Another Akalabeth For Sale on eBay…Possibly A Fake
Clan Dragon actually linked to this sale on eBay in a comment to the previous article about an Akalabeth-related sale.
And just after I saw his comment, Joe Garrity of the Origin Museum posted the following warning to the Ultima Dragons Facebook Chapter:
Buyer Beware–The Akalabeth up on Ebay is (in my opinion) a FAKE!
1-The printing on the cover is hidden, and sub-standard
2-The label is not the correct length (thanks to the eye of Jocksitter Dragon)
3-The guy recently sold a Savage Empire artwork that was printed from my Flickr account!
4-The seller is very evasive about questions on it.Tell your collector friends NOT TO BUY–I’d hate to see someone ripped off.
Joe isn’t the only one who spotted the signs that this Akalabeth copy might not be all the buyer makes it out to be; Enrico Ricciardi, Jason Cobb, and Howard Feldman also contributed their insights and analysis of the images of the item that the buyer provided.
So there you go, Dragons and Dragonettes. Think twice before bidding (presently) a minimum of $650 on this particular copy of Akalabeth; it might not be all that it is claimed to be.
Another red flag I noticed is the seller won this auction on ebay 270622745181. You can find this on his buyer feedback. What would he want with vintage 1980’s green stickers.
Devil’s advocate here:
Pics(plural) on eBay for this item seem to be better than the only single one on just finished auction for only cover/manual: item#: 220817180395 :
http://cgi.ebay.com/220817180395?ru=http%3A%2F%2Fshop.ebay.com%3A80%2F%3F_nkw%3D220817180395%26rvr_id%3D250885950122%26clk_rvr_id%3D250885950122%26_fvi%3D1&_rdc=1
YIKES! Even If I could, I wouldn’t have made such a hi bid for an -incomplete- set. $4900
Aren’t the stickers won by Seller like TRANSPARENT see through one’s, not the same as solid old one’s seen on other online pics of originals seen on display by collectors & besides, item doesn’t
have one, only torn paper-like one.
If long term memory serve’s me right didn’t Jocksitter Dragon once have Ultima’s/AKALABETH website that mentioned Daemon Label – was 3″ x 1.25″.
Taking known size of 80’s disk for comparison, the pics available on this eBay item, sure seem to have a right size Label.
Empire artwork? Flickr account? Maybe should’ve hidden it somewhat in a sub-standard detail kind of way Joe.
Seller’s comments sound like an overwhelmed eBayer who happened to come by an item some eBay bidders still going for & asking away.
Sound kinda harsh & in a rush to quickly dismiss this one Joe & Jock.
Still buyer beware when it comes to eBay & biding on anything older than you.
DOUBLE-YIKES! No way on the -incomplete- item Won say!
It’s nearly doubled since the last time I looked. Now it is at $1124. Amazing that something that doesn’t even work can go for that much.
Hmm… I wonder what the most expensive game ever sold was…
Since I was interested enough to look it up…
http://www.gamesniped.com/2007/11/08/worlds-most-expensive-video-games/
That seems to be a list of a lot of them (Mt Drash features on that list at number 9)
This seems to be the winner though…
http://www.gamesniped.com/2010/02/26/most-expensive-video-game-sale-ever-41300-00/
On the original 2 pictures he posted the label appeared to be the wrong size. With the new picture it matches up.
I am still thrown by the green sticker auction though, maybe he didn’t realize they were transparent. I personally don’t buy his explanation with his sister.
The cover art doesn’t seem to be printed on the normal blue heavy paper. I asked him to describe the paper to me and he wouldn’t.
One other thing, the seller is more aware of classic games than he is letting on. The first inquiry I sent him on the game he referenced the Ye Olde Infocomme Shop. He also emailed another collector 1 1/2 years ago inquiring about the value of a 1980 AKALABETH California Pacific Demon Cover Art Cover Art. I think he understands the significance of the green sticker but he states “Dunno? Came like this; looks like some sort of greenish price Tag of sorts, previously pealed off.”
Could I be wrong? Of course, but there are enough red flags to keep me personally away from the auction.
