Champagne Rune SS Fraud Exposed Video Series

[Hambone]

Our original threads of interest:

The Champagne Rune Exposed

http://www.ghw2.com/topic/58859-champagne-rune-database/ All the links above, including the full DougB expose here: http://www.ghw2.com/topic/58431-mythbusting-the-champagne-decal-by-doug-b/ Lest it ever be forgotten and people wonder how the "Champagne Rune" was kept alive for so long in my...

www.k98kforum.com

Hicks Makes Long Awaited Forum Debut on the Champagne Rune

http://www.ghw2.com/topic/53114-military-trader-questions-kelly-hicks/?page=7 It consisted of preparatory remarks from his friends about how swell he is, then he appeared, thanked them and went into a personal attack rant about how poor Hobo is the cause of all the bad things in the hobby. Even...

www.k98kforum.com

The current four part video series:

 

[Hambone]

 

[Hambone]

They discuss the moneymaking XRF scam towards the end. It's a very interesting series. Part 3 will be the Kelly Hicks rebuttal which should be out in a few days. He should interview M45, because his book laid the foundation for exposing the Champagne Rune scam.

I'm curious to see what he says. He attacked me personally. I did not want to have private dialogue with him. My message was that he owed the hobby an explanation, not me, and he should do so publicly. Some of his toadies at WAF and GHW2, who are lawyers I guess, explaining how no one could win a refund lawsuit on his Champagne Rune COAs, etc. Ridiculous (and erroneous) legal opinions spreading misinformation. At least they are consistent. The same WAFtards referred to us as "hobby anarchists". Now the "hobby anarchists" have proved to be on the right side of facts and history it seems. I'd be embarrassed and apologetic had I attacked people who were right.

My prediction: It will be along the lines of "I'm just one of you guys, an advanced collector, and I was taken in too by the evil SS decal painter and I'm a victim too. We all make mistakes and mine was trusting people. None of us can know it all, and I thought I knew alot, but like all of you I am human too. I thought that the first Champagne Rune SS helmets I bought came direct from vets. I now know this might have been the evil SS decal airbrush artistes scam, along with the dealer he was in cahoots with. I am so glad this was resolved. I love you all and I love the hobby, and all I've ever wanted to do was contribute to the knowledge, love, etc., etc., etc."

The "father" of the legitimacy of the "Champagne Rune SS" "decal", in his words. Note the XRFacts plug at the bottom:

 

[tjg79]

I'd like to see him interview maui and nutmeg on camera. This series needs more than just four parts, because there's a whole herd of sycophants over on WAF, and it would be therapeutic for the hobby, and very entertaining to watch them squirm in the limelight. Part 3 should be a religious experence, because he's interviewing the infallible God of Lids. From the Doug Buhler interview, it's clear that Hicks knew the champagne rune "decals" were bogus, and his COAs worthless, but continued to lie. Is anyone buying a Hicks' COA anymore?

 

[Marcus]

Wait a minute: It says SE never made helmets for the SS?

Back in the early 1970's I recovered several helmets from Dachau where everything SS had been heaped in a pile and burned after the war, then covered with dirt.

All that had legible markings were SE. Not knowing at the time what this stood for - this was before the intenet and any reference material was scarce to unobtainable, to non-existant - I thought that perhaps this was some kind of marking indicating SS manufacture/issue, or even a Dachau specific marking, as nont of the other German helmets I owned or examined at that point had that marking.

I've also seen a couple untouched bring-back SE hemets that were painted black, but had no decals, so no telling if these were SS, police, fire department or some other agency.

