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Just thought I would share a funny story with you.
I met up with a lady who goes to all the garage sales and sends some interesting items my way to list on ebay. She had just purchased an old Beatles record and hidden inside the cover was a very early genuine photograph of John Lennon standing in a recording studio, guitar in hand. Lennon was very smartly dressed in early sixties gear, and all of the musical equipment was of the period. I was a bit concerned about the guitar amp in the picture as it had a cutaway at the top. I thought these did not come out until mid 1960,s but could be wrong.
The photo had a faint signature from Lennon and date of 1961 on the front with a gift inscription to the rear. It was a bit grotty but a genuine B & W photo on old Kodak paper. I was a bit suss about it, but when she asked $30 for it I thought I would take a punt. Imagine my surprise when I got home and studied Lennons signature. It looked pretty darn good. Next I checked out images of an early Lennon. The hair in the photo was a bit wild, not the Beatles mop top at all. More surprise, the hair matched Lennons, pre 1962 Beetles fame. Things where starting to look very good.
I started researching values and got another surprise. A genuine early Lennon signature can be worth $5000-$10,000 dollars. If you add in a classic, very rare, early Lennon photo with all the important details, you could be looking at $30,000 to $40,000. I fired off an email to one of Australia's leading experts in signature's and photos, requesting an appointment for early next week. You cant just pop in to see this guy as he has a bevvy of "guards" who you have to get past first . He is very busy and its a bit of a privilege if he will actually see you at all. I,ve sent a few good items his way in the past so stand a bit of a chance with an appointment and I had another rare photo he was interested in so would kill two birds with one stone.
That amp. was still niggling me so I started researching it. Fenders did have the cutaway in 1961, so they where made then, but this was not a Fender amp. Another little problem was the guitar Lennon was holding. It was a Fender Strat, when Lennon normally played Rickenbackers and Gibson acoustics. But it was a recording studio. The studios provide the guitars and anything goes when recording. I did some further research and finally nailed the amp down as an Ampeg.
Its about now that it finally dawned on me that we may not be getting the new car and holiday we where planning with the proceeds from the sale of the photo. Ampeg did not make a cutaway amp in 1961............. THEY ONLY INTRODUCED THEM IN 1964. !!!!
Now the problems really started. Lennon had wooly hair in 1961, but adopted the greased down mop top by 1962. The 1961 dated signature could not be original if the amp was made in 1964. The "KODAK" writing on the back of the photo was the wrong graphics for the era.
SSOOOOOO, what do we have. ??? It aint Lennon, it aint an original signature and it aint 1961. There's only two things I,m sure of. One is that i,m going to have a rather embarrassing phone conversation with my photographs expert tomorrow and the other is I,ve just done $30 cold. My wife thinks the lady I purchased the photo from is probably grinning from ear to ear after taking me for a ride. 
So anyway, that's been my weekend......... Whats the biggest lemon you have ever purchased. ???
Not sure if this really counts, but came as a supreme disappointment to me today.
I paid $500 for some clasps, not even precious metal, but of a particular style that I prefer - the original clasp had become a favourite of mine to use, very (very) strong and stylish. My original supplier stopped stocking them in 2013, I've been looking for them ever since, found what I thought was the same clasp (but a bit smaller) for a similar unit price from a bulk wholesaler, so went ahead and bought them....
They suck, to put it mildly. 
They're not even worth half what I paid, the loop holes are off-centre, and the bars are too small for the rings, defeating their entire purpose. 😞
Also, back when I still sold clothes, I found a pair of Prada pants for a great price, so snapped them up... All my checks confirmed they were the real deal, but then I was too wary to list them because I realised no matter how sure I was, I had nothing to prove their authenticity.
Not so long ago, I happened to mention them on here and grabbed them out of storage to check something. That's when I noticed they had a YKK zipper on them. I don't really know a lot about designer fashion (as is probably now evident), but I would be very surprised if Prada uses generic brand zippers on their clothing.
On the plus side, I found a relatively rare CD from one of my favourite bands - The Angelic Process (who no longer exist, as one of the members passed away several years ago) and decided to treat myself to it for my birthday that year. When it arrived, I found it had been signed by both members (authenticated). They're not Beatles-famous, of course, but they are pretty darn good, and their stuff can fetch a pretty price in the right market (a heck of a lot more than what I paid, anyway 😄 ).
