www.T206museum and Collector Linked to Fake T206 Overprints.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tktNZpUTMoQ

Hello Full Count thought you guys would like to discuss and wanted to make everyone aware, please feel free to pass on.

I ask in advance you forgive my Sixteen Candles references below but laughing is all I can do to keep from blowing my top on this one.

“Hey Howard there’s your Chinaman in the front yard and his pockets are stuffed with fake T206 overprint cards..”

This is going to be an interactive post so use all links to garner the full story and the steps it took to a handful of us to get to the bottom of one of the bigger scams in our hobby.
I along with some other folks have been questioning the authenticity of T206 Old Mill “Black” overprints for some time. In fact so much so that I set out to win the current Old Mill OP in REA this year. My plan was to have my own copy to do tests on and examine in full detail out of the holder. I had seen one other but it was in a private collection and I wasn’t going to ask if I could break their card out to debunk…LOL

Amongst my ongoing investigation of collected images and notes along with my current winning bid in REA, I was brought up to speed on another angle of a similar investigation by Jim Rivera.
Jim and I had met for the first time in PA at the new Reading show. Jim mentioned to me his doubts as did I. He shared a piece of information that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
That tidbit of info is that one collector named Pat Chan had owned 2 other Old Mill OP and wouldn’t it be odd if the card in REA was his as well.
We raised the question and concerns with Rob Lifson of REA and understood if he didn’t want to tell due to privacy issues of consignors we understood. We asked him only to tell if it was in fact Chan. Shocked we found out it was in fact consigned by Patrick Chan! This now proved that Chan has had three examples of a next to impossible to find T206 oddity.
Dan Mckee and Jim Rivera also thought Chan might in fact be the owner of the famed T206 information site T206musuem.com. But had no proof to tie Chan to the site that was famous for hyping these T206 oddities.

At that point I contacted Rob Lifson with our collective thoughts. Rob sent the card back to SGC for a second look. SGC came back and said it looked good but upon hearing all of the info and noting that Chan was the submitter for grading at SGC….SGC began to have concerns as well.

They asked Rob if he knew of anybody else who might review the card for a second opinion. Rob asked SGC to send the card to me for review. At that point I felt compelled to contact the other collectors I knew who in fact had one of these questionable cards. I reluctantly brought them up to speed and asked if I could also review their card in person they willing agreed.
Upon receiving both cards I began my investigation of which can be found at the link above for your review as well.

http://imageevent.com/piojohn3/fraudulentoldmilloverprints

http://www.box.net/shared/bep1nopzsq

Or you can download a full version here.

My conclusions were that all “Black” Old Mill Overprints are in fact forgeries and at best original “Red” Old Mill Overprints weren’t different back examples or series just hand cut printers scraps that made it of the factory with a different brand stamp mark.

This very information deemed these “Black” cards to be fake but with no hard evidence to point to who made them only lots of circumstantial evidence that Chan was involved having so many examples.
This information was then forwarded to an FBI agent.



After reading the information and discussing with me and Rob Lifson the FBI felt there was enough information to pay Mr. Chan a visit.


The FBI did in fact pay Mr. Chan a visit and though we don’t have any information on the exact details of that day here’s what we can tell you.


The FBI agent as requested the cards back. Mr. Chan the day of the raid if you will has contacted all owners of these cards in an attempt to work deals for their return and to compensate those who owned them.

Mr. Chan has also admitted to owning and printing them as well as being tied directly to T206museum.com by admitting ownership from the recently deleted “Black Double Bar” which was listed for sale on T206musuem.com for 35k.

This card can be found in the linked booklet. This card was part of a so called 250 card Old Mill find of T210’s and T206’s which can now be proven as false.

He has also in a private emails in which I was privy too admitted to making the “Single” bar versions as well. Here are a few excerpts directly from Chan himself.

I have removed the names of the innocent parties that were scammed by Chan. If they choose to come forward that is there decision.

