Warning - Fake Sealed and Loose Fan Club Badges

There are so many of these doing the rounds in the last few weeks that I decided to write an article on them

http://www.jedinews.co.uk/collecting/articles/looks-good-true/

Great guide, Rich. It really did seem too good to be true when those sealed packs were turning up and I managed (just) to resist buying them at the time. To be honest, the podcast helped when you chaps were discussing them and, even having bought them then you had doubts about how they could have survived in such good condition. Scammers everywhere!

Glad to see there's a fairly easy way of spotting the fakes. With the recent fake baggies, Woolworths 8 packs and now these, people need to be so careful about anything sold in generic packaging that is easy to fake.

For Sale: 1 complete set of fake fan club badges- bagged/mint.

make that two :lol:

Whatever next

Nice one Rich - great tips!

Not sure I believe this need more evidence and the seller to have their say. :lol:

Only joking great work Richard.

This is a concern for any "Vintage" buttons/badges on the market. Buttons are easy to make and the vintage images from them are readily available. For me, If there is no sign of aging, I pass on them.

Bad new for sure, well done on the article Rich.

Edd, where are the Woolies 8 packs being discussed?? Been out of the loop for a bit but id like to see

Shame that fraudsters re tarnishing this hobby

Hey Rich, could you send me the link to the SWCA article. I can't seem to find it. We want to look at these buttons a little bit closer over at TXI. I sent you a PM there.

_Lee_ said:

Bad new for sure, well done on the article Rich.

Edd, where are the Woolies 8 packs being discussed?? Been out of the loop for a bit but id like to see

Shame that fraudsters re tarnishing this hobby

Click to expand...

http://www.starwarsforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=30926&hilit=woolworths

Commander Clint said:

Hey Rich, could you send me the link to the SWCA article. I can't seem to find it. We want to look at these buttons a little bit closer over at TXI. I sent you a PM there.

Click to expand...

This is the article - http://theswca.com/index.php?action=disp_item&item_id=20851

It's repeated for each of the badges not just the R2.

I found this article invaluable when I bought my set of fan club badges recently.

It's important to note that this isn't a modern phenomenon for these badges. They've been faking them since the 90's. Of course that means that you can't rely on the "they look new so they must be fake" because the metal on 20 year old badges will have also have become tarnished! Buy with caution, use the article or purchase from somebody you trust.

As a follow on this is the Ebay listing to avoid - http://www.ebay.com/itm/Star-Wars-F...342375?hash=item23651e5667:g:MQ0AAOSws4JW7ETv

Notice the heavy black ring between the metal and the white of the badge. This is a dead giveaway fake straight away.