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I firmly believe that the famous latin phrase "Caveat Emptor" should be applied to any purchase on online auctions.  The vase majority of items for sale are legitimate products, but some contain exaggerated claims and sometimes misleading category listings and descriptions.  Here are a few things to watch out for when purchasing a chime from eBay:

• The Kohler-Liebich Liberty Chime Company was founded in 1917 and produced instruments until 1941.  DO NOT believe any claim that they are older than this!  I have seen them advertised in the "Antiques:Musical Instruments  (Pre-1900):Percussion" section of eBay, and I once saw a listing for "Victorian Era Dinner Chime" (since when have the early 1900's been considered Victorian Era?).  Both of the chimes with these listings sold for over $200.  While I'm not against a fair market and fair price, I believe that the buyers inadvertently paid a premium for chimes that were not the antiques they believed them to be.
•  The chime bars should be flat on the forward facing surface.  The backs have had metal scooped from them in the center to properly set the tone of each bar.  If you see a picture of a chime that shows scoops dug from the center of each bar, the seller has flipped the bars over for the picture.  This usually means that the fronts were so chewed up that they wanted to hide them.  Watch Out!
  
• Neither this website nor its author endorse any products sold on eBay.  While we encourage these sellers to reference the site in their descriptions to help educate the shoppers, it does not in an way constitute a recommendation.
• Watch out for sellers with wooden-headed mallets with their chimes.  The original chime came with a hard-rubber head wrapped in felt.  On some sales, they have the original mallet with the felt worn off.  This can be repaired.  NEVER, EVER strike a Liberty Chime with anything but a soft felt mallet head.  It will chip off the finish (either paint or chrome) and allow rust to develop on the bars.  Be wary of chimes that are chipped up unless you are comfortable refinishing the bars.
• The Dinner Chimes' wooden boxes were all finished with shellac.  This makes it very conducive to refinishing (for those more ambitious buyers).  Be careful to inspect the photos of Liberty Chimes to look for damage to the wood boxes that may be difficult to refinish, such as wood chips (see between two right-most bars) and blisters (along the left edge of the box):
  

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