Fake Ardeth and Dracula SSE?

[CaptainCaveTroll]

Sorry but I couldn't find another thread despite looking, although I'm sure I've seen some threads in the past that discussed a few sellers in China who have listed SSE Ardeth and Dracula lifesize busts.
I saw these on ebay:

https://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Sideshow-Mummy-Ardeth-Bey-Silver-Screen-Statue-Bust-/230590505550?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35b043e24e

https://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SIDESHOW-Dra...800?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35aefbb790

I noticed that the seller sold a SSE Ardeth and Dracula recently and now has another one of each. Call me Sherlock Holmes but alarm bells are ringing.

My questions are:

Any ideas how you can tell if they are fake? (I'm assuming they are but they look pretty good fakes if they are)

What are Sideshow doing about this as surely this devalues the items for those that does possess them and, a few years down the line, these will have passed through a few collections and how will the fakes then be spotted?

 

[Anton Phibes]

Sideshow is doing nothing about it because they dont have a Universal license anymore and have no interest in whats going on in the flea market world of ebay.They dont have a dog in this fight so why should they even care?

Unless your sellers have the original print out order provenance from Sideshow~dont buy it. Its most likely a re-casted piece of crap fake. Since the items are so new and all being done in third world countries, they are easy to fake. Its not like they are reproducing the Mona Lisa, and the paints, etc. can be carbon dated. The dangers of buying made to order brand new collectibles from shady factories overseas.

 

[Gruff Old Bear]

PREACH IT, BRO!!!

 

[Awesome]

They look real.

 

[Anton Phibes]

They look real.

Yup...and there are forgers out there that can make you think that their forged Jimmi Hendrix autograph is real too. Too bad its not. But feel free to waste thousands of dollars on things that look "real". Thats what these crooks count on, and why the endless parade of counterfeits continually marches on.. Its also one of the main reasons why I sold my Ardeth Bey 1:1 bust when I did, and was glad to have gotten the thousands I did for it. Pretty soon people are going to start avoiding these like the plague because of all the fakes. At this point there are probably more fake SSE 1:1 busts that there are real ones.

 

[Theokan]

The difference between these fakes and most counterfeits out there, is that these busts are coming straight out of the same factories that produced them. In order for Sideshow to mass produce these, they had to give the "recipe" to a Chinese factory, and a dishonest workplace with the recipe can easily make extra copies for their own gain. In essence these are the result of the factory workers selling unauthorized Sideshow bust that they were taught and hired to make, it's pretty much impossible to stop people doing this kind of thing in a place like China.

 

[ozzfan84]

I contacted SS about another seller doing this months ago and they never bothered to respond.

 

[Balsquat]

The difference between these fakes and most counterfeits out there, is that these busts are coming straight out of the same factories that produced them. In order for Sideshow to mass produce these, they had to give the "recipe" to a Chinese factory, and a dishonest workplace with the recipe can easily make extra copies for their own gain. In essence these are the result of the factory workers selling unauthorized Sideshow bust that they were taught and hired to make, it's pretty much impossible to stop people doing this kind of thing in a place like China.

So in a way, these are not really fake if you think about it.
If they are being made by the same factory and painted by the same artists, they are the same as the authentic ones, except that they are made outside the edition size. That would sort of make them artist proofs in a way. Really shady stuff going on...

 

[roguebaron]

you know, I wouldn't mind paying a bit extra to have these made in a more reliable country to stop the fakes and ensure the quality of the product we buy.

 

[thenammagazine]

So in a way, these are not really fake if you think about it.
If they are being made by the same factory and painted by the same artists, they are the same as the authentic ones, except that they are made outside the edition size. That would sort of make them artist proofs in a way. Really shady stuff going on...

Whether or not they're made in the same factory, with the same molds, they're still bootlegs. Anything outside of the Sideshow approved official edition size, APs and samples, are still "illegal" recasts and bootlegs. You can also add the fact that they're fraudulently painting on duplicate edition numbers on the bottom of the pieces.

 

[Anton Phibes]

Whether or not they're made in the same factory, with the same molds, they're still bootlegs. Anything outside of the Sideshow approved official edition size, APs and samples, are still "illegal" recasts and bootlegs. You can also add the fact that they're fraudulently painting on duplicate edition numbers on the bottom of the pieces.

Not to mention there's no QC auditor either to see if the molded piece has cracks, stresses, or defects or to have the final say on paint apps. Slap a quickie inferior paint job on a so-so remake and sell it to some dummy with more money than common sense whose never owned an original and wont be able to compare them side by side to notice the flawed craptastic remake. Ugh. A dealer friend of mine called these secondary scrap. In other words, they were pieces that made it all the way to qc, and qc rejected them. They were supposed to be destroyed~but were snuck home to be sold on evil bay at a later date. Try to sell a dv-r of a movie you made yourself for $5, and ebay will yank that thing down and put you on notice. But these clowns can sell this bootleg crap and charge thousands and ebay just rakes in the fees.

Listen, if a contemporary of Leonardo Davinci wouldve snuck into his studio, traced the Mona Lisa, painted his to look exactly like Leonardo's using Leo's studio and Leo's paints--it doesnt make the one he did any less fake. A fake is a fake is a fake. Dont. Buy. Crap.

 

[ozzfan84]

... and you know it must be REAL bad for Sideshow QC to reject it!


ba-dum-ching!