Sworders / Olivers Auctions, a warning

On the 18th November 2008, Sworders (incorporating Olivers) held an auction of militaria items which I believe shows people are foolish to sell and / or buy through them.

First, at least 6 of their British army pattern swords were falsely described; Sworders got the patterns / models wrong. This is pretty rudimentary stuff given there are so many reference books on the subject and that their militaria expert John Foster is meant to have 10 years experience under his belt! This is something an auction house which claims to be a specialist in militaria really should not get wrong, especially 6 times in one auction!

Second, a friend of mine attended their viewing day and raised the spectre that the vast majority of their "Scottish basket hilted" swords were reproductions, which I had my suspicions about already as the high estimate items had brass hilts (very unusual) with unusual blades, while their standard pattern basket hilt looked like a well known reproduction, with no maker's mark and seemingly poor etching. When I asked for a detailed image of the brass proof "slug" (suspecting it would be "T." or "P." which are well known fakes with the "." when there should not be one), I did not get it.

Third, the French heavy cavalry sword they were selling was one I recognized to be a reproduction, so I told them this and their "expert" Tony Cribb said he knew this (I have the email to prove it) but they did not have the time to amend the listing to include "(repro)"; what a lot of time that must take and how nice he admitted Sworders / Olivers were selling forgeries as authentic swords.

Forth, of the only genuine looking Scottish basket hilts they were selling, Sworder's Tony Cribb emailed me to say it had a Sudanese Kaskara blade in it when I said I wanted some more photos. Now, even if Sworder's sword expert was right, why did they not declare this in the auction description? Yet more bad practice perhaps even fraud I say. But the thing is, I do not believe the blade was from a kaskara, I believe the groove patterns showed it to be either a Spanish or Scottish made blade, circa 1700. I suspect the sword was actually a late variant of the 1798 pattern introduced by the British for Scottish infantry officers, where an officer had adopted the regulation hilt but had his family blade mounted into it, which did happen. Kaskara blades also have three groves like Scottish / Spanish (who supplied many blades to the Scots at that time) blades, but Kaskara grooves are different, and their blades do not have ricasso's / fortes. But Tony Cribb refused to let me have the images I wanted in order to be able to bid high (way above their estimate), perhaps he hated to be proven wrong, even when proving him wrong would have been good for the auction house and more importantly the seller of that sword.

Finally, Sworders refused to accept any of my bids because I asked them to guarantee I would not be charged storage fees if I paid quickly and told Mail Boxes Etc to collect the items as soon as possible, plus I wanted 24 hours from the time I received any swords I bought from them to verify everything was correct (no reproductions). You see, Sworders have some very aggressive terms and conditions!

First they only give you 3 days to collect your items after auction before they start charging you storage! Now, given people like me who live overseas and bid by email are reliant on a) the auction house notifying us promptly, b) the auction house advising us promptly that payment had been processed and c) for the shipping company to come and collect the items ASAP, you can understand 3 days is not enough, through no fault of our (overseas / absentee commission bidders) own. So Sworders seem out to make a dishonest buck from so called storage fees which only benefit them, not the buyers or sellers.

Second, Sworders only give you 10 days from the auction date to return any forgeries! Trouble is, I and others like me are not likely even to receive the goods in 10 days (allowing 2 days to receive the invoice and pay, 3 days for the shipping company to collect, 2 days for the shipping company to pack, and 5 days for the items to get to me), let alone get the items back to Sworders.

Now, as Sworders accept absentee commission bids from overseas buyers, it seems clear their terms and conditions are both unfair and possibly a way of extorting more profit out of auction sales (likely to be unlawful too under Britain's unfair contract legislation).

I asked Sworders to accept my bids on the basis I would pay and get the items collected ASAP (I said I would do what I needed within 24 hours but could not be held to account for the delays by others) and that I would be given 24 hours from the time I received the items to determine if anything was a forgery; they simply ignored me.

I am upset mainly over the Scottish broadsword they said had a Sudanese blade in! I am sorry I did not get to buy it and I am very sorry for the poor seller who I believe Sworders let down so badly. It was not just the poor description, but the fact they refused to provide photographs to allow me to authenticate it, and the fact they refused to take any bid from me. If the sword was what I think it was, I would have bid £1000 GBP for it. I actually put forward a bid of £425 GBP for it anyway, which Sworders did not register; Sworders sold it for £200 GBP, so the seller who entrusted them got under half what they probably would and perhaps a fifth of what they possibly could if Sworders staff did not exhibit, I say, such bad attitudes. I also would have won 3 other swords at their auction if they had registered my bids, so this was not the only seller which Sworders did an appalling job for in my honest opinion.

I believe Sworders incorporating Olivers are a joke and a very bad one; because of their terms and conditions I also consider they are pissibly "thieves" with the professionalism of east end market stall holders. I would never sell or buy through them or recommend anyone else to do so either if asked.

Anglian Swords Fraud on eBay

Previously, I have stated my views of Harvey Withers of Anglian Swords and raised the prospect Harvey is a con man, selling repros as authentic.

Now I know him to be a fraudster.

In November 2008, Harvey Withers listed a sword on eBay (item number 300274305044) with the description "Superb Orig. French Napoleonic Heavy Cuirassier's Sword", when it was not. First, the inspection marks dated the sword from May 1815 to September 1816; Waterloo was mid-June 1815, so the sword (if genuine) was more likely to be post-Napoleonic than Napoleonic. Second, the scabbard was clearly a mark 3, dating it to 1816. Of course I let Harvey Withers of Anglian Swords know about this, offering to substantiate what I said if required by him, but he declined to reply or change his listing to reflect this.

But it gets worse; Harvey's sword was not just be falsely described, it was a repro! The grip looked very reproduction and the inspection marks to the blade looked forged, the wrong font, bad quality; the later having been partially "wiped" (erased) in an apparent atempt to make them look more authentic. What is more the stamps to the hilt were also of the wrong format and font, plus the name "VERSAILLE" was stamped on the wrong part of the hilt. Finally, the junction of the hilt's bars to the pommel was wrong; his sword had a known repro's junction "style". When I asked Harvey Wither of Anglian Swords about the spine of the blade and any signatures which would help authenticate it or not, he did not reply! When I submitted the information to him again with the offer to substantiate what I said as fact, then asked him to correct his auction, he declined.

Harvey / Anglian Swords then went about it again, with yet another French Sword (item number 300274535505). I happened to be conversing with Michel Petard, the famous French sword reference book author at the time and he pointed out Harvey's latest French sword had undeclared damage and a different blade than it should have. Of course I let Harvey / Anglian Swords know and copied Michel Petard's text about this to him, but what did Harvey Withers do? Why, of course, despite the fact the world's leading expert on French swords has made a statement on his eBay sword, Harvey did absolutely nothing.

I have no doubt in my mind that Harvey Withers / Anglian Swords deliberately sells reproduction swords as genuine / authentic swords; that Harvey is a fraudster.

I have kept a copy of his auction and my emails to him, which I can not show here because of eBay's copyright, but am happy to provide if required.