Here's an SS SE64 from Dachau.


https://www.k98kforum.com/threads/m42-ss-review.38901/page-2#post-288539



My mother's youngest brother, who is just a couple years older than me, pulled this one out of a barrel of them in the old SS compound next to the camp, which was the U.S. Army's "Camp Dachau" at the time. Ignore the paint and ignore the decal. This is something I did back in early 1970's - when my uncle gave me the helmet in 1971, it was covered with rust with no original finish left, so I removed the rust, filled all the pits and corroded spots in with the auto body filler you get in one of those little squeeze tubes at the auto parts store, and painted the helmet grey. I I later painted it o.d. green and put army decals on it (these were all I could find at the time) then later painted it black and put the SS decals on it. Later I removed some of the paint and body filler to get down to the original metal of the shell to give it more of an aged and weathered "relic" look. At some point, I will either take it all down to bare metal and let it surface rust lightly to approximate what it looked like when I got it, or I will fill in the low spots again and repaint it black.



l

 

[Hambone]

I'd like to see him interview maui and nutmeg on camera. This series needs more than just four parts, because there's a whole herd of sycophants over on WAF, and it would be therapeutic for the hobby, and very entertaining to watch them squirm in the limelight. Part 3 should be a religious experence, because he's interviewing the infallible God of Lids. From the Doug Buhler interview, it's clear that Hicks knew the champagne rune "decals" were bogus, and his COAs worthless, but continued to lie. Is anyone buying a Hicks' COA anymore?

An update as to the horse$hit that IMHO allowed the Champagne Rune SS hoax to exist for decades. First, why the XRFacts horse$hit had to be stopped, because of efforts like this trying to get all areas of the hobby sprayed with it. Also, why IMHO DougB needed his own website, GWH, to post these revelations. Any questioning of the SS Lid God was treated as you see.

 

[Hambone]

Wait a minute: It says SE never made helmets for the SS?

Back in the early 1970's I recovered several helmets from Dachau where everything SS had been heaped in a pile and burned after the war, then covered with dirt.

All that had legible markings were SE. Not knowing at the time what this stood for - this was before the intenet and any reference material was scarce to unobtainable, to non-existant - I thought that perhaps this was some kind of marking indicating SS manufacture/issue, or even a Dachau specific marking, as nont of the other German helmets I owned or examined at that point had that marking.

I've also seen a couple untouched bring-back SE hemets that were painted black, but had no decals, so no telling if these were SS, police, fire department or some other agency.

Here's an SS SE64 from Dachau.

https://www.k98kforum.com/threads/m42-ss-review.38901/page-2#post-288539

My mother's youngest brother, who is just a couple years older than me, pulled this one out of a barrel of them in the old SS compound next to the camp, which was the U.S. Army's "Camp Dachau" at the time. Ignore the paint and ignore the decal. This is something I did back in early 1970's - when my uncle gave me the helmet in 1971, it was covered with rust with no original finish left, so I removed the rust, filled all the pits and corroded spots in with the auto body filler you get in one of those little squeeze tubes at the auto parts store, and painted the helmet grey. I I later painted it o.d. green and put army decals on it (these were all I could find at the time) then later painted it black and put the SS decals on it. Later I removed some of the paint and body filler to get down to the original metal of the shell to give it more of an aged and weathered "relic" look. At some point, I will either take it all down to bare metal and let it surface rust lightly to approximate what it looked like when I got it, or I will fill in the low spots again and repaint it black.

There's a huge difference between a contract of helmets MADE FOR THE SS which would include decals as part of the contract and helmets that the SS ACQUIRED. Same with any kind of equipment including K98ks. After late 1943 decals were dropped from helmets anyway so any branch could conceivably use them. Decals were a materials and manpower expense, a nice target aiming point, interfered with camouflage, and from a field use standpoint, are ridiculous. So, it's quite conceivable, likely even, that a SS depot could have any number of any type of helmets from any contract from any depot, particularly late war when there were NO DECALS on them.

 

[tjg79]

So, when did Eric Dolin start producing the bogus champagne rune "decal" fakes? Was it the 70s, 80s, or 90s?

 

[GetFuzzy2]

Hamnone you beat me to it

BROVO

 

[iron bender]

I'm sick to think Ken was implicit in this. It's not even about the $. It's about the character. I'm literally floored and disgusted right now.

 

[tjg79]

My prediction: It will be along the lines of "I'm just one of you guys, an advanced collector, and I was taken in too by the evil SS decal painter and I'm a victim too. We all make mistakes and mine was trusting people. None of us can know it all, and I thought I knew alot, but like all of you I am human too. I thought that the first Champagne Rune SS helmets I bought came direct from vets. I now know this might have been the evil SS decal airbrush artistes scam, along with the dealer he was in cahoots with. I am so glad this was resolved. I love you all and I love the hobby, and all I've ever wanted to do was contribute to the knowledge, love, etc., etc., etc."

