Champagne Rune SS Fraud Exposed Video Series
- Thread starter Hambone
- Start date
tjg79
Senior Member
Are there two new volumes, IIa & IIb, in addition to volume II?
No, volume 2 was split into 2 books.
His COA and book selling business is ruined so Kelly H the peddler of worthless COA's is a victim too?
And the XRF business never really got of the ground because "scientist - Maui" got in to on-line discussions with Hambone and myself?
...
I almost feel sorry for him, just like I feel sorry for his German counterpart Detlev Niemann with his rubish COA for medals and badges.
And the XRF business never really got of the ground because "scientist - Maui" got in to on-line discussions with Hambone and myself?
...
I almost feel sorry for him, just like I feel sorry for his German counterpart Detlev Niemann with his rubish COA for medals and badges.
I got a few bullet points from it.
“Dammit, Maui keeps getting drunk posting, ruining such a great idea”
“That Hobo guy just won’t let it go”
“C’mon man, if your buying a shampain rune helmet you have to know it’s “probably” not real. He literally still can’t bring himself to the reality deep down imo.
“Dammit, Maui keeps getting drunk posting, ruining such a great idea”
“That Hobo guy just won’t let it go”
“C’mon man, if your buying a shampain rune helmet you have to know it’s “probably” not real. He literally still can’t bring himself to the reality deep down imo.
Mrfarb, at least it is good to know he believes in God.
Always better then to be cheated by an athiest.
It looks like my Nostradumbass prediction pretty much came true
Anyone with any basic knowledge of the history of this SS Champagne Rune Fraud, Hicks, and the XRFacts medicine show knows how excruciatingly difficult, and what incredible efforts were necessary, over years, all while we were attacked and censored, to expose these things and bring them to light. This is particularly true of DougB, who, in our hobby, would be revered as a hero, not attacked and made to feel unwelcome. Thank you DougB, you're always welcome here! The history, in an epic thread, is here. It's incredible really. It does not speak well for some of the stewards of the SS helmet collecting hobby IMHO. Why are certain blowhards at WAF now stating that they knew all along that the "Champagne Rune SS decals" were bad, why did they sit back for decades or more doing nothing while people were ripped off, while the hobby was harmed, corrupted, and contaminated?
Imagine if DougB had not spent incredible sums of money, time, and bought his own website to avoid the censorship and banning, and had we not opposed XRFacts. Where would we be now? I think that tells you all you need to know. All simply my opinions of course. Never forget so that these things never happen again, and certainly so that it never happens to us. A laurel, and hardy handshake, to all of my fellow "hobby anarchists" particularly Tjg, Peter U, and Farb.
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tjg79
Senior Member
There's a lot to analyze in these two interviews featuring Doug Buhler and Kelly Hicks pertaining to the two big moneymaking scams in lid collecting; XRF lid testing, and the bogus champagne rune "decal" lid.
Fortunately, for the most part, we have a realtime record of these scams.
One interviewee comes across as honest, forthright, and candid. The other, not so much, because it was all spin.
It was intereseting to hear Hicks throw David May, aka maui, the XRFacts "scientist" with no qualifications, under the bus for causing the XRF lid testing scam to fail, because he would get drunk and try to argue with Hambone.
Fortunately, for the most part, we have a realtime record of these scams.
One interviewee comes across as honest, forthright, and candid. The other, not so much, because it was all spin.
It was intereseting to hear Hicks throw David May, aka maui, the XRFacts "scientist" with no qualifications, under the bus for causing the XRF lid testing scam to fail, because he would get drunk and try to argue with Hambone.
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IMHO, Maui gets points for being standup enough to come and argue his position. Where else did that happen? DougB had to buy a site in order to get his message out without it being censored and people banned. That tells you everything you need to know about why the Shampain Rune fraud lasted as long as it did and XRFacts got so much traction. We don't censor here. How many of those proponents of both, and attackers of DougB, etc., have you seen come here to state their positions? They never have and won't because there are no censors here to protect them and their narratives. The fact remains that XRFacts was used to "validate" the Shampain Rune and then the Shampain Rune used to help validate XRFacts. What some of those guys at WAF were "prophesizing" for the future of the hobby and the XRFacts COAs was pretty scary.
