Date: Fri 17-Apr-1998

Publication: Ant

Author: LAURAB

Quick Words:

PerfumeSideBar

Full Text:

SLUG: Sidebar To Atlantique City/

Bad Perfume Not Tolerated By Atlantique City's Chief Nose

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Bad perfumes turned up at this year's Atlantique City

megafair.

Customers never got a whiff of the scam, which consisted of a collection of

new bottles fitted with old tops and atomizers. Alyce Benham saw to it that

the fraudulent merchandise was whisked off the floor. As Atlantique City's

number-one nose, she makes it her job to sniff out fakes and have them

removed.

"We don't vet this show the way the Brits do," explained Brimfield Associates'

chief Norm Schaut, who was once stopped on his way into London's Grosvenor

House Fair. "The guard was concerned that I was taking unvetted merchandise

into the show, not out," Schaut said with a laugh. "Here, we don't prohibit

dealers from adding to their stock."

When Benham, a collector herself, approached Schaut about instituting some

kind of review procedure, he said yes. "When I joined Brimfield Associates'

staff seven years ago, I noticed repros on the floor and was concerned,"

Benham recalled. "When I brought it to Norm's attention, he said, `Let's start

a Quality Circle.'"

"I write a weekly column on collecting for a daily newspaper, The Press of

Atlantic City, and had lots of contacts," she continued. "I got in touch with

12 individuals who were specialists in various fields and arranged to tour the

floor of Atlantique City with them." Benham also enlisted the help of more

than 50 collectors' clubs, who were invited to send delegates to the fair.

"When we started, we were particularly perturbed about the number of

fraudulent animated cels that were showing up," she said. Distributors of

reproduction merchandise respond quickly to market demand, and today a whole

new crop of fakes is entering the market. "If this continues, it will ruin the

industry," Benham said sadly.

Benham also supervises what she calls an informal authenticity committee. "I

have some really fine dealers who keep their eyes out for me," she explained.

"We have a dealer who is tops in autographs and historical documents. He looks

things over because he loves the show and wants it to be clean." Suggestion

boxes on the floors encourage exhibitors to report questionable merchandise

anonymously if they feel uncomfortable about revealing their identities.

Recently, Brimfield Associates has rooted out reproduction Nippon, RS Prussia,

Mr Peanut collectibles, and glass - cut, cranberry, Fenton, and Murano. While

some of the reproductions are legitimate, none are allowed in the show.

Communication is more than half of the battle, Benham said. Brimfield

Associates alerts exhibitors to reproductions and tells them what material is

not allowed in the fair. "We send out a show alert. The directive is very

simple. It has three prongs: we don't want things that are presently being

manufactured here or abroad; we don't want anything that is presently

available in the primary retail market; and we don't want anything that is

being sold wholesale."

Sometimes Brimfield Associates bends to collector pressure. "We will allow

retired Hallmark, such as the Precious Moments series. These are collectibles,

and a lot of people want them, so we acknowledged the category," Benham said.

Benham's campaign to clean up the business extends to her own column. She

devotes space to reproductions before every Altantique City event. "There are

wholesalers with quonset huts full of everything from reproduction Tiffany

lamps to silk shawls. It's amazing. We try to get the word out to dealers.

Some people, who buy the material at auction or in estates sales, don't know

what they're getting. They thank us for the help."