DougB exposes "Champagne Rune" SS Decal Fraud and Adds a Coffin Nail to XRFacts

[M45]

From Post#134 Doug's C-SS synopsis continues:

-Conclusions: This is and will continue to be the most problematic SS decal for me as I cannot find anything conclusive either way. They are not all fakes nor are they all real. The ones on the NS M35 I describe above are without question in my mind authentic and factory applied. Not found on other shells, on a small but tight lot range, and several named and researched examples with provenance. Like a Fat Runes M35, they exhibit the same qualities and are very rare. The rest, I leave for each collector to decide. I know what I like and what I do not like and I have been challenged on both on the forums and in discussion. All I can say in those discussions is if I am comfortable with it or not. But then usually a COA is thrown in my face from someone else or other meaningless commentary derived from book knowledge alone so discussion as I said earlier in forums, is nearly a waste of time.


This entire monstrosity of a synopsis can be summarized with this statement:


-Conclusions: This is and will continue to be the most problematic SS decal for me as I cannot find anything conclusive either way. They are not all fakes nor are they all real.


If collectors got their hopes up and were expecting DougB to provide a definitive answer on C-SS authenticity, they were sadly mistaken.

This paragraph is strewn with falsehoods; now we know all C-SS are fake, he was wrong about his NS M35 C-SS being 'factory applied', his comparisons of C-SS to rare SS decals promoting C-SS authenticity is false, and his named and research provenance is meaningless.


My opinion of Doug's C-SS synopsis: it was a tight-rope walk. It was never Doug's intention to make any definitive statements or claims about C-SS. Collectors were becoming suspicious and doubtful of C-SS and Doug knew he had to get to the podium and say something to ally C-SS doubts. He wrote 20 some odd paragraphs of 'verbal diarrhea' and at the end of it all he says he can't find anything conclusive either way. Collectors were just as confused if not more so after this novel.

Just feed collectors some B.S. to chew on and hopefully they will go away.

 

[mauser99]

As I recall, the printing of that book was delayed some months after DougB's mythbusting thread broke.

I cannot help but wonder about the timing. Was the book printing delayed to revamp the C-SS section after DougB 'blew the lid off' of it ? That would have been embarrassing for the book to be discussing C-SS in positive terms when the lid had already been blown off.

-"The Champagne decal" is not a decal at all" It was applied using a process known as "micro painting"


If that's what the decal book says, it it parroting the mythbusting study that broke this revelation.

If you look @ Ken's 1st book printed years before and look in the SS section the Sham-pain ruin and any mention of an NS/SS helmet is suspiciously absent and there is NO mention of it being real or not or the fact that it even exists. That being said it was heard by me that Ken N along with others Al Barrows ect. were long skeptics of the CR decal. The1st book was printed in 2009. Either Ken was a non believer or was just in the Know over the CR decal is something that is too glaring to dispute.

 

[Niblet]

If you look @ Ken's 1st book printed years before and look in the SS section the Sham-pain ruin and any mention of an NS/SS helmet is suspiciously absent and there is NO mention of it being real or not or the fact that it even exists. That being said it was heard by me that Ken N along with others Al Barrows ect. were long skeptics of the CR decal. The1st book was printed in 2009. Either Ken was a non believer of was just in the Know over the CR decal is something that is too glaring to dispute.

I would say at this point he "knew" something,,in 2009,what exactly that was will most likely never be made public.
I do know this about ALL dealers, if your a "Dealer" big or small,,,and if even a small part of your annual income
is derived from 3rd Reich Item Sales, you have to follow the unwritten dealer "code of ethics"
rule 1 is NEVER speak out against another dealer or their items
to do so is to commit "dealer suicide"

I believe at a minimum he was silent on the subject of C-SS Ruins to allow KH's (and others?)
little scheme to propagate and flourish. He knew they were rubbish but said nothing because he was honoring the dealers code

this is just my opinion, I purchased this Luft helmet form Hicks back in 2008 and it got mixed reviews over on GHW
I called Hicks personally and he assured me it was the real deal but made no offer to refund my $$
Another dealer offered to buy it from me at the same price I paid for it as he had a buyer lined up,and I jumped on it as the more I looked at the more I didnt like it
I wish I had it in hand today to put that national shield under a USB microscope,,,it just didn't seem right

 

[mauser99]

for what its worth I think its fine. Or what has been told to us to be fine. This heavy black bordered Luft Adler and the round bottom tricolor together is a good sign. These are aftermarket "non factory" variants and due show up on the earliest M35 helmets Heer,luft ect. These also show up on transitional Luft helmets. Round bottom Tricolors also show up on later luft helmets and are considered correct as an added decal. I cant see the lot # of the maker of the shell but, I can see it has a single aul. banded liner so that means early.

 

[Niblet]

Thanks,,it just felt, and smelled weird,,wasnt in my comfort zone

 

[mauser99]

Thanks,,it just felt, and smelled weird,,wasnt in my comfort zone

Its all good my friend just making an observation.

 

[M45]

Very nice luft helmet! I call those "Luftwaffe Honor Guard" helmets because of the reissue decals (black bordered Luft decal paired with the round bottom NC) and generally very light wear.