It sure was scary, they not only wanted to authenticate the fakes from their airbrush workshop, they also wanted to set up a grading institution to validate all other pieces of militaria with their XRF gun that was only usable to sort scrap metal.
Can you imagine the damage they would have done if their dream had come true?
It dwarfs the Detlev Niemann COA scam!
Btw the wheel doesn't need to be reinvented, their are several internationally reckognized companies that do tests on antiques and art to determin authenticity by means of scientific testing, they write reports that can be used as evidence in court.
I have no exact idea about what they charge, it will of course depend on the type of tests they preform and it sure will not be cheap but in the case of the "champain' rune decal it would have been a lot cheaper to hire the service of one of these labs then what Doug B eventually has spend to proof his point.
Who would ever trust a COA written by someone that has skin in the game?
....worse, BUY a COA from people with skin in the game. Then, if you want to sell something, you need to pay for their blessing.......I believe that the next time a group of "bigwigs" gets together to take control of authentication they should be well reminded of this. As long as we're here we'll help sort things out.
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Does that mean he truly believed in them? Indicating some degree of innocence?
I personally believe the claims about KEN.
He’s been caught swapping liners and parts etc before. And Doug has no reason to lie now. He’s out. Living a normal life. Lol
You buy a high end helmet and pay the dealer $50 extra to give you a COA? Or you buy a SS helmet and pay Hicks money to give you a paper confirming it's legit? What if he's been in the chain of ownership / inventory? Ryan, for us this seems rather ridiculous because our hobby is different. We've utilized and managed the internets and forums in a different way. The information is uncensored, objective, and transparent. We don't need "COAs" or ray guns and pie charts.
Exactly. We offer open and honest vetting of rifles daily. No need for a worthless COA. All a COA does is make someone with no knowledge about what they are buying feel good about the purchase at that moment. So asking a dealer if “it’s good” and trusting their judgement because they gave you a sheet of paper.
tjg79
Senior Member
He believed in the money. If he truly believed in the champagne rune "decal" lids, why does it appear that he made an extrordinary effort to fabricate a lid story in an attempt to show that they existed in the early 70s? Why does he now imply that the famous picnic table chickenwire champagne rune lid may not be a true champagne rune lid? He ought to know exactly, because it's one of his christened champagne rune beauties. It's featured in the latest edition of his book, and was a monthly centerfold back in 2013 on his website. He aquired that lid twice and it sat in his collection for years. Yet now, as of Part 3 (2:28 minute mark), he's not sure if he's seen a champagne rune in the mid 70s. In fact, he appears to forget the blood and brain matter stained bringback champagne rune lid that he claimed he aquired from a WWII combat vet in '74-75 for good reason, because Eric Dolin wasn't painting cars in the early 70s, because he was still in high school with a October 1959 birthdate. The champagne rune lids probably appeared in the 90s at the earliest.
When all else fails, and you find yourself backed into a corner, invoke your Christian faith.
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tjg79
Senior Member
I was a little disappointed in Part 3, because Militaria Review Mike didn't go for the jugular when Hicks returned after watching the Part 2 podcaste and began disparaging Doug Buhler.
Kelly Hicks: "It wasn't a scam, it was just a big sad mistake."
The SS Steel books are quickly becoming another BBotW type reference.
Kelly Hicks: "It wasn't a scam, it was just a big sad mistake."
The SS Steel books are quickly becoming another BBotW type reference.
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Warrior1354
ax - hole
Yeah really is amazing when somebody gets their hand caught in the cookie jar they still try to deny it or they still consider saying I'm sorry. Not to mention when you keep back peddling on certain statements. Unfortunately for Kelly Hicks his credibility and reputation is pretty much in the tank, it's gone. What did Kelly say he sold twenty or Thirty of these helmets with these certificate of authenticity papers? And every one of these helmets were sold for what six-figure numbers. That's a lot of money and a lot of people duped there's no coming back from that. And yes I hate it when people bring Christianity into it because I'm a Christian myself. For one stop the lying and stop the bullshit be honest. At the end of the day you had skin in the game and you were making a good amount of money. But later on somebody did some investigation of what they bought and found out something was wrong. And even when he brought that up you still denied it because people considered you the SS helmet collecting God and we're trying to shut the guy up. Plus your ego was so big because you stated I've been collecting these since the 1970s. I can tell a real one from a fake one easy and I wrote books on the subject too.