Matchstick guitar eBay update

Hi Everyone,

I signed up following my chance discovery of the recent Chordie Acoustic Forum Topic Matchstick guitar   I whole heartedly agree with the comments made by members and wondered if I could take the opportunity to tell you there is more to this instrument than meets the eye. Yes guitarpix I did get a kick out of this when I viewed it on eBay.  However, the kick was in the teeth as I know a lot of information about this guitar and the sellers.

These shysters have been trying every trick in the book to get me to authenticate this matchstick guitar as being made by my late father Jack Hall. It took 6 months from January/June this year to smoke them out. The upshot is they have been told I will not authenticate this matchstick guitar, it is not a Jack Hall guitar and any attempts to sell it as such would be fraudulent.

In spite of this warning they have been hawking it around Fredericksburg as a Jack Hall instrument. The owner of an Antiques store recently emailed me to say they had been visited by a woman who tried to sell it to them.  In a two-page letter she said, "the Antiques Roadshow" told David when he contacted them that it "appears genuine" to them and verbally told me they valued it worth upwards of $80K.  She tries, ineptly, to explain a time line as to why she thinks this guitar has been produced by your Father.  She's claiming he was a guest of a dead relative of David Robinson's in 1933 just outside Knoxville, Tennessee, and that is where the guitar was made.�   This is the same garbage dreamed up in an email sent to me back in June. They even had the audacity to name the Antiques Roadshow appraiser as David Bonsey with a link to the PBS appraisers.

Although there was no mention of Jack Hall in the text on eBay, they did say, “There is a story behind this full sized matchstick guitar, that has been passed down in a local Fredericksburg, Va family, that I can't verify so far�  They know this can never be verified.  Also says, “It is so rare, that I cannot find another one like it on the net, or in the world.  I welcome you to search also�  ---- They know the story about my father’s matchstick instruments has attracted a lot of attention on the web. That’s how they managed to put this pack of lies together.

My fear is that as it didn’t sell it on eBay it may reappear at some point in the future and the “can’t verify so far�  will change to “can verify this was made by Jack Hall.�

If any Chordie member sees this guitar pop up again for auction with any mention of it being a Jack Hall matchstick guitar, I would be grateful if they would contact me, or please send anyone to my flickr photos of the only matchstick guitar Jack Hall ever made. 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/52858221%40N04/

I am sickened that people are intent to fraudently profit from my father’s name and great skill. Worse of all, buyers who don’t know any better will think they are purchasing a rare and unique Jack Hall instrument.

All the best from across the Atlantic,

Tony Hall
Keeper & Historian
The Jack Hall Matchstick Musical Instrument Collection
tonyhall.match10@btinternet.com