Warner’s Label Fraud?

23 September 2015

A series of e-mails from noted collector and researcher Michael Seeliger from Brooklyn, Wisconsin. The person he references is not a member of the FOHBC. After review, I am red flagging.

[E-mail #1] I have been e-mailing a person (Richard Curry in Cincinnati, Ohio) who has answered an advertisement I had in either of the (bottle) magazines. He answered in a generic e-mail asking if I was still looking for unusual items. When I said I was interested in Warner’s with labels etc. he came back with an e-mail that he had one that was unique because of the pristine label. He sent pictures of a green Frankfurt SC. Nice bottle but no label. Then when I asked, he produced a beautiful labeled picture. He wanted $900 for it. I thought about it and said it was too rich for my blood I was thinking more in the $550 range but it was nice and thanks, “can I use the picture for my new book?” He said no, only if I bought the bottle which he was now willing to sell for $550, because he needed cash. To make a long story short, he wanted a MoneyGram and would not tell me where he was located. I said Bill Mitchell and I are were going to Lexington and then to Richmond, Virginia on our way to Florida next week and we could stop by and pick it up.

Now I have seen more than one Warner’s in my life and I thought I had seen the label before on the Warner’s Safe Cure Blog site. I went on and low and behold, surprise, surprise, all 4 of the pictures he sent me were on the blog site. The bottle was sold to Dan Cowman on eBay for $2,275 three years ago (the stain on label was the dead give away). Unless Dan sold this extremely nice bottle cheap or it has been stolen, this is obviously a scam being done on collectors from ads in the AB&GC or the Federation magazine. I don’t advertise elsewhere. I did not go through with the scam and plan on asking him to send the bottle first which I know he will not or cannot do. If he does then it may be stolen. I need to check with Dan’s wife about the possible sale of that bottle by Dan earlier. How can we get the word out? I will provide details if necessary.

Michael Seeliger
Brooklyn, Wisconsin

[E-mail #2 from MS] This is how the emails went after the offer. Kind of suspicious.

Alright Michael,

Address is confirmed for shipping. The $550 shipped to Brooklyn Wisconsin is deal..Below is the information you need.

Name: Richard Curry
Address: Central Parkway,Cincinnati, Ohio 45225
Amount to Send: $550 (Price shipped)

Once payment is completed, you can email the below information to enable me receive and confirm payment.

Reference number:
Sender’s Name:

I’ll email a UPS tracking number once payment is received and confirmed.

Many thanks,

Richard Curry

[E-mail #3 from MS] Here are the pictures he forwarded of the bottle he had for sale. (See top of post)

[Steve Jackson – Warner’s Safe Cure Blog] Mike and I spoke about this over the weekend. The seller clearly lifted photos of this bottle from my Warner’s Safe Cure Blog and sent them to Mike. I believe I got the photos from the original seller in Hungary and the bottle was purchased by Dan Cowman. If a deal looks too good to be true, it probably is. Caveat emptor for sure.