Becker Hand [Lock Grip, Imperial] {mechanical hand}, Becker Hand [Lock Grip, Imperial] {mechanical hand}, Brands, Funny stuff on eBay, Prosthetics

Becker hand sold as “rare antique late 19th century prosthetic articulated hand” on eBay for 1800 USD [funny stuff on eBay]

Wolf Schweitzer 08/09/2013

On eBay, user scatjazz04 sells a Becker hand [sale page link], advertising it as “rare antique late 19th century prosthetic articulated hand”, further down advertising it as “very rare”, demanding 1800 USD.

After this was posted, in the meantime, the item’s description was changed to “early 20th century”. Also that is not true, and it is definitely not rare or even very rare.

This is a Becker Lock grip hand, patented in the fourties of the 20th century (so not “early”) and built to this day by the Becker family (hence the name). Its new price is 350 to 650 USD, used Becker hands never are worth more than a new one as they are not considered “antique” by any means. Why anyone would treat these as “late 19th century” items and ask horrendous prices is not clear.

Here are some images.

Cite this article:
Wolf Schweitzer: swisswuff.ch - Becker hand sold as “rare antique late 19th century prosthetic articulated hand” on eBay for 1800 USD [funny stuff on eBay]; published 08/09/2013, 14:51; URL: https://www.swisswuff.ch/tech/?p=2093.

BibTeX 1: @MISC{schweitzer_wolf_1750189365, author = {Wolf Schweitzer}, title = {{swisswuff.ch - Becker hand sold as “rare antique late 19th century prosthetic articulated hand” on eBay for 1800 USD [funny stuff on eBay]}}, month = {September}, year = {2013}, url = {https://www.swisswuff.ch/tech/?p=2093}

BibTeX 2: @MISC{schweitzer_wolf_1750189365, author = {Wolf Schweitzer}, title = {{Becker hand sold as “rare antique late 19th century prosthetic articulated hand” on eBay for 1800 USD [funny stuff on eBay]}}, howpublished = {Technical Below Elbow Amputee Issues}, month = {September}, year = {2013}, url = {https://www.swisswuff.ch/tech/?p=2093} }