Alexander Sommerset
One of the Regulars
- Messages
- 118
- Location
- Kenosha, Wisconsin
So, I have noticed a really strange thing going on with top hat sellers on ebay.
Some may recall a few weeks ago I asked here on the Lounge about when beaver stopped being used for toppers. It seems that the consensus opinion was that it was around the civil war and that by 1870 or so top hats were no longer beaver but were made of silk plush.
Now, I have asked this question because I have an old topper that was sold to me as a civil war era, beaver top hat. I think now it is silk, but whatever the case I was just trying to figure out what I had.
So, back to ebay.... so I have been watching ebay to see others being offered to judge mine by.
I've noticed there are three auction title styles with these things.
1) They are properly identified as "silk top hats."
2) They are misidentified (perhaps on purpose by some) as "beaver top hats."
But it is the third category that I don't get....
3) They are being called "beaver silk."
Now, we all know there is no such thing as any "beaver silk." It is a fake, made up term that has no meaning at all.
So, I emailed a few of these guys selling their hats as "beaver silk." Every single one of them had no clue what they were talking about and all said they were just aping other sellers and had no real facts at hand.
But I asked each of them what the heck a "beaver silk" even could be and where they got the word. Only one seller made sense. He said he knew nothing about what his hat was really made of but he saw a pile of hats on ebay being called "beaver" and then another pile being called "silk" and he couldn't see any difference between them so he just put the two words together "just in case." But otherwise he had no idea what a "beaver silk" could be.
Some of them later changed their auctions to "silk," thankfully, but others refused to accept the facts.
Anyway, I bring this all up to you guys to show how easy it is to get fake terms created out of nothing on ebay.
Some may recall a few weeks ago I asked here on the Lounge about when beaver stopped being used for toppers. It seems that the consensus opinion was that it was around the civil war and that by 1870 or so top hats were no longer beaver but were made of silk plush.
Now, I have asked this question because I have an old topper that was sold to me as a civil war era, beaver top hat. I think now it is silk, but whatever the case I was just trying to figure out what I had.
So, back to ebay.... so I have been watching ebay to see others being offered to judge mine by.
I've noticed there are three auction title styles with these things.
1) They are properly identified as "silk top hats."
2) They are misidentified (perhaps on purpose by some) as "beaver top hats."
But it is the third category that I don't get....
3) They are being called "beaver silk."
Now, we all know there is no such thing as any "beaver silk." It is a fake, made up term that has no meaning at all.
So, I emailed a few of these guys selling their hats as "beaver silk." Every single one of them had no clue what they were talking about and all said they were just aping other sellers and had no real facts at hand.
But I asked each of them what the heck a "beaver silk" even could be and where they got the word. Only one seller made sense. He said he knew nothing about what his hat was really made of but he saw a pile of hats on ebay being called "beaver" and then another pile being called "silk" and he couldn't see any difference between them so he just put the two words together "just in case." But otherwise he had no idea what a "beaver silk" could be.
Some of them later changed their auctions to "silk," thankfully, but others refused to accept the facts.
Anyway, I bring this all up to you guys to show how easy it is to get fake terms created out of nothing on ebay.