 

[M45]

From Post#134 Doug's C-SS synopsis continues:

It is not for me to convince anyone of anything but those that will think in general terms are collectors who are of todays internet world, they must have absolutes, they think inside the box, they want certainty and typically they will condemn all like this to validate their own narrow and usually unfounded opinions. So it is like talking religion and politics. I know what I have seen, I will continue to study and to learn and evolve my knowledge in the field of SS helmet collection and helmet collecting in general and I have my comfort zones.



Near the end, DougB condemns today's internet collectors (you and me) who "must have absolutes" and think inside the box. We want certainty and will typically condemn all like this (C-SS and all its variants) to "validate our narrow and usually unfounded opinions".

Well, as it turned out it was DougB himself who was absolutely wrong about C-SS and not us narrow-minded box-thinkers. IMO he was criticizing us because we retracted our unswerving allegiance to his "inerrant wisdom" and began to think for ourselves. This upset him and he was no longer our friend. He took his toys and went home.

In this synopsis we see that DougB said something, but in reality said nothing. He explained something, but really explained nothing. He wrote 20 odd paragraphs to clarify the C-SS questions, but in reality caused much more confusion and uncertainty by the time he was finally done. It appeared that he would take a conclusive stand on C-SS, but in reality said nothing conclusive about C-SS authenticity either way.

So then, he leaves collectors to believe what they will about C-SS, and indeed arguments could be made that his synopsis both supported and refuted C-SS authenticity.


I believe DougB's quest to be vague and ambiguous was successful as far as he was concerned. He never did claim that all C-SS were authentic. If he had, that would have been contradictory to the mounting evidence against it (re: CKL M42s with high lot#s) and he would have lost support. Nor did he claim that all C-SS were fake (at that time). That would have been a death blow to the C-SS myth that he had been promoting on forums for years. He had to say something, so he took the middle ground; now he believed some C-SS were real and some C-SS were fake.

 

[Niblet]

Very well put,,and I would imagine that's why KH hasnt had a bunch of requests for refund,,or at least hasn't issued
a truckload of refunds,,

yes Doug "took his toys" and went home,,,its one thing to just get mad and step away for awhile,,
but to completey remove everything you have ever discussed is child like (again,just my observations)

 

[Niblet]

Very nice luft helmet! I call those "Luftwaffe Honor Guard" helmets because of the reissue decals (black bordered Luft decal paired with the round bottom NC) and generally very light wear.

well guess I should have kept it
it was a size 62,,I only collect 64 and above,,and really just prefer 66 and larger

 

[M45]

Very well put,,and I would imagine that's why KH hasnt had a bunch of requests for refund,,or at least hasn't issued
a truckload of refunds,,

yes Doug "took his toys" and went home,,,its one thing to just get mad and step away for awhile,,
but to completey remove everything you have ever discussed is child like (again,just my observations)

I think it goes much deeper than being just child-like. You see, that synopsis on post# 134 was not supposed to have survived Doug's culling. It certainly did not on GHW2. And if certain people had had their way, that synopsis would not be here and we would not have been able to scrutinize it like we did.

 

[Niblet]

well Kudos to everyone involved with keeping this for posterity,,,,,
I haven't been able to follow this as well as I would have liked,,quite frankly I didn't realize I was under a timeline
before Doug got pissed and took his post down,,otherwise I would have been copying and pasting like crazy

again, thanks for taking the time to help me and maybe other who reads this understand or at least make sense of all this

 

[Hambone]

I'm sure other people saved it.

 

[Oregon]

I'm sure other people saved it.

Yep. Please see; http://www.ghw2.com/topic/58431-mythbusting-the-champagne-decal-by-doug-b/

Cheers,
Cody

 

[Hambone]

Yep. Please see; http://www.ghw2.com/topic/58431-mythbusting-the-champagne-decal-by-doug-b/

Cheers,
Cody

Thank you Cody, this is about the most significant post in the whole thread

Is this ever going to see the light of day again in a refined form or in a book?

 

[Oregon]

Thank you Cody, this is about the most significant post in the whole thread

Is this ever going to see the light of day again in a refined form or in a book?

Not that I know-of, unless, you include the Champagne section in the Niewiarowicz/Lehrman volume. It might be prudent to download the thread now that the thing has been re-posted. I did.

Cheers,
Cody

 

[Hambone]

Thank you Cody.

 

[Micro Jo]

I believe Bob Coleman,I still remember the first time i had sex with a girl. For Bob seeing the first CH decal in 1961,gave him the same remembrance as having sex for the first time.

I believe that Bob Coleman recently popped his clogs, from what I have read on other fora. The guy hated me with a passion, and did his best to smeer my name with collectors who didn`t know me. Maybe not so much in full view on forum posts, but behind the curtains. I was privy to many private mails he had sent to others. Inventing all manner of BS about me. I have heard from others that he was a nice guy, and probably was. Most likely he just got the hump with me because I`d call him out in public when he posted nonsense.

 

[Bavarian Joe]

I'm getting cynical.

http://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/showthread.php?t=976384

If you can't sell the decal, paint over it.

It reminds me of Christmas in July...

 

[Niblet]

"Popped his Clogs" ??? Hilarious Jo...!
Not sure where you come up with these sayings but thats hilarious. Didnt know the fella, but he was a Waftard
So I reckon his passing will only strenghten the collecting community. That blabbermouth on WAF said his collection "had already been disposed" of.....wonder what that means? Some chump bought the lot and will soon be pieced out to the unwashed masses.