Bargin of the year....well maybe not

I recently had a friend of mine call me up to let me know how jealous I'll be when I hear what he just picked up for the bargin price of $120NZD....a vintage blue Snaggle Tooth figure. Wow I said that is a bargin seeing as mine cost me $265NZD.

Then I went through a quick checklist on the phone and the cheap price quickly started to seem not so cheap....what my friend had actually purchased was a red Snaggle Tooth sporting some borrowed legs from a poor Greedo figure and painted to look like this rarer brother. My friend, not being a SWs collector, got ripped off by one of the worst type of people, the ones who sell fakes as real!

I've never been burnt when buying any vintage figures, well the odd weapon here and there but nothing thats really bothered me, and was just wondering if anyone else has had people they know or even themselves been ripped off during their collecting life time?

 

I hate to hear stuff like this happen to people. When it comes to the hobby of collecting I think the vast majority of people out there are honest, but you really have to be on your toes, especially when you're dealing with more expensive items like this. Sometimes you don't get what you thought you were buying because the seller doesn't know much about what they're selling. It's not pruposefully misrepresented, they just didn't know any better. And other times you get a situation where someone is intentionally trying to swindle the buyer. I hope your friend is able to get their money back.

I can't recall ever getting swindled like this. In almost 10 years on eBay I've had one transaction that was shady, and that was the seller trying to change the shipping and handling on me after the sale. I've bought a couple of figures that weren't quite in the condition I thought they were, but I took the blame for those because if I had doubtes I should've asked questions or moved on.

 

He hasn't been able to get his money back yet and he's a bit gutted because I was able to tell him it was fake over the phone without seeing the figure so one quick call could have saved him his money. The seller knew full well the figure wasn't real as he tried to sell an 'original' Rocket Firing Fett last year that was a fake as well but I have to admit it was a really good fake.

 

That sucks. Haven't been bitten myself but there have been posts here from others who have. I've got a 'dodgy' knockoff Boba Fett but it was only a couple of pounds in a local shop (now defunct) and I knew it was a fake when I bought it. I just liked the look of it.

 

I honestly don't mind fakes as long as the sellers upfront about it....it's just when they think they've ripped me off I get annoyed.

In saying that though I'd have to day that 99.9% of the time I'm completely happy haha

 

Heres the fake blue Snaggletooth figure....I ended up getting it off my friend for a much reduced price haha

 

Wow, someone went through a lot of trouble to make that. Actually before noticing the Greedo legs the first thing that would've tipped me off was the perfect condition of the silver paint on the boots. As a collector, Silver and gold paint is the bane of my existence as it flakes/rubs off of plastic so easily. Do a quick eBay search for vintage Bespin guards. On %80 of them the gold piping on their uniforms is totally worn off. A lot of G.I. Joe figures use silver and/or gold details and it drives me crazy trying to find samples that are more or less in tact.

Thanks for sharing that BTW .

 

You're right about the vintage metallic paint, it's a pain. His blue coloring is off also.

My vintage is here - not the same blue:

 

He looks alot darker in real life but your right the blue is a few shades off also his hands are hairy which is abit of a give away that its a red Snaggletooth figure.

The only reason I brought him though is because other fakes I've seen have really bad joins where the figures been pulled apart to insert the longer legs but this one looks perfect...I'm curious to know how they did it

 

You're right, PLJ, the color is a few shades off. I'm guessing you can't walk into a hobby shop and ask for "Snaggletooth blue" . And now that I look at it his hands look to be painted silver as well? He's still eye-catching and a good conversation piece.

 

The first question I asked my friend was whether the figure had a grey or cream coloured head...red Snaggles head was wrong.

If the silver had been repainted it wouldn't have been as bad as having a full on fake.

Thanks I actually don't mind fakes and wpuld be real interested to see any others people may have collected

 

You're right about the hands being silver, good spotting , also whoever painted the hands painted the cuffs silver as well instead of blue