Yes, it will be interesting to see if he now claims he was "taken in too." We need to know when the fake spray-jobs were produced. If they were produced after the 1970s, he's going to have a hard time convincing anyone that he was "taken in too."

Militaria Review: The Champagne SS SCAM Part 1 - Part one of a 2 part series on the Crimes of Kelly Hicks and the Fake Champagne Runes scam run from 2000-2014.

In part 1 of what was then a two part series, Militaria Review indicates the champagne rune didn't exist in the 70s other than the much later cover stories of lid cronies like Bob Coleman, et al.

How old is Eric Dolin? Was he painting cars in the 70s?

The quote below, from the Questionable SS Helmets thread, was originally posted by M45 back in August 2013. It's from the SS Steel website in a "helmet for the month" feature sometime after the updated edition of SS Steel was published in 2010. The website link is dead, but the quote is probably dated August 2013, because he indicates "what I recall in 2013."

It's the story of the picnic table chicken wire champagne rune that Hicks claims he bought in '74-75 from a vet, gave it away as a birthday present to a friend, then wound up in an advanced "closet" collection, then he aquired it again then sold it to sucker. It a great cover story that attempts to weave together a real and imaginary lid history with a combat vet, blood, brain matter, upset mother, etc... to try to prove that at least one champagne rune was seen in the mid-70s. Based on The Champagne Rune Scam Part 1, I think it's a total lie. It's clear Hicks was part of the scam, and likely pissed that Doug Buhler figured it out. I don't think Hicks can claim he was "taken in too" if he's saying in 2013 that he had his hands on a champange rune lid in '74-75, and it's the only known lid in 2013 that existed in '74-75, because he said so. We'll see if Hicks comes out of the closet in Part 3.

Champagne ss m40 ns64 chickenwire
The feature helmet for the month of August is an outstanding example of an NS64 M-40 Chickenwire SS Helmet that I vet purchased at the Columbus Gun Show in the 1970s. I did a writeup on this helmet in "SS-Steel, Updated Edition" after I had returned to the States and had access to it again via the old collector I had traded it to. The helmet sat in my collection for years and to me was simply what an SS helmet was-- something that told a story. The veteran sold this to me for 240 dollars, along with a decent police Luger holster. As I was standing there at his table, he made a gesture toward his son and asked him if one last time, he wanted the helmet. The boy declined (fortunately!) and I took the helmet. The vet said he took straw out from behind the chickenwire before he came to the gun show (not the best news I could have heard). He also said he got the helmet during engagements with HJ Division in Normandy (he claimed he shot the wearer). When I got the helmet home, I discovered a hank of hair attached to a tiny bit of (skull) bone up inside the dome of the helmet. This was to me gruesome--it was obvious the liner and inside had been blood soaked and left as is. My mother saw this and ordered me to take the helmet out of the house and into the garage. This is what I recall in 2013 of that event that took place in 1975 or 4. The helmet was a birthday gift to a friend of mine, then it wound up in an advanced "closet" collection; then came back to me for a short while then went to a local advanced collector who enjoys it immensely. The shell is a dark Schiefergrau finish, with wide style Champagne rune (If you look in "SS-Steel, Updated Edition" you will see a chapter devoted to NS helmet characteristics and champagne rune variations--Also Quist Decal variations). Pictured below are a recent picture of the helmet; a 1970s picture of the helmet on my picnic table along with another champagne rune (M-42 --ckl I think)and some pages from SS-Steel discussing the NS decal variations and helmets they appear on.

 

[mauser99]

it was found out some time back that Ken, Keith and Eric were all buddies. One quick search on one of their facebook pages showed an old photo those three in WW1 german uniforms reenacting .. Dating back to when ? Im really not sure. It may still be up on one of theirs FB pages ? I believe all that Doug said he really has no need to lie. The Level of deceit on Kens part towards Doug was really disturbing. Between the source of the helmets and the fake auction scam he was running were both very disturbing. I have met ken a few times and "odd duck" is my only comment.