Email from Patrick Chan the day of the FBI visit to known owner one of the fake cards…

“I am deeply sorry for everything. I know I was stupid and made all these messes. I guess I was just too crazy about t206s. Honestly, I created those overprints a long time ago for my own enjoyment and not for money. When there was a time many collectors bitching about PSA didn't know anything about vintage cards so I decided to submit my creations to PSA and tested how much they know about those overprints and turned out they really didn't know anything about them and that's how they got encapsulated. Anyways, I posted my Lipe on eBay (with no intention of selling it) and solely for showmanship. I did received a lot of cash offers and I refused every single one of them until REMOVED NAME offered me a trade deals that involved some t206 oddities that I have never seen before. At that time, my "fever" and "craziness" on t206 oddities completely covered my sane and heart and evenutally traded out the Hart. I had an agreement with NAME REMOVED that if he ever wanted to sell the Hart and I will buy it back from him, unfortunately, my cash flow was tight and I wasn't able to buy it back. Anyways, I am very sorry for what I have caused to your family and all of the disappointment. In fact, I am glad you are the one who has the Hart (since I know the owner) so I can fix the stupid mess in an easier fashion. Ironically, I am also glad FBI was involved so I can finally realized how stupid I was and finally wake up and realized how much I have done to the hobby.”

Second email from Patrick Chan to the same collectors upon working out a deal…

“I really hope the $k can compensation of what I did to you, and your family. Please pass my apology to BLANK and the rest of your family. I still love this hobby and I have decided not to touch any of my collection for sometime to cool down my "t-fever". I wish you best of luck building your collections. I hope you and BLANK would keep my stupid acts in a low profile since I really feel ashamed of myself and really hope I can use my t206 knowledge and collection that I have to educate more collectors in a positive way when I come back to the hobby in the future. I am really sorry for the "betrayal of trust".”


"wassa hapening scam artist"
A little insight into Chan...

Funny picture of the Donger I know…but I’m sorry Mr. Chan “No more yankee my wankee” I’m calling BS.


I don’t buy the “it was an innocent mistake or a game to see what you can get slabbed.”

No offense fooling PSA or any grading company really isn’t that hard, it ends up like being the tallest midget who would you brag too.

You fooled these grading companies and collectors for one reason greed pure and simple. That makes you a con artist at best! But more like a clown and a no good crook.

I guess the email below was also an innocent mistake. You know Chan the one when you try to convince the current owners of the Hart card not to sell it to me. Also the one where you said you didn’t own the Revelle and hinted at shill bidding….

In fact I have seen quite a few emails in which Mr. Chan lies about these cards.

To Pat Chan….from Hart owners.“

Pat,
Actually I'm still trying to get the complete back set but a nice condition Broadleaf 460 is a killer to get ... as well as the OM double overprint. Do you have any idea as to how after so many years with no OM overprints ever seen, now in addition to the one I have, yours, the one on REA and the T206 Museum [all in black ink] they all of a sudden seem to be available? Do you think these are all from the same group and are there others that you know of? And how will that affect the prices? The price on REA does seem low so far.”

Response from Chan…

“I am not certain, but I think those single overprint backs could be from the same group and the double overprints in t206museum is from the other found with all those T210s. Regards to their values, I think if I don't sell mine and u don't sell yours in the near future then our single overprint backs can still hold the value. I think they "all of a sudden" available to the market mainly due to the booming of Internet and Net54 forum. I think as long as we keep our overprints in low key and hoping the new owner of the overprint from REA isn't a flipper then we should be ok. I am tempting to win that overprint from REA if it stays under 5k.”

I guess that above is more of those innocent mistakes…right Chan?

Funny to me it seems like a scam artist covering a mess knowing the heat is on, and lying once again to nice collectors. Also seems funny you would bid on your own card in REA…besides why bid and spend money just make a few more.

But please don’t’ make more than say 11 or you’ll screw up your rarity list on your website www.T206musuem.com.

