First Unused Copy Of Rarity 85d...on Ebay?

xfstamps is offering an unused copy of 85D, with a letter of authentication from Z-grill scholar Elliott Perry.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/US-Early-M...AOSwBRFaSmtk
Given this board's British Cartel experience, what are your opinions on the authenticity of the letter? Has the British Cartel used such an approach before?

I think the dealer cards are legit but the stamps being sold do not necessarily belong, and there's a conspicuous absence of a claim that they do. A few stamps have certificates to lend a whiff of authenticity to the body, but if you look at the un-certified stamps you'll see reperfs and regumming, and often flat-out misidentified material. The 10 cent that is pictured appears reperforated at top, bottom and right, and the grill is too light IMO to be a Z grill.

I'd say the letter head is authentic, but there's no reason to think the letter refers to the stamp in the lot, or that it was actually typed by Mr. Perry. In fact there are no mint 85D and Perry would have known this, so why is the grilled 10 cent mint?

Whomever assembled this lot has set up the prospective buyer to make assumptions regarding the identification and authenticity of the stamps without actually claiming the stamps belong to the card or that the letter is authentic and belongs to the lot. It's custom made to play on greed.

What guarantee is there that the stamp shown here is the same one from the letter, even assuming the letter is genuine. Anyone honest with a potential stamp this rare would get a new cert for it and put it in the Rarities of the World sale if genuine. Not sell it in a large lot on ebay. Nor would they sell several other stamps that can easily stand alone in a major auction house if accurately identified on ebay with them.

The seller is a convicted criminal, convictions include fraud. He has built time in prisons in several countries and has been deported from several countries for crimes committed. Given this history, how could anyone have any level of trust in the listings?
Don

Thanks for the replies and to this board for the extensive Cartel tracking. I'm an AVID grill collector and my fraud-alarm was ringing. I've seen reperfs, regums, cancel-cleaning, and fake grills, but I've never seen stealing the reputation of an icon of philately. I'll admit it's clever in avoiding explicit claims and attracts grill collectors with its Perry-savvy.

Even the second example would make me think. No image of the back of the stamp, no image of the cert, and only 20% of cat.

See the attached link for the Siegel 85D census.

https://siegelauctions.com/display_...hp?catno=85D

Not a prayer that the cartel's is real. Why in the World would anybody even begin to think that this could actually be genuine.

I recall the seller having printed stock cards supposedly from W. Lea, a well known English dealer from bygone days. They held classic BNA material rife with cleaned cancels, regums, silly reperf jobs and misidentified material. The modus operandi is the same here, name-drop and make it look like old stock. He is relatively sophisticated in his methods though he gives himself away inevitably (there are patterns in his listings that are a tip-off), I imagine he has fleeced a whole lot of people too.

Sold for $9,275. If the bidder was not a shill they just took a huge hit from the cartel. ebay gets their fee and life is just great. Unbelievable.

http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI....047675.l2565

Unfortunately, if this was an actual sale, the new owner of this material - or their heirs - will be sadly disappointed long after the sale when they find out the "rare" stamps are fraudulent copies that are worthless.

The term "Caveat emptor" couldn't apply more.

This is one of the reasons all of the internet collectors who are not members of philatelic groups - including this one - need to be. There's a wealth of information out there and all one need to is look, listen and learn.

So sad that someone like this fraudster is allowed to thrive and continue to profit from their illicit activities.

Using printed stock cards and correspondence bearing the name of legendary dealers has been a part of his M.O. for over a year now. They are either less real than the tooth fairy or are not really related to the stamp being offered on ebay. One or the other; no exceptions.

ebay is fully complicit in this. They are well aware of the Cartel.