Mitch O'Connell: December 2015

Backstory- I've bought "autographed" albums as Christmas gifts for my brother-in-law on ebay. Signed Lynard Skynard, Billy Joel and The Who, for him to put in his office.
I went in with eyes wide open realizing, 'Who the hell knows who really signed 'em?', but what the heck, they'll still look nice on the wall.
There were some sellers I avoided where it was so obvious that they were pulling a scam, like 4,000 autographed records for sale, all by different musicians from The Beatles to Nat King Cole, all signed with the same blue Sharpie.
You can just see him in the basement occasionally rubbing the cramps out of his hand before he goes on to the next 1000 signatures.
Which brings me to ebay seller Ducosso who deals in comic art sketches. As someone who draws, and has seen a lot of art, my jaw dropped in disbelief.
I mean, who is he kidding?!
Sadly, judging by the 145 positive feedbacks, LOT'S of ebay buyers seems to be the answer.
His offerings have included the most respected names from the funny pages, Bob Kane, Steranko, Walt Disney, Jack Kirby, Charles Schultz, John Romita, Seth McFarlane, Charles Addams, Tim Burton, Chester Gould, C.C. Beck, Mike Judge, Dave Stevens, Friz Freleng, Dr. Seuss, Mort Drucker, and on and on and on.
Just the names, not the art, in case you missed my point. :-)
He must have raked in untold thousands from his 15 years of selling these unacknowledged "inspired by" doodles.
He claims "All my items have been responsibly sourced through online sellers or collectors, in-person collections, in-person signing sessions, comic cons and through the post. I have also purchased from auctions, house clearances, conventions, marts and art fairs." Yet, from art collected from all over the World, from hundred's of different collectors, it's an amazing coincidence that all the art just seems to be done on 3 types of sketchbook paper, brand new and white for newer art, yellowed and creased for "old" art, and torn out pages, seemingly just to break up the monotony.
Also, just try and find any of these pieces ANYWHERE on the www before they were put up for sale, some supposedly floating around for 70 years.
I haven't been able to.
You'd think, just by the odds of "collecting" so much art, he'd end up with at least ONE previously posted/printed/published piece!
Why, they seem to have sprung up out of nowhere!
All the drawings have something else in common. If they are by the famous illustrators they claim to be, they all the worst example of that artists work ever published.
I've tried to see if "Ducoso" is a wannabe artist himself, but no such luck.
By clicking "email me" on the http://www.ducoso.nl website you get peter@ducoso.nl. When you Google Peter + Ducoso you get https://www.facebook.com/peter.willems.16, who has a photo album titled www.ducoso.com.
So if you have a problem with your purchase, this seems to guy to take it up with.
But maybe I'm overreacting.
He HAS printed out his own "Certificates of Authenticity"
that come with every purchase.
But even with that unquestionable proof,
I'm still thinking the only thing of value in his ebay sales is the coin he uses to show scale.