Should we be cautious buying variants because...

[Guest]

[Roz]

... there is everything you need on ebay to create fake ones??

Certainly there are replica honeydukes bags on ebay from Japan, and a honeydukes card with a coloured swatch goes for 6x the price of a normal green card.

What do you think?

I am not particularly a variant collector, and I am not saying that in this point in time anyone has made one, but it will be useful to have in our database which numbers have variant swatches as they are likely to be close together in production numbers (or assuming several bags were used to make the 434 cards that the variant cards will come in clusters).

After all, at this stage, FOTR cards were still affordable, and collectable. I think these cards have a lot more going up to do - since the rarer autograph cards are 5x rarer than a FOTR Merry I think there is still time for these to show potential.

When cards hit that much people might start "playing around" with cards... are you worried?

[kbmum]

I've wondered about this, too.  The problem is that it would be hard to detect a fake from a picture in an auction.  Only after a buyer had paid and had the card in hand would he or she be able to tell it was a fake.  It would be possible, though difficult, for an individual to do the diecuts and seal the card halves as professionally as has Artbox.

It would be easier to produce fake auto cards, and much more difficult to detect.

[Roz]

good point but I was thinking that they might cut out the centre swatch and carefully replace it with a variant...

I think it would be devilishly tricky but not beyond the works of a master craftsman...

It's unlikely but it's something we can keep an eye out for over the coming years

[Elle_driver]

did they make japanese prop/costume cards, or was it just a retail set that they got?,

[Roz]

Hi Elle, I have absoloutely no idea - can anyone shed any light on this?

I do know they are getting about 1/3 ish of the print run of the standard English (update) set this time, but I don't know anything about any sets they had in Japanese

[Elle_driver]

by the way, does anybody have a spare honeydukes prop card that they would be nice enough to sell

[zero]

While in Japan, all I saw were the retail packs at every event or toy store so I think it's pretty safe to say that's all they got.

[rns91294]

I used to collect Beanie Babies, and suddenly fake ones were coming out.  There were all these printouts on how to detect a fake, but sometimes it was really hard to tell.

In the case of these cards, I do think that someone out there will eventually try to do this.  We all need to read feedback on eBay and ask questions before buying to be safe.  Also, if paying a lot for a card, maybe you should get some information on their return policy.

My husband will not allow me to bid on any of the Hermione pink sweaters with the dirt on it on eBay, because he said it would be too easy for someone to put dirt on the clean swatch, just to make a few extra bucks.  So make sure you are buying from someone who you can trust. I did notice with these sweaters, that the number with the dirt do NOt appear to be close together, but that is probably because the dirt was spread throughout the sweater and not just in one spot.

[Elle_driver]

I am also very curious about that sweater, because when i looked at alot of production stills, you don't seem to see a pink sweater photo with partial dirt and partial pink, because all i see is a very dirty one and a very clean one, the reason i find this strange is if they used a really dirty one, then wouldn't the non-dirt ones be even rarer, i mean, look at Emma's photo on the card as she is wearing the sweater, its covered in dirt, yet the cards without the dirt sell for less than a dirty one

[rns91294]

Wow, I never even thought of it that way ! What a great point.  I am looking forward to seeing the movie again just to view all these costumes and props again.

[samwise16]

Yes thats a god point, but no one would pay more for the clean one...would they?  

[rns91294]

Personally, I would not pay the price they go for on eBay for either of them.  And that is coming from someone who really wants one!!

[Roz]

I am sure that Olly won't mind me divulging this info but Olly opened a lot of cases and pulled 7 of these cards; only one of them was 'a dirty variant'. It's hard to prove anything on a small scale sample like that but I'd say that it indicates that the discoloured ones are rather rarer than the clean ones

[rns91294]

I guess they just made more with clean parts than dirty.  I would still like to get my hands on one.  I was dissapointed that I did not see any at the Philly show.

[kbmum]

Does anyone know whether the swatches came from the sweater with the zipper, the sweater underneath, or both?  To my eye, both pieces of clothing appear to be made from the same material.  If both were used for the cards, then it makes sense that there are more clean swatches, because the sweater underneath was protected by the one on top.

[samwise16]

she wore another pink top underneith, This does give me reason to pay more attention to hermione  

[rns91294]

well, how thick is the underneath one and the top one?  I do not have this card, but is it a very thick material? Are those two tops the same thickness?

[samwise16]

My Hermione costume card was very thick

[rns91294]

Then I would think it is the outside sweater, as the underneath one would probably be thinner.  I could be wrong though.

[Elle_driver]

does the card on it anywhere state "Pink Sweater" or did we just assume it was, i mean what if it was supposed to be her pink shirt where the dirt came from the V-shape of her unzipped front?