SideShow Ringwraiths on Steed EXCLUSIVE RARE Edition

[ComputerFly]

Well, the guy actually is from the U.K., unless he's using a proxy. But yeah, why don't you just tell us exactly where it came from? That would show that you are trying to help the statue collecting community, instead of masking a potential recaster. You came here asking for our help. Now help us by telling us where this piece came from.

Sorry for sounding a bit 'horney' but recasters help destroy the hobby that a lot of us here have invested our time, money and love into.

 

[NAZGUL-KING]

 

[Darth Madden]

When did Sideshow have directors and actors?

 

[SnapJimmy]

All I can say is that... hope you didn't pay too much for it and that you like it.

 

[praxitas]

Who is getting Horney?

 

[Darth Lam]

He started another thread this morning asking for clues/