China fakes sold as authentic in antique shop

[Turbo storm]

Please forgive me if I posted this in the wrong area. Moderator, feel free to move if needed.

 

In downtown Charleston, South Carolina my wife and I were checking out the antique shops. One near the cruise port caught my eye with a sign in the window "Real Japanese Swords!" and another one with "Authentic Samurai Swords". At a quick glance through the window, there looked to be 7-8 katanas and 3-4 wakizashis. The door is kept locked for some reason, and you have to be buzzed in. Upon entering the store, I tried not to run directly to the swords. The wife went to the jewelry, and I stayed with her, eyeing the swords. As I got closer, I became dissapointed. They all looked like the $100 ebay chinese fakes. I backed away and went to tell my wife of the dissappointment, to hear her point out that all the jewelery was gold plated with simulated gemstones.

The shop owner rudely calls through the store, "Can I help you?" I replied that I wanted to see the, ahem, Japanese swords. He said they are all $595. Morbid curiousity set in and I asked if I could view them one at a time. His next reply floored me..."Can you afford them?" I told him I am a collector of Japanese swords, and would like to see the fuchi, kashira, tsuba any horimono, or hamon patterns that are interesting. He claimed there is too much of a risk of me hurting myself or someone else, so I could not see them. (guess he figured I knew too much already)

I started to lose my cool and said, "You don't want me to see that these are not authentic, as your sign says, and you want to pass this Chinese junk off to someone else." My wife mentioned the fake jewelry and he screamed at us to leave. Upon exit I made sure to tell another couple who just walked in to view the swords as well, that they are all fake. Hopefully I saved them from making a mistake.

I still keep thinking of this guy preying upon travelers who come into Charleston looking for a momento of their trip, and buying a cheap knock-off thinking it is authentic.

 

Any recommendations on what to do with this snake?

My thoughts are Better Business Buereu, Charleston Chamber of Commerce, maybe even the atty. general.

 

 

Sorry for the long rant, but situations such as this really burn me up.

[Jamie]

And they work too in some cases.

When I first got interested I scoured Craigslist for postings of anything authentic. I looked at probably 50 junkers. Many were WWII era blades.

But I also Identified four chinese fakes. The owners had no idea and were skeptical of what I said-until I showed one owner a pic of a sword on ebay that had almost identical furniture. one of those damascus looking imitations. Both told me they paid in excess of 2G (USA)

One also told me his father had brought these two back from the war. I explained how crude the manufacture was and showed him a 15th century tanto. He agreed that his were probably not authentic after seeing mine.