MAGNUM BOGUS 9


Below is a selection of non-Hetchins frames seen on the Internet or reported to the Editor personally.

The blue one, a Magnum Opus Mk. II fake, bears the frame number 33814 which is not a valid Hetchins frame number for any production period. The red one, another Magnum Opus Mk. II fake, bears the number 44824, also not a Hetchins number.

In both cases, the frames exhibit anachronous bits, over-embelishments, and errors of detail which betray their perverse pedegree. The dead giveaway on the blue one is the wretched bottom bracket shell: the sockets in bb shell are too big for the pencil stays, so a shim has been added, indicating that the bb shell is about 20 years too new for the stays. The engraved topeyes are also too new for the rest of the bits. Moreover such long extensions were not fitted to the MO ii bb shell (they are sometimes fitted on MO iii models). On the red one, the lonely little "H" head tube emblem has been mounted on the long seat tube, whereas the head tube exhibits both a metal badge and a laurel-wreath transfer. The brake bridge embelishments are also wrong. Such rubbish would never have left Hetchin's shop.





















Below is an unusual fake; the model is apparently a Nulli Secundus, but misses the mark in details. I dub it a Null Secundus. Mick Butler speculated that it might be based on the Gillott Fleur d'Lys pattern. The bits that don't fit are marked in red.











Below, a genuine Nulli for comparison.













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