to sow confusion which creates doubt in collectors who dont know and will drink whatever kool-aid said expert is pouring.
Note, said expert has made countless errors in the authentication service they provide and believes in their infallibility.
It's a very sad sad state of affairs but like I said, you can't fix gullible, naive or stupid. And there is plenty of that to go around in this hobby."
As you all can see from Doug's post above, there are many aspects to how the fraud has happened and been sustained since its conception four decades ago.
"There are several parts to this fraud.
1. The most obvious, the person who created the fakes to begin with.
2. Those who supplied the artist with very specific helmets.
3. Those who knew of the fakes and remained silent.
4. The validation of them by publication and single source expertise.
5. The failure by said expert to admit error and then further compound the error by creating an entire class of "decal" to further validate and expand the fraud.
6. What is happening now with anyone stating that there have been a small amount of real CH "decals" to sow confusion which creates doubt in collectors who dont know and will drink whatever kool-aid said expert is pouring.
Note, said expert has made countless errors in the authentication service they provide and believes in their infallibility.
It's a very sad sad state of affairs but like I said, you can't fix gullible, naive or stupid. And there is plenty of that to go around in this hobby."
As you all can see from Doug's post above, there are many aspects to how the fraud has happened and been sustained since its conception four decades ago.
tjg79
Senior Member
That's a very well written summary Peiper.
I think Doug B has done a fantastic job of fully exposing this fraud. His skills as a lid collector have evolved with experience. Years ago, he thought the C SS lids were legit, because the lid community accepted them as legit, more experienced lid exspurt opinions claimed they were legit, and published references depicted them as legit, but he was able to undo all that institutional acceptance. Although critical evidence such as the lot number study and collector observations was casting doubt on the C SS lid, the controversial nature of these lids caused Doug B to study the controversies and do a detailed investigation with the high magnification tools he pioneered. I think he's done the lid collecting community a great service.
I think Doug B has done a fantastic job of fully exposing this fraud. His skills as a lid collector have evolved with experience. Years ago, he thought the C SS lids were legit, because the lid community accepted them as legit, more experienced lid exspurt opinions claimed they were legit, and published references depicted them as legit, but he was able to undo all that institutional acceptance. Although critical evidence such as the lot number study and collector observations was casting doubt on the C SS lid, the controversial nature of these lids caused Doug B to study the controversies and do a detailed investigation with the high magnification tools he pioneered. I think he's done the lid collecting community a great service.
Just to clarify: the summary is written by DougB on GHW2, and not by me. I have just copy and pasted into my post. Everything between the hashtags are his wording.
My opinions: We've been noting that here for years. Willi Z and the kaste of klowns, aka Willi and The Waftards, refer to us as "hobby anarchists". They insult, censor and ban those who "don't go along". But what does that make them? Have you ever seen these spineless arrogant hobby klowns ever come here, to an open, transparent, uncensored forum, to "make their case"? Of course not. Their bull$hit can only exist where they can control it. I believe such people and forums are deleterious to the hobby.
They are little more than the crony / toady "old boy" network perpetuated on the internet and habituated by many sycophants agreeing for Nazi trinkets and too imbecilic and lemming-like to see what is going on. Look what they did to the first guy who dared to out the shampain ruin. They are furious that they can't censor us or DougB. They've put more effort into covering up the shampain rune fraud than investigating it. What does that tell you? Tell Willi Z and Nutmeg and those toadies to come here and discuss their antics and censorship over the years here.
An Internet forum is as useful and honest as it is open and transparent. Is WAF open and transparent?
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http://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/showthread.php?t=578059
This is the ZAM thread and showcases arrogant waftardation and how the shampain ruin flourished. The whole thread is worth a read. It's amazing that this thread is in existence and not locked. Who knows how it has been cleaned up. Willi Z attempts to merge the shampain ruin fraud into little more than normal collecting hijinks. It's not. It's massive fraud at a felony criminal / federal offense level. Someone or some people should do time over it IMHO. This turd in the WAF playground sandbox is too massive and now too stinking obvious, thanks to DougB, for the mangy cats to excuse and cover up, though they have tried.
The worst, IMHO, are the lawyers and pseudo lawyers weighing in with what I deem terrible and misleading "legal advise" to stop any legal inquiry and litigation. A lawsuit and/or criminal investigation are needed to get to the bottom of this. The SS lid humpers and their supply channels will squeal like little trapped piglets to avoid doing time. How much longer before the "ZAM thread" is locked?
