Figure 8.  A gathering of some of the reproductions that have appeared on eBay. The Vaseline shooter at far right is the genuine article and presumably served as the model for the reproduction at its side (top center).

This same authentic pre-pro design is reproduced in crudely-rendered form on the side of a modern glass in Figure 9.  It listed with a starting price of $20.00 and I was dismayed to see how quickly it was bid up into serious money range.

A collecting colleague tipped off the auction participants about the true nature of the glass but, while the high bidder heeded the advice and withdrew, the others stood their ground and the auction closed at a few pennies short of $73. Not bad for a $2 glass with a home-made label!
	Figure 9	Figure 10

The seller went underground for several months after this auction but recently re-emerged with a new identity and with their feedback hidden from view. The glasses were now also offered in private auctions, presumably to prevent unwelcome interference from other collectors who recognize the glasses for what they are. The most recent offering listed in April of this year and is particularly disturbing because the label has been applied to what appears to be a genuinely old, pre-pro blank [Figure 11]. 

Figure 11 Figure 12

As usual, the seller was careful about the claims they made in the auction description, noting only that it was a "2 1/4" Shot glass . Very old thin glass. Age unknown. No chips. Very nice condition." The glass was inscribed with a label that read "IMPERIAL WHISKEY", as shown in Figure 11. The significance of the timing of this auction may have escaped many collectors, but it appeared just days after Rich Lucchesi had auctioned off an authentic Imperial Whiskey shot glass [Figure 12].

Imperial was sold by Goldberg-Bowen, a company located in San Francisco & Oakland in the years leading up to Prohibition. San Francisco glasses always sell at a premium and this one was no exception: the auction closed at $152.50. The reproduction was thus designed to ride the coat-tails of a genuinely rare glass. The fake-glass auction was terminated a day before it was due to close, with the cryptic message "The seller ended this listing early because the item is no longer available for sale." Rumor has it that an unknowing collector had purchased it in a behind-the-scenes deal for $135.

As the value of pre-prohibition glasses continues to climb, it seems inevitable that someone will be driven to perfect the art of faking them. The first four months of 2005 alone saw 30 glasses auctioned for $100 or more, a two-to-three fold increase over an equivalent period of 2003 and a serious incentive for fraud. So what can a collector do to protect themselves, particularly if they're new to the field? While there's no real substitute for education and experience, there are options. Personally, I avoid any online auction where either the seller's feedback or the bidder's identity are marked "private" because it usually means that the seller has something to hide. Perhaps the best advice is to seek out the help of collectors who know the field well. The shot collector's website www.pre-pro.com has a thriving community that's always eager to offer free advice via the chat room (http://www.pre-pro.com/glasschat/mboard.php), and notices about fake glasses are typically posted on the site within hours of the appearance of a suspicious auction listing. 

Pre-pro glass collectors have often lamented the fact that their limited numbers has made it difficult to organize, but the lack of critical mass has also limited the opportunity to make a killing through selling fakes. Thus while suspect Roseville vases will continue to haunt the display shelves of antique stores, it's unlikely that the shelf above will ever be filled with "rare" etched pre-pro glasses from San Francisco. But the threat of reproduction glasses finding their way onto the market remains very real. For now, all we can do is document their appearance and spread the word.

My thanks to Bruce Silva for providing information about modern reproductions of antique bottles, Rich Lucchesi for allowing me to use his auction photo, and to the multi-talented "junkmoney" for his generous gift of the art glasses. 

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