I'm glad this topic has come up again. I'm very concerned about the sheer numbers of cartridges the Strawberry Plains guy is selling. He is going to ruin the "real" market. Many of his cartridges are fakes; many are post-Civil War; and a few originals are mixed in to confuse. Of concern lately are all the .36 and .44 Colt cartridges he's selling. They are post-war, most likely produced by H.W. Mason...or maybe even Sears back in the early 1900s. He had pics of a complete box of these cartridges...the box construction was in no way of the Civil War era, and the label was conveniently torn off. The "Strawberry Plains" location sets off my red flag when viewed on Ebay, my concern is the secondary market where that association is lost. So, when at shows, use a wary eye to inspect cartridges! He uses incorrect paper and often the string is a give-away. Stains and water damage are often used to make items appear "old." He sold a Colt tinfoil cartridge...but he doesn't know enough about them and the protective paper envelope and tear strip was all wrong. Best yet, view his Ebay page from time to time to see what he's selling and don't buy any of that type of cartridge at the relic shows! A well-known dealer called here asking about "a box of cartridges" he was considering buying. It was the large box of .44 Colt cartridges. I told him they were bad. He didn't believe me because it was a good buy. (Why did he call for our advice then?) As far as I know he bought them...and he'll no doubt have them for sale at the shows this season. Beware!