This is the ZAM thread and showcases arrogant waftardation and how the shampain ruin flourished. The whole thread is worth a read. It's amazing that this thread is in existence and not locked. Who knows how it has been cleaned up. Willi Z attempts to merge the shampain ruin fraud into little more than normal collecting hijinks. It's not. It's massive fraud at a felony criminal / federal offense level. Someone or some people should do time over it IMHO. This turd in the WAF playground sandbox is too massive and now too stinking obvious, thanks to DougB, for the mangy cats to excuse and cover up, though they have tried.
The worst, IMHO, are the lawyers and pseudo lawyers weighing in with what I deem terrible and misleading "legal advise" to stop any legal inquiry and litigation. A lawsuit and/or criminal investigation are needed to get to the bottom of this. The SS lid humpers and their supply channels will squeal like little trapped piglets to avoid doing time. How much longer before the "ZAM thread" is locked?
From what we now know, there has been a systematic and serious fraud ongoing for decades. This is the reason for big shots and old timers to create doubts, advise victims not to seek legal counsel and create enough smoke and diversion to get the whole thing to die down.
Actions taken at WAF and Warrelics has been obvious attempts of "damage control", and to my observation they almost succeeded. Until DougB arrived back on the forum scene. He has disclosed the nature of this fraud, but the essentials are still missing. We know that the "artist" was (and may still be) located in Michigan.
I am just wondering when actual names of those involved in the fraud will be exposed. It seems incredible difficult for the german helmet community to clean up and set the record straight, which I deem is symptomatic of the community being more corrupt than I imagined.
There is also an unusal high availability of questionable camo helmets, and my sceptism to the camo helmet collection field only increases by the passing of time without a clear conclusion on the Shampain Ruin scandal. Buying a camo helmet from the US is something I now deem as high risk with high probability of tampered helmets.
Actions taken at WAF and Warrelics has been obvious attempts of "damage control", and to my observation they almost succeeded. Until DougB arrived back on the forum scene. He has disclosed the nature of this fraud, but the essentials are still missing. We know that the "artist" was (and may still be) located in Michigan.
I am just wondering when actual names of those involved in the fraud will be exposed. It seems incredible difficult for the german helmet community to clean up and set the record straight, which I deem is symptomatic of the community being more corrupt than I imagined.
There is also an unusal high availability of questionable camo helmets, and my sceptism to the camo helmet collection field only increases by the passing of time without a clear conclusion on the Shampain Ruin scandal. Buying a camo helmet from the US is something I now deem as high risk with high probability of tampered helmets.
I just assume that every camo I see for sale online is a fake. Any helmet that recently came "out of the woodwork" or was a "direct vet-purchase" is probably a fake too. Really, I don't trust any of them...
Back to the C-SS helmets. I have been thinking about it and one thing does not quite compute for me. Perhaps someone here can set me right. I may have missed something, having been in and out of the hobby for years. KH was the one who first demonstrated the relationship of decals to manufacturer, thereby setting aside the old type 1 & type 2 classification for SS helmets. Since he
was the first to publish this relationship, it would seem to me that this knowledge - especially when combined Brian Ice's substantial work on lot numbers - was quite enough to cause the dominos to start falling. This leads to several possible conclusions some of which are not terribly logical. Just thinking aloud...
Cheers,
Mike
was the first to publish this relationship, it would seem to me that this knowledge - especially when combined Brian Ice's substantial work on lot numbers - was quite enough to cause the dominos to start falling. This leads to several possible conclusions some of which are not terribly logical. Just thinking aloud...
Cheers,
Mike
This. Quite true. I started in the 1980s and they were scarce. Then, collectors wanted like new helmets with 99% decals and many nice original camos and overpaints were ruined by "decal digging" with acetone. The whole waftarded "exotic freshie" phenomenon of the last decade was what caused me to have the opinion that the WAF helmet forum was "tainted"; "moderated" and controlled by people who, IMHO, were megalomaniacal buffoons advancing the interests of their "exotic freshie" pedding croanies. Many of these "exotic freshies" were sold to a small group of waftards who seemed to have far more devotion to WAF, devotion to the party line, and money, than they had common sense. They were paying upwards of $3500 for these "exotic freshies", which I thought were obvious humpjobs, $300 shells with about a dollar's worth of paint applied.
I remember when the waftards were clicking and whistling "wow" and "one looker" at a WAFmod approved exotic freshie that was posed outside on a barbeque pit how hysterical and angry they got when one person (now banned) posted "Was it placed outside for the paint to dry?"
In short, IMHO, these people are at best poor stewards of the hobby and the handling of the Great Shampain Ruin Skandal proves that to me. Unless you are a sycophantic buffoon with more money than sense, why would you want to involve yourself in such an integrity challenged and censored rubber chicken toss?
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