$676 Walthers car


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Famous or not. That is just plain rediculous for someone to pay that kind of money. If he is famous, its the first I have ever heard of him. Like already mentioned in this thread. PT Barnums famous line bodes well in this case. Either that, or this is a shill bid or a scam.
 
Famous or not. That is just plain rediculous for someone to pay that kind of money. If he is famous, its the first I have ever heard of him. Like already mentioned in this thread. PT Barnums famous line bodes well in this case. Either that, or this is a shill bid or a scam.

I go with shill bidding and a scam... ;)
 
There's always the possibility of shell auctions with faux purchases to pump up prices for his work. Glorifying the ugliness of grafitti by making it seem valuable is despicable in my opinion.

I have no idea who this artiste is and certainly don't wish him any harm or demise. However, like all the great masters; can you imagine what this stuff will bring after he dies? That is if in fact this was a legitimate bidding war and not a sham as others think. Back in their day Van Gogh and Rembrandt and others sometimes sold their work for as little as a hot meal and look at them now.
 
Wait, wait everyone...there is a decimal point missing in that winning bid. It was only $6.76..:p
 
Well like the saying "art immitating life" it's more like stupidity immitating scum in my opinion - regarless of what it sold for.

Just the fact that someone would actually invest all their efforts modeling this stuff I find rather disturbing. All it does is encourage the real gratitti clowns and glorify their acts.
 
Well like the saying "art immitating life" it's more like stupidity immitating scum in my opinion - regarless of what it sold for.

Just the fact that someone would actually invest all their efforts modeling this stuff I find rather disturbing. All it does is encourage the real gratitti clowns and glorify their acts.

:rolleyes: I can understand not liking the model do to it's price or whatever but come on now this is getting stupid. I'm sure graffiti artists everywhere are scrounging ebay and model railroads everywhere looking for inspiration for their next tag.;)

Graffiti happens in real life, people try to represent real life with their models and sometimes this include graffiti. If you don't like it that's fine, don't model it but to discredit someones attempt at weathering/modeling because they include it is just stupid.
 
Well like the saying "art immitating life" it's more like stupidity immitating scum in my opinion - regarless of what it sold for.

Just the fact that someone would actually invest all their efforts modeling this stuff I find rather disturbing. All it does is encourage the real gratitti clowns and glorify their acts.

Right. Graffiti artists/vandals are trolling modelrailroadforums.com for ideas and inspiration.:rolleyes: Perhaps we should quit making toy guns in an effort to prevent future wars.
 
Mellow Mike is a talented modeler whether one likes the man personally or not. He is free to sell his products for whatever he chooses and buyers are free to pay whatever they desire. That is the beauty of a free market system.

I'm sure no one here ever paid more then "market value" for something that they just had to have.

Is $600+ for one car that will be proudly displayed any different then $600 for 60 cars that will never see the light of day? I know several modelers who have tens of thousands of dollars invested in crap that will never, ever come out of the box. They have accumulated so much stuff that there isn't enough years left in their life to ever make use of it. I think that $5K invested in one train that runs several times a year is of more value then $5K worth of still NIB junk down in the basement.

The bash Mellow Mike and this bidder wagon was getting a little crowded and I had to throw out a differing opinion. Your mileage may vary.
 
i have a subscription to this guy on youtube that has started to do alot of weathing and graffiti. I saw some of his auctions and they are going for over $100 too. I think its just the name that gets these pieces up there. If I really wanted to, and actually tried im sure I could put out a model similar to these. Except I won't be cheap and just use shrunk decals.
 
This is for the benefit of the cluless individuals, like Willis, who relish in conspiracy theories, and accusing me of rigged auctions. I'm just going to explain this, and then I'm gone.

What you don't realize about eBay bidding that appears to be outrageous or insane, is the exponential factor of the bidding plateaus.

For example, let's say two people want an N Scale KATO diesel. The bid raises will generally be in $1 or $5 increments. I put down $40 on Tuesday. On Wednesday, someone tops me at $45. I raise him another $5 to make it $50. He snipes the diesel in the last hour for $57 and wins.

With me so far...? Two average guys (or three) bidding on an average priced item. Neither of us would likely plop down a $20 or $30 raise on this item to show how serious we are.

Now... you take an item like a unique weathered car that appeals to collectors with an excess of mad money. The car has some conservative bidding early on, by regular folks. Hoping to score it within their modest budget. Occasionally a collector will step in and do a "bookmark" bid. But not always. The car is still obtainable to most bidders.

Soon the price has made it's way over $100. Or $200, let's say. Now the regular guys walk away. It's going to be a battle between maybe 3 collectors and one persistent first-timer. Just as an example.

At this plateau, the bidders involved do not mess with $5 or $10 raises. That's for a $70 KATO diesel. Follow me so far? Because the repeat customers (and that's the key here) know what they need to do to win such a car - they do their raises in much larger amounts. Like $50 at a time. In their world of luxury, that is akin to my $5 KATO raise.

