A fool and his money....

[Idris]

Has the World gone mad?
How else to explain this auction which has just ended? A princely £429 for a common model with an unusual-colour plastic component, but one which isn't particularly firmly attached to the rest of the model! Who here would take the risk with that kind of money? (N.B. the seller guarantees its authenticity and stated in the auction that the model "...has been seen and checked by many a collector and all agreed its genuine shows no signs of stress marks or forced removal of the hook to be swapped...i will stand on and clearly STATE THIS IS 100% Genuine RARE EXAMPLE and happy to put my money wear my mouth if proved wrong with a full refund but i dont believe anyone will say otherwise as this has been seen by the best eyes in the game so bid with confidence...".)

[Brad Pittiful]

i wouldnt buy it for more than 20 dollars as it looks minty and thats the only reason to buy it...as i needed one of these in my collection...so i swapped tow hooks with models i already owned...the catalog tag i put that the tow hook has been swapped from red to yellow

[GHOSTHUNTER]

Scrolled down to read this...

...which is odd, he clearly does not want any fair feedback for whatever reason!

Ghosthunter.

[jeff f]

i very unsure about his blue superfast zodiac

[motorman]

Has the World gone mad?
How else to explain this auction which has just ended? A princely £429 for a common model with an unusual-colour plastic component, but one which isn't particularly firmly attached to the rest of the model! Who here would take the risk with that kind of money? (N.B. the seller guarantees its authenticity and stated in the auction that the model "...has been seen and checked by many a collector and all agreed its genuine shows no signs of stress marks or forced removal of the hook to be swapped...i will stand on and clearly STATE THIS IS 100% Genuine RARE EXAMPLE and happy to put my money wear my mouth if proved wrong with a full refund but i dont believe anyone will say otherwise as this has been seen by the best eyes in the game so bid with confidence...".)

Graham Hamilton was happy with it i am reliably informed

[Idris]

i very unsure about his blue superfast zodiac

On VBD, if you believe a particular model to be suspect, you are required to provide supporting evidence for your statement. (No accusations without a smoking gun.)
Please provide your supporting arguments for the above statement within 24 hours or it will be deleted. (This is an open forum and libel laws apply.)

[Idris]

Has the World gone mad?
How else to explain this auction which has just ended? A princely £429 for a common model with an unusual-colour plastic component, but one which isn't particularly firmly attached to the rest of the model! Who here would take the risk with that kind of money? (N.B. the seller guarantees its authenticity and stated in the auction that the model "...has been seen and checked by many a collector and all agreed its genuine shows no signs of stress marks or forced removal of the hook to be swapped...i will stand on and clearly STATE THIS IS 100% Genuine RARE EXAMPLE and happy to put my money wear my mouth if proved wrong with a full refund but i dont believe anyone will say otherwise as this has been seen by the best eyes in the game so bid with confidence...".)

Graham Hamilton was happy with it i am reliably informed

Well, if true, then that's a pretty impressive endorsement. However, the authenticity of the model is not the area of concern.
We have seen fakers move into all areas of the hobby: wheels, labels, seats, body colours, pre-productions. You name it, someone has tried it. My problem here is that this is such an easy variation to fake, who would pay over £400 for this example? Just think about what has happened to 'Baron of Beef' buses. Once a highly-prized rarity, they have become devalued, through the market being flooded with outright fakes using repro labels, and a smaller number of examples being created using genuine labels sold off during The Great Clearout.
Joe (Tinman) has told us time and time again, don't pay a premium for label/decal variations, and with good reason - they are easily faked. This yellow-hook 13d would be even easier to fake. How long before Ebay is flooded with indistinguishable look-alikes? The value of the model sold today can only fall.

[motorman]

Has the World gone mad?
How else to explain this auction which has just ended? A princely £429 for a common model with an unusual-colour plastic component, but one which isn't particularly firmly attached to the rest of the model! Who here would take the risk with that kind of money? (N.B. the seller guarantees its authenticity and stated in the auction that the model "...has been seen and checked by many a collector and all agreed its genuine shows no signs of stress marks or forced removal of the hook to be swapped...i will stand on and clearly STATE THIS IS 100% Genuine RARE EXAMPLE and happy to put my money wear my mouth if proved wrong with a full refund but i dont believe anyone will say otherwise as this has been seen by the best eyes in the game so bid with confidence...".)

Graham Hamilton was happy with it i am reliably informed

Well, if true, then that's a pretty impressive endorsement. However, the authenticity of the model is not the area of concern.
We have seen fakers move into all areas of the hobby: wheels, labels, seats, body colours, pre-productions. You name it, someone has tried it. My problem here is that this is such an easy variation to fake, who would pay over £400 for this example? Just think about what has happened to 'Baron of Beef' buses. Once a highly-prized rarity, they have become devalued, through the market being flooded with outright fakes using repro labels, and a smaller number of examples being created using genuine labels sold off during The Great Clearout.
Joe (Tinman) has told us time and time again, don't pay a premium for label/decal variations, and with good reason - they are easily faked. This yellow-hook 13d would be even easier to fake. How long before Ebay is flooded with indistinguishable look-alikes? The value of the model sold today can only fall.

I won’t be surprised to see a few appear on eBay over the next few weeks

[jeff f]

in reguards to the zodiac, i think, could be wrong that the rear rivit looks wrong to me

[Idris]

I won’t be surprised to see a few appear on eBay over the next few weeks

Even as we speak, somewhere in a workshop in The Netherlands.....