As for Kelly, his interview hasnt been posted yet. But, I suppose playing the willing victim now will be all he has now. His unwillingness to accept reality at the beginning was explained. Now that the genie is fully out of the bottle there is no denying .

 

[Peter U]

I just listened to the interview, when it comes to the (SS) helmet faking it just confirmed what I already knew many years ago: basically the straight from the vet (US) or from a barn in Normandy/Ardennes (EU) scam.
Nothing new for me but perhaps new collectors can learn from this, but what I found interesting testimony was, is how people like in this case Doug B enter the hobby and he certainly isn’t alone.
From a general interest in all kinds of things, not even militaria related, they eventually decide that they want to specialize in some of the most faked and messed with parts of the hobby, in this case Waffen SS helmets but it can also be knights crosses, specialist badges, daggers...etc and to make matters worse they want to acquire a large collection of there desired object in the shortest time frame possible and the best idea to do this is to throw money around like a mad man and buy on the advice of others.
So it isn’t a wonder that fraudsters jump on this, they are almost literally announcing that they want to be scammed.
Our hobby doesn’t need a grading institute or COA’s it just needs people with common sense, people that have a real understanding of history, read books written by real historians and thus build knowledge on how rare certain objects are and develop the understanding that money can’t buy everything and in the meanwhile also get an idea on how fakers work and how there scams are organized.

 

[mauser99]

On that note Peter I can see where someone like Doug being taken advantage of. A whale so to speak for dealers to funnel stuff to an an unlimited bank account. The size and quality of his collection was really amazing. The Helmet collector community was fast catching up to the Sham-pain-skam and Doug had the balls to destroy a near five figure helmet to do it. SS lids are really no more a mystery than an Army or Luft when you know the facts. Lot #'s types of shells and decal types. There is less to know about these than almost any other type of German militaria.

 

[Hambone]

First, we were right all along. Look at them now. And look at us, the "gunboards" "hobby anarchists" sez Nutmeg at WAF

My opinions all: Some in SS helmet collecting always reckoned that they could control the narrative through beating down those who question them and censorship, etc. They never reckoned on a DougB, a man of significant means, ethics, and principles to blow the lid off. He had to spend significant amounts of money and have his own website to expose all of this. He weathered abuse and insults. I wish he had not gotten so disgusted that he left the hobby. However, I'm glad he dropped a few frags on his way out of the SS helmet pimp convention.

Hicks was abusive to me and others, so were the WAFtard toadies. There was no attempt to accept the truth or resolve the issues that I saw until their denials and insults became ridiculous, comical. The old avaracious clowns have essentially run German helmet collecting and 3rd reich trinket collecting into the ground with toadyism, fleecing of new entrants, censorship, and general elitist clown behavior. It is why I quit setting up at big shows like the SOS and "Max" long ago. For someone who knows better these things have reached circus / comedy type gypsy markets. The greed and reminds me of a bunch of old fools furiously sawing away at the limb they are sitting on because they are getting paid to saw on something. They will end up the same as American CW collecting. I saw the same thing happen. They'll either get buried with the stuff, like silly King Tuts, or their heirs will sell it all for cents on the dollar.

Fortunately, we are different. We've worked hard for over 20 years, and the books and this site are the culmination of that. Essentially, at this point, if you get ripped off in K98k collecting it's because you're lazy or ignorant, refusing to take advantage of all the free information here and The Books. It's just that simple. The only problem we've got is the success of our hobby have driven the prices for everything sky high and attracted some scumbags. These are all my opinions of course.

 

[Peter U]

On that note Peter I can see where someone like Doug being taken advantage of. A whale so to speak for dealers to funnel stuff to an an unlimited bank account. The size and quality of his collection was really amazing. The Helmet collector community was fast catching up to the Sham-pain-skam and Doug had the balls to destroy a near five figure helmet to do it. SS lids are really no more a mystery than an Army or Luft when you know the facts. Lot #'s types of shells and decal types. There is less to know about these than almost any other type of German militaria.