The wild part comes at the end. Suppose you know two other collectors have, or will jump on this car with a knock-out blow to win it...

The current bid is sitting at $255 maybe. Time is ticking down. If you go with a $301 bid, will that be enough in the final seconds? What if the other guy locks in $350. You'll lose the car. Hmmmm. Don't want to go $400. How about $360 then. What did he spend on the last MM car...? Damn. He really might go $400. Meanwhile, Collector B is worrying about what A or C are going to bid at the end. $425...? $450....?

Ever see the finale of the The Good, Bad, and the Ugly...? Where the three gunslingers are in the cemetery staring each other down wondering who is going to draw first. The suspense is probably something like that.

So, in these auctions of mine that reach high final prices, it's all in the last seconds. The weapon of choice for my repeat buyers is a snipe. Shouldn't have to explain what that is to you. Collector A locks in his snipe amount. Collector B locks in his. Persistent First Timer goes out on a limb and puts in something substantial. Collector C folds his hand, and decides not to snipe, but the others don't know that. They assume he'll be in.

Three pre-programmed snipes, done to guarantee a victory, fire off simultaneously in the final 5 seconds. It's all or nothing. That's how a car at $255 can end at $600. Someone's snipe was $450... another was $595, and the winner was above that, but only the amount necessary to win is recorded.

My auctions are not rigged. The bidders are not shills. In a shill situation, you can't do huge ending snipes like that. If the bidder's friend wins by accident, there's a problem. That's when you see the car sold to the runner-up bidder. Or, the car re-listed later down the road. Or sold at Timonium, and you go "Hmmmm.... saw that on eBay a while back.... what happened..."

With all that being said, let's drop this.

MM
 
I saw this auction a few days ago and while I do recognise the skill involved, I say this one ugly piece of work. Not a big fan of graffitti myself...

676 bucks.... geez, not even good oil paintings go for that much.
 
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It looks good, really good. I will give him that. However, there is no way I would believe that it sold for that incredibly ridiculous amount if I didn't see it myself. Pure craziness ,as has been stated on this thread already I am sure. The big question will be, did the buyer actually pay for it when all was said and done?
 
This is for the benefit of the cluless individuals, like Willis, who relish in conspiracy theories, and accusing me of rigged auctions. I'm just going to explain this, and then I'm gone.
Welcome back Mike, see you haven't changed much if any :D. Truthfully I could simulate on eBay auctions quite similar to the way your eBay auctions are doing. This is not to say that your auctions are like this, but it's a presentation of a way to simulate a likeness to said auctions.
Without prejudice
Let's see I have five legit email addresses from my provider that would give me five eBay handles,( I have two now) So #1 handle puts let's say a piece of my junk art work for auction and the other 4 bid it up. So in fact I sell it to myself. (not too smart so far, so we'll go a little further.) actual cost to me is just ebay fees (no shipping required). Actually very cheap and convincing advertising. Now when I build up my name for myself with these fabulous sales, maybe I'll open a small buisness or take some of my nice junk artwork to the artwork shows, sell them for let's say $150 each and the newbies will think they're getting a real bargain on one of Willie's home crafted art pieces.
I'm not saying that's the way your auctions are run, or that that's what you do, I'm just stating how a simulation would work and make a profit if I wanted to do it. I also agree you do a nice job of painting and applying decals to the models. They are nice, but they aren't worth $650 of the excited bidding you describe.

Cheers
Willis

Hmmmm! Four and a quarter years since MM's last post, nice to see you're still watching us Mike :D
 
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I saw this auction a few days ago and while I do recognise the skill involved, I say this one ugly piece of work. Not a big fan of graffitti myself...

676 bucks.... geez, not even good oil paintings go for that much.

thinking about it, i havent seen much graffity on CN cars these years, i think they now have a "repaint policy". it has been proved that those teens taggers are more likely to write stuff when there is already some tags on buses or freight cars
 
This is for the benefit of the cluless individuals, like Willis, who relish in conspiracy theories, and accusing me of rigged auctions.

(snip auction process details...)

Willis is not alone in his reasonable conclusion...

The prideful expression of your considerable knowledge concerning the bidding process is exactly the information necessary to fake an auction.

Give a man enough rope... ;)
 
Willis is not alone in his reasonable conclusion...

The prideful expression of your considerable knowledge concerning the bidding process is exactly the information necessary to fake an auction.

Give a man enough rope... ;)

i dont know, im pretty shure ebay is cheking if all bid are comming from the same IP address, but there are way to change it(complicated).... if he made his website himselft, im almost shure he know how

in my opion, its not usefull to fake an auction, i mean, selling it to yourself ???(frauders do it to raise their rank ), but you can try to raise the price for some bonus $$$.

Are you a modeller having fun or a spoof that wants fame at all cost. Like Master yoda would saý; An ethical question, this is. :D
 
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