When I set up this website I included a page 'Is it? Or isn't it?' to enable visitors to the site to check the YZness of any pieces which they came across. Four things to look for to check if the piece was very likely to be YZ. Number 5 on the list was 'The Foolproof Test', for which I wrote 'Sorry, but there's no such thing.' That remains as true as when I wrote it but, in response to a current trend on ebay, I have now changed that answer to 'Has it got the YZ trademark?' At present the YZ trademark is a guarantee of authenticity. Given the high prices now commanded by some YZ pieces it's not impossible that there will, at some time in the future, be attempts to forge that trademark but, for now, I've no evidence, nor am I even aware of any rumours, of such a forgery having been attempted.

So why am I now becoming increasingly worried about buyers being tricked into bidding for non-YZ pieces in the belief that they are actually YZ? In 2014 I published a page on this site entitled 'Is Somebody Trying To Con You?' The problems which I highlighted there are still with us. At that time I put the false assertions and wild assumptions down to the pig-ignorance of some sellers leading to unbelievable heights of wishful thinking, doubtless given potency by visions of vast profits. What's now happening, with increasing frequency, on ebay seems almost to be a deliberate attempt to defraud buyers. Rarely has the phrase caveat emptor been more apt. The ebay buyer really does need to beware. Frequently the auction page heading is an erroneous assertion that the piece being offered is YZ, though the seller's description often rows back somewhat on that. Often, but not always.

Compare the following examples. In the first, there is an unambiguous assertion that the piece is a 'vintage ashtray and match holder set from Henry Howell'. It isn't. The second example is a blatant attempt to pass off a very substandard non-YZ piece as YZ. Are those claims fraudulent? I don't know, I'm not a lawyer. In the third the seller at least has the good grace to admit that he/she 'cannot be 100% sure it is a henry howel' (sic). I can be 100% sure that it isn't.

HEADING & IMAGE
DESCRIPTION
eBay item number: 266485770978

Henry Howell YZ Nut Bird Ashtray & Match Holder Pair Set Cherry Amber Bakelite

"Enhance your tobacco collection with this charming vintage ashtray and match holder set from Henry Howell.

Crafted from tagua nut, wood, cherry amber bakelite etc, and adorned with glass eyes, these pieces are sure to catch the eye of any collector."

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The Buy It Now price is £125
eBay item number: 285613675693

VINTAGE YZ DUNHILL HENRY HOWELL BAKELITE FATURUN NUT BIRD ASHTRAY PIN TRAY VGC

"This is an original YZ Dunhill Henry Howell Bakelite, Faturun Nut Bird Ashtray Pin tray.

Height: 13 cms

Length: 11.5 cms

Width: 8.75 cms

This lovely bird is in very good but vintage and used condition with wear to the pin tray compartment"

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The Buy It Now price is £128. There is no Faturan anywhere on the piece. I can't vouch for its Faturun content since the word Faturun doesn't exist. And it is of course an ashtray, not a pin tray.
eBay item number: 175775673116

YZ Nut Bird Novelty Ash Tray by Henry Howell & Co Ltd

"YZ Nut Bird Novelty Ash Tray by Henry Howell & Co Ltd. The base is ebony, the bird some kind of exotic root wood, the beak feet, and cig holder looks to be bakelite. It does have stamps to the base but a little worn so pictured them as i cannot be 100% sure it is a henry howel but certainly looks like it as the base is ebony  and the eyes are 3 layered glass both as they should be. The bird looks to be similar to part of a walking stick again as it should as henry howel used parts from walking sticks he produced and used these parts to produce the famous bird ash trays in the early years which he is well known for and i think predates the dunhill range."

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The Buy It Now price is £275 - the eyes are painted, not 3 layered glass, and the relevant stamped marking on the base, which the seller is apparently unable to read, can be clearly read as REAL EBONY 454.

 

The next two examples are of sold pieces. Neither is YZ, which makes the prices paid surprising.

HEADING & IMAGE
DESCRIPTION

Henry Howell YZ Nut Bird Cherry Amber Faturan Bakelite

"For auction is this rare YZ  Nut Bird ashtray. Unsigned but likely to be by Henry Howell.

The head and base of the ashtray are made from Cherry Red Faturan Bakelite and the body of the bird is a Tagua Nut.

Total weight of item is 98 grams approx.
Length: 10cm width: 7.5cm at widest point.
Thickness of base 8mm approx."

Sold (November 23rd, 2023) for £550.

Henry Howell YZ Dunhill Cherry Red Amber Bakelite Faturan Platypus Ashtray

"This is a scarce and interesting example of a Henry Howell YZ Dunhill style ashtray and match holder / striker. It is the rare and humourous platypus model with a cherry amber bakelite carved head and glass eyes and with a tree root body. The match holder and base are in macassar ebony, zebra wood or similar. Itvis in very good condition with no chips, cracks or damage.

It measures 15 cm long (platypus) and the base 12 cm long also."

Sold (January 21st, 2024) for £311.99

I have collected non-YZ pieces for as long as I have collected YZ ones (over 40 years) and I have long argued that non-YZ should achieve higher prices than they currently do. The two above are both well-crafted pieces which wouldn't disgrace any collection but the prices are silly money. I can see only two possible reasons why those pieces fetched those prices.

Either the misleading page headings led some people to believe that they were YZ pieces - a reasonable mistake to make given the YZ-like appearance (and workmanship) of the mis-identified 'platypus'. (Let's call it a crocodile, for the sake of accuracy.)

Or was it the lure of vast profits to be made from the Faturan content of the pieces? For an in-depth look at Faturan see Faturan by Ian Holdsworth and Ibrahim Faraj. I've always considered Faturan to be a con - it's merely a type of phenolic resin produced in the early part of the 20th Century - but read the above article and make your own judgement. Irrespective of what I think, Faturan does command exremely high prices and greed on the part of very many buyers has led to the destruction of far too many beautiful YZ pieces over the years in order to acquire their phenolic resin content.