Thread: My bad luck with antique strops on 'bay

I apologize for my negative temper but I have to vent. I have had back luck with antique strops on ebay lately. The first one never arrived because the seller is a fraud, I am still waiting for a refund from paypal.

My second strop from shell horse hide arrived today. It was described as in good shape and it looked good in pictures, too. However, it felt a little "dirty" on touch so I tried to clean it with lather. It turned out that the "good shape" meant "someone worked hell lot of brown shoe cream into a poor brittle old horse leather strop". Later I noticed that the strop stained places where I left it laying for a while, so much cream was on it. Now for the worst part - with only a slight pull, it quickly developed cracks all along its length, it literally fell apart completely. I could tear pieces off it with two fingers only.



I am giving up. I am not going to buy another vintage strop on ebay, lesson learned. I still have to decide if to go after the second seller. He advertised a vintage item in a good shape which apparently was not the case; but old leather is always a risky business. I hope you will have better luck than me.

Too bad.

I got two nice vintage strops, but I'm quitting while I'm ahead.....!

Originally Posted by sparq

I apologize for my negative temper but I have to vent. I have had back luck with antique strops on ebay lately. The first one never arrived because the seller is a fraud, I am still waiting for a refund from paypal.

My second strop from shell horse hide arrived today. It was described as in good shape and it looked good in pictures, too. However, it felt a little "dirty" on touch so I tried to clean it with lather. It turned out that the "good shape" meant "someone worked hell lot of brown shoe cream into a poor brittle old horse leather strop". Later I noticed that the strop stained places where I left it laying for a while, so much cream was on it. Now for the worst part - with only a slight pull, it quickly developed cracks all along its length, it literally fell apart completely. I could tear pieces off it with two fingers only.



I am giving up. I am not going to buy another vintage strop on ebay, lesson learned. I still have to decide if to go after the second seller. He advertised a vintage item in a good shape which apparently was not the case; but old leather is always a risky business. I hope you will have better luck than me.

Don't feel alone Sparq, I had similar experiences. I ordered two antique strops from two different vendors. The first strop appeared OK at first, but the thread had dry rotted, so the sewn-together handles and leather yoke connected to the hanging hardware all fell apart, making the strop useless. The second strop was so brittle with age that it just came apart in my hands. I could not get any satisfaction from the vendors or ebay -- I just had to take the losses and consider it a lesson learned.

Maybe our tales of woe will help other forum members avoid our mistakes.

My luck was not much better when I tried getting a vintage strop on eBay. I ended up with an unusable strop. The stitching was rotted, the leather dry and cracked with several slices. It was in rough shape.

That was my first and last strop that I purchased on eBay. I generally have good luck with eBay, but I have given up on eBay strops.

got an NOS red imp on the bay for $50. Granted JimmyHAD let me have it but still...
I also got a "new" strop that was basically NOS, except it had basically been cut in half and the pics artfully didn't show that...

Wow. I haven't bought any vintage strops off Eboy in probably 2 years but I've gotton probably a dozen or more and each one was in fantastic condition and the prices were really right.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

Wow. I haven't bought any vintage strops off Eboy in probably 2 years but I've gotton probably a dozen or more and each one was in fantastic condition and the prices were really right.

+1, I've had good luck buying vintage strops on the bay. Nine and I guess I'm done too unless something comes up that I can't resist.

Karl, sorry to hear that the Red Imp NOS was cut in half. I hope you were able to get your $ back through paypal.

I got one a few years back that was so dried out that the stitching in the handle disintegrated in my hands......It was pathetic.

On the other hand, I have bought a few really nice ones and some linen pieces back when Booklady was selling that were fantastic.



Lynn

I have to admit, more often than not I get burnt when it comes to strops, pics and questions are not enough, from now on I wanna feel it.

I guess I got lucky too, I got a Vitage DD that was like new, and another vintage strop that needed some cleaning that I did with Saddle Soap and then conditioned it with Neetsfoot oil. I wouldn't "eat it" on the second strop you mentioned. Dispute it and get your money back. It's tough on Ebay because your going by someone's statement, and a photo which can be misleading. For every honest seller, there are dishonest one's that think they can pawn off any old junk on unsuspecting buyers...Definitely dispute it and get your money back...You'll be glad you did....