Guys,
I get a real chuckle every time something like this comes up. Everybody is suspicious of this lock for various reasons that might or might not be legitimate. Why do we talk about how a lock wouldn't rust that way or how come the engraved signature is so crisp. I wouldn't lay odds on how any metal object would rust away. The signature probably looks crisper than other parts of the lock because the seller has absolutely no inkling on how we would like him to treat the lock and has most likely sanded or steel wooled the signature area to actually allow the signature to show and be photographed. The seller undoubtedly has no concept of how a lock was built, functioned or used. I would say he found the lock and the extra main spring together and assumed that they somehow go together. However, we can look at this item all day and not be able to tell if it is a fraud or an actual dug lock.
Therefore, we should look elsewhere for some verification. I notice the seller is located in St. Ignace, Michigan, an area that has an old and rich history of French activity going back to the 1600's and before. What better area to treasure hunt with a metal detector? If any one doubts that wonderful relics exist in that area they only need to look at museum collections in upper Michigan.
If you click on "see other items" you will see what else the seller has listed on Ebay. This seller has 16 other items that are all "Dug Items" and some of them are very nice relics of the early French involvement in and around the Great Lakes. He has dug French long knives, French clasp knives, trade silver pieces, Trade awls, military buttons, etc. All of these items are definitely "dug" items and are spot on for relics found in upper Michigan. If you look at the seller's Ebay rating you see that he has had 1325 transactions on Ebay and has a 100% feedback rating. You just don't have that many transactions while maintaining a 100% feedback rating if you are selling fake or fraudulent items. When he has an item that he is not sure of the era the item came from he says he doesn't know. (See his auction for a trade silver bracelet) If you click on the 1325 number by the sellers name you can look at past Ebay transactions for this seller and find that he mostly sells dug items and for reasonable dollar amounts.
Now, is the lock legitimate or not, I don't really know, but I would bet that the seller located this item with a metal detector and dug it right up there in Michigan. Looking at the other items the seller presently has listed or already sold, and the reputation he has built for himself on Ebay, I am inclined to believe that the lock is an original that he dug.
If the seller's reaction to this auction is anything like my reaction to some auctions I have had on Ebay, he is following the auction closely and thinking why would anybody pay $1,000 or more for this item. Anyone who has sold on Ebay knows there is no rhyme or reason to how much or why any bidder bids the amounts they do.
Randy Hedden