Easy solution – the manual contents have never been printed anywhere before. Ask him to show the inside of the manual. Someone who has a legitimate copy that is. If it matches, 99% chance it is legit – or how would he know what to put inside the manual???
The seller posted another pic. It’s the first page of the manual.
Can anyone verify the contents if that looks even remotely legit? I actually haven’t seen the interior of the Akalabeth manual anywhere. Unless someone can post a link to pics of that — or even if it’s just the text version of it.
I can’t comment on the authenticity, not being a collector myself…but as an amateur photographer with a couple of published works under my belt, I offer my opinion (for whatever it’s worth) that the picture of the manual is pretty much crap. It’s far too blurry — too much of the detail is gone, replaced with smear — to be useful as a means of authentication.
The text is right, the spacing is right. The manual was printed on a dot matrix printer so there are spaces between the dots on the text which I can’t tell from the picture if his text has the dots or if the text is solid.
Here is a scan of the inside page on an authentic manual. http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y280/jpcobb/akal3.jpg
I guess the very nature of akalabeth being produced on a home printer and photocopier leaves it open to being copied and forged later on by anyone with the knowledge and correct stationary. I hope the winner of this auction can put a little leg work in validate the provenance of this item however too many questions and doubt in my mind to bid which is a shame. Should a validated working copy ever come up for sale I would almost double what the Lynn Abby copy sold for.
I have tried to get some clearer images from the seller but apparently he’s just not able to take them. Dont know whats wrong there.
When i compare this one to previous auctions i have to say though he’s providing much more already than others before. Real flaws i cannot see here and as i mentioned on FB already theres hardly any of these handmade Akalabeths that look like eachother. So, is it legit or not? hard to tell without a real closeup of the printing and the materials.
You’re right, this item has gone under a lot of scrutiny — most of them rightfully so due to his apparent evasiveness and unwillingness (or inability) to post clear images.
If we look at the other auction for the cover art and manual which sold for $4900 (!!!), it didn’t appear to be as scrutinized. Why? Perhaps simply because he posted a fairly clear picture (but only one photo), claims they come from a reputable person (Lynn Abbey) and claims they’re authenticated by “two sources” without giving any other info. And those responses weren’t scrutinized publicly either? FWIW, I actually emailed Lynn and asked her about it and she did indeed say those were her items.
Not defending this new seller in any way, as he did bring most of this down on himself — and at this point, it really is buyer beware. Will I bid? Not sure. I’d love to own one. Maybe I should have purchased Tom Mage’s entire collection last year and save the headaches if this was real or not 🙂
(http://www.ultimaaiera.com/blog/ultimate-ultima-collection-for-sale-6-hours-only/)
I dunno. From what I’ve seen the guy seems to have been very forth-coming with providing extra photos and things when asked. How many sellers have that many people asking for extra things? I’m kinda surprised he hasn’t gotten annoyed at people asking by now.
lol Just went to look at it again. Seems he has started getting annoyed :p And it is now at $4000. Nice.
Anyway, not everyone can get a hold of a good camera (and even if they did, not everyone can take a decent photo). From the photos he has put up it looks real enough to me. And I haven’t actually heard anyone with any real evidence that it is fake. Everything has matched up so far. It kinda just seems like everyone wants it to be fake and are going out of their way to prove it.
Yep you guys are right, final sale price was $4045.00 so someone either picked up a bargin or was robbed blind. Guess not having a good camera cost the seller $1000 or more.
Hm. Well he should be able to afford an $80 camera to take better pictures from now on at least.
Update. This seller sold a CPC Akalabeth that looked brand new last week on a buy it now starting at $2000 and took a quick offer of $1000 (Ebay # 220866110569 )Next up he just sold an Apple-Oids game (Ebay # 220868381000 )Here is the problem. If you look at the label of the Apple-Oids game it says “Apple-Oids Beyond adventure lies Akalabeth” oops. The real label should say “Apple-Oids Designed by Tom Luhrs” Here is a real disk (Ebay # 140571766804 ) The copy he sold “looks” brand new also. Looks like a possible forger. My gut instinct was probably right all along.