It’s all bull because…

You don’t on a whim produce a stamp which I’m sure took time and energy, stamp cards and get them graded. Then produce a website to hype fake cards with website full of fake finds and bogus articles about card you made.

You also don’t accidently consign cards to auction houses and sign contracts with folks like Rob Lifson and sell your creations.

Let me guess Mr. Chan would have accidently taken that 35k for the fake “Double Bar” OP on the website T206museum.com as well if someone arranged payment?

You will also notice by some miracle the links and articles on these amazing rare “Black” Old Mill overstrikes are no longer up….hmmm wonder why.

Chan you’re crazy for T206’s alright.

So crazy that you would scam, cheat and screw any collector of T206’s you can find to take advantage of for your own gain.

The sad and truly horrible thing out of this whole mess is the fact that he has no created a mess of fake information that many amateur T206 collectors took as gospel from a trusted sourceT206musuem.com.

Also even more crazy if you will is that he will most likely walk when all is said and done. He should be having some hot cups of...while in his jail cell.

The facts are simple…

The website www.t206museum.com is a website that uses genuine information as an avenue to produce and hype forged T206 oddities. You should avoid any dealings with the webmasters and owners of this site unless they can come forward and prove their innocence.

One funny note just before this went public today these very folks after Rob Lifson made a donation to the site. Emailed Rob to let him know that this lot was not legit…yet the same folks consigned and hyped the fake Revelle in the same auction…LOL what a great bunch of guys

http://bid.robertedwardauctions.com/bidplace.aspx?itemid=11697

“Black” Old Mill Overprints double or single are fakes. They were made by one collector for the purpose of obtaining real cards from innocent collectors.

Don’t count on grading companies to protect you from guys like Chan as it is very clear that won’t be your best line of defense.

Always trust your nose guys and do your homework or even ask questions from the many knowledgeable folks here.

IMPORTANT if you have had any dealings with Patrick Chan on questionable cards or have fallen victim to one of these fake overprints please email I and I will make sure to get your information to the proper authorities.
T
hanks for reading hopefully the hobby is a little safer today...but not by much…

Cheers,
John

If anyone would like a hi-res PDF of the article on these cards linked above please feel free to email me.

I love it John!!! Very well done and kudos to you, Jim Rivera, REA and B the FBI guy!!!! Great work!

good team effort and thanks to all

Good Work John and all others involved.

I'm disturbed that it seems that their letting this crook off the hook by just making restitution.
If he was a celebrity or Politician, they would hire a special prosecutor.

Thanks for all the hard work, John and anyone else involved. A truly amazing story that must have taken alot of time and research. There has always been the question as to who the T206 museum site was and know we know, a scam artist. This may be a good lesson in the assumption if it appears someone is hiding something they probably are.

I guess the difficulty rankings will now change.

Thanks again,

Lee

Hey Lee

the difficulty rankings will change because there are not 40 backs in the set. they put the Cobb back in there to magnify the rarity of the bar Old Mills. So 3 of the top backs are gone, so that leaves 37 different with brown Old Mill at the top with Broad leaf 460. I also believe brown lenox belongs in teh top 2 or 3 in difficulty-something like this or close to it

1. brown Old Mill
2. brown Lenox
3 BroadLeaf 460

Great John and everyone else involved

Jay

some AMAZING detective work all the way around...great work guys!

As far as I can tell, Peter Chan never registered here.

Jay

This whole things proves what I have been saying since the 80s, no one should be paying a premium for over prints. They are way too easy to fake with no one really able to tell the difference between a fake one and real one.

I found a stamping store in the area and I am going to find out how easy it is for them to produce a Blomes Chocolate stamp and few others. I can't imagine why they can't produce it to whatever specs I give them. If the stamps can be made, then the rest of the faking is a piece of cake

Jay

I must respectfully disagree Jay, I think it is very hard to get the lettering font exact for the era. Once I had the multiple struck drum back in hand, I could immediately tell it was fake. Also the ink is tough to duplicate exactly. Dan.