Phra Somdej Amulets - Luang Phor Tim, Wat Lahanrai
Be careful about the advice you take


I received an order for a Luang Phor Tim (Wat Lahanrai) Somdet amulet last week. 24 hours later the customer cancelled the order and also agreed to a small financial penalty.

I asked why he cancelled, and I was was not in the slightest surprised at the answer.

As an active member of a well known amulet forum he chose to cancel on the advice of his peers who did not recognize the amulet as being blessed by Luang Phor Tim and furthermore there were even those that had  foolishly proclaimed provenance dubious on the basis that it was not featured in any LP Tim book.

A good example of how guess work quickly replaces real knowledge, fairly typical I am afarid of almost all non Thai amulet forums. Essentially a knee jerk reaction, something that I have experienced on many occasions and in particular where access to information and facts are severly limited, an inevitable consequence of the Thai language barrier.

It has and always will be my opinion that unless these forums are managed by Thai literate individuals wiith a considerable background knowledge in amulets they will never amount to anything more than a venue through which amulets can be traded. They certainly do not provide much in the way of educational material and more often than not the opinion based content is mis-guiding and inaccurate.
 
 

Not only did the client make a financial loss  he also lost the opportunity to acquire a top quality amulet and furthermore learn something.

The Somdej amulet in question was blessed at Wat Bowin by Luang Phor Tim. It was not until after the cancellation that I learnt the real reason

In the first instance the advice originated from individuals who were attemptring to use reference books about LP Tim, Wat Lahanrai. Unfortunately these books will not show Wat Bowin amulets or indeed the majortity of other amulets blessed by Luang Phor Tim outside of Wat Lahanrai.  You need to refer to a reference source about Wat Bowin and I can only assume that lack of experience was the cause of this most basic error.

Even having shown a typical reference book to the client he further suggested that the Certificate of Authenticity may not be entirely genuine. Another widespread mis-conception about certificates originating once again from the very same forums, all due to a lack of understanding about the authentication process and the players in the market but that is another story for anther day.

 

Samkom Show Certificate 1st Place, One of the worlds most respected societies

I did show the client a Somdej blessed by Luang Phor Tim from my own collection that is complete with a first place show certificate from Samakom,a certificate of authenticity from G-Pra and the illustrations from the hard back book.  Short of being told by Luang Phor Tim himself this is overwhelmingly conclusive evidence and the client began to understand his mistake.

But this is not the reason that I was prompted to write this article. There was a more important consideration and in particular alternative sources of high quality Luang Phor Tim amulets that can be acquired at a fraction of the cost you would typically expect to pay.  

The simple fact is that the majority of  Luang Phor Tim‘s amulets were blessed at temples other than Wat Lahanrai and few are featured in books about the temple. This fact I think is little known by the average collector and was clearly a contributory factor in my clients confusion and his implanted impression that I had concocted the whole account.  I can assure you I have much better things to do with my life than make a fool of myself by writing fictitious history.

 

A good hardback reference book detailing the LP Tim, Wat Bowin amulets

By way of example I would like to show you some Luang Phor Tim Somdej amulets, none of which were blessed at Wat Lahanrai, and none of which appear in any textbooks about Wat Lahanrai. Some of these pims may be known to you but I am almost certain that many will not.

Continued............