@mmrogers What a great story! Walking around with a case full of jewelry is so intriguing… at least to this non-jeweler.
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That was an interesting trip. One of my competitors (Bruno) jammed me up with French customs who pulled me off the train at the German border, detained and questioned us all night, and hung on to my inventory for two weeks while they “investigated”. I got my merchandise back, and continued my sales trip, but the experience was one I’ll never forget.
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@mmrogers Oh, my! I can’t even imagine being caught up in anything like that. Sounds like you wisely made the best of a very unfair situation.
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At one point, I actually had to partially disrobe down to my socks and underwear for a search. I swear the customs guy looked just like Inspector Clouseau, down to the French police uniform. Anyway, I’ve got a money sock around my calf (same color as my dark socks) with ten grand US in French Francs, German Marks and checks. Was sure the customs inspector was going to spot it and take that too, but he must have been nearsighted because he never saw it, and instead was fiddling with the heel on my western boots to see if there was a secret compartment in it. 
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Well, the buckle is pure Lee Begay (or his family) tufa cast, but I can’t see the figures well enough…I’m assuming they are also - what a lot of work!
A real work of art, but I guess I’m a traditionalist when it comes to concho belts, and looks to be a bit uncomfortable to wear 
.
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Oh, I agree. I posted it because of the similar idea to the first belt. Not my cup of tea, but reading the description of the work and talent to create it was impressive.
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What a miserable experience, but a great story! Had no idea the business was so cutthroat overseas! If it were not from you, I might question the story 
. The cash in your money sock story was great…guess one should always wear boots, or something else “suspicious” to grab attention.
I remember maybe 20+ years ago there was a display at the Zuni cultural center showing fake pieces…scary how “real” they appeared.
Quick question, we’re any of the Zuni pieces signed
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Oh I assure you, it happened just the way I described it, although I left out the part where one of the customs officials was going through my (then) wife’s wallet and found a huge CZ my friend Lional McKinney (Teme’) had given her. We told him what it was, and that it had no value, but he took it over to a sink, and acted like he was going to drop it down the drain if she didn’t “confess”. We just shrugged our shoulders, and said “go ahead”. The look on on his face was priceless!
I don’t recall any of the fake pieces I saw at the hotel restaurant being signed, but that encounter was pretty brief, and I was focused on the quality of the pieces he was showing me, which was really good. Have seen plenty of knockoffs which are signed though, and one producer in the Philippines was actually marking their counterfeits “Zuni” at one point.
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My gosh @mmrogers , what an experience! Sounds like your competitor knew what he was doing to trip you up like that. Love the “I dare you” test the investigator tried to pull on you…joke was on him!
Those knockoffs from the Philippines are prevalent today, too. I’ve mentioned on another thread how a dealer that I work with at the beach had imported some of that jewelry and how closely it resembled Native American work. There must still be quite a market for knockoffs from there; is it a difference in the standard or cost of living there that allows them to produce things so cheaply? Access to more materials?
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Fortunately it was a temporary inconvenience. Had all the paperwork, had paid the duties in advance. There was a kerfuffle over the French requirements for quality marking, which was resolved by letting them apply marks, and paying a small administrative fine.
Have never been to the Philippines, but the difference in standard of living must be tremendous for them to be able to produce jewelry as cheaply as they do. Don’t know if it’s still the case, but at on time the counterfeiters were purchasing precious metals in bulk from US suppliers, and taking them over to Asia. Had a long conversation with Jim Guthrie, then manager of Indian Jewelers Supply in Albuquerque about that. We were discussing whether or not you could identify fakes by testing the metals to see if the alloys were slightly different, and Jim opined that it wouldn’t do any good because they were buying their metals from IJS, so at least at the time they were using exactly the same materials as US makers.
I don’t think there’s any question that counterfeiters are still at it in a big way. The market is well developed, sophisticated, generations old at this point, and international in nature. There are still plenty of stores all over the US, Europe, and probably Asia as well that sell counterfeits as the real thing.
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it’s staggering they can buy US silver and stones, ship them to Phillippines, ship them BACK, and still make money.
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Of course we don’t REALLY know where the turquoise originated, common rough US turquoise is cheap. And they can get silver anywhere in the world. A friend of mine introduced me to the Asian gem trade market back in the 80s. Even then they were dealing in 10k to 100k carats of gemstone rough. Maybe they found a use for slab scrap for a huge profit.
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