Doug B is a business owner, so I presume he understands basic logic.
The SS M35 applegreen double decal helmet was a pre war helmet worn by troops of the SS-VT units, similar to the Heer DD helmets it was abolished around March 1940 but there is photographic evidence of them still being used in the Westfeldzug of 1940 but at the time of the invasion of the Soviet Union they have become a rarety.
The SS-VT division was a small size division, how many of there applegreen DD helmets did survive until the end of the war? And how many of those would have ended up in the hands of souvenir hunting GI's?.... Not very many I presume, in all the years I collect I have seen one documented example and it came from an officer that served almost the entire war in the Berchtesgarden garrsion, I presume most of the originals come from a similar source.
These are the facts.
Now Doug B is able to buy a dozen of them in a few years?
If he had understood the history of the helmets he collects, alarm bells should have started ringing.
You can find a holy grail piece but not every day of the week.

Also the "shampain" decal isn't a high tech forgery, it is just a paint brushed SS decal, something which is used by model makers worldwide.
When, I think it was "ZAM", was the first to point that out on waf, he was ridiculed, he didn't need a fancy microscoop to come to that conclusion.
I also remember the time that Hambone was ridiculed because he suggested paint testing helmets, for this test a minute piece of paint would be needed, nevertheless the waftards laughed with it, who would be as crazy as to scratch at the paint of helmet in his collection? It seems it was Doug B who did it and he didn't take a barely visible sample, he scratched off an entire decal.

The "Emperor's new clothes"!
But in this case it took several childern to call out the truth.

 

[tjg79]

We were right all along. Look at them now. And look at us, the "gun boards" "hobby anarchists" sez Nutmeg at WAF

My opinions all: Some in SS helmet collecting always reckoned that they could control the narrative through beating down those who question them and censorship, etc. They never reckoned on a DougB, a man of significant means, ethics, and principles to blow the lid off. He had to spend significant amounts of money and have his own website to expose all of this. He weathered abuse and insults. I wish he had not gotten so disgusted that he left the hobby. However, I'm glad he dropped a few frags on his way out of the SS helmet pimp convention.

Hicks was abusive to me and others, so were the WAFtard toadies. There was no attempt to accept the truth or resolve the issues that I saw until their denials and insults became ridiculous, comical. Avaracious clowns have essentially run German helmet collecting and 3rd reich trinket collecting into the ground with toadyism, fleecing of new entrants, censorship, and general elitist clown behavior. It is why I quit setting up at certain big shows long ago. For someone who knows better these things have reached circus / comedy type gypsy markets. The greed and reminds me of a bunch of old fools furiously sawing away at the limb they are sitting on because they are getting paid to saw on something. They will end up the same as American CW collecting. I saw the same thing happen. They'll either get buried with the stuff, like silly King Tuts, or their heirs will sell it all for cents on the dollar.

Fortunately, we are different. We've worked hard for over 20 years, and the books and this site are the culmination of that. Essentially, at this point, if you get ripped off in K98k collecting it's because you're lazy or ignorant, refusing to take advantage of all the free information here and The Books. It's just that simple. The only problem we've got is the success of our hobby have driven the prices for everything sky high and attracted some scumbags. These are all my opinions of course.

We were dead-on correct back in 2010 about XRF lid testing, Kelly Hicks, and a little later about the champagne rune "decal" lid. It was entertaining, back then, to read that the high-dollar XRF scam authenticated the high-dollar bogus champagne rune "decal" lid as 100% legit.

Doug Buhler's departure from the SS lid hobby was the worst news in this entire affair. The problem with lid collecting is that they don't have more collectors like Doug Buhler. The lid cronies run them off.

 

[Hambone]

Is this excellent video series even being linked and discussed at WAF? If not, why not?

 

[tokarev38]

It is, I posted your screenshot there.

https://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/forum/community-forums/collector-community-forum/12709405-champagne-ss-rune-fraud-fully-exposed

 

[tjg79]

I just looked at that thread over there on WAF. They haven't locked it yet. I haven't visited WAF in a long time, but some members over there seem familiar like old Phil McCracken. I noticed maui got expelled. Is WAF moving in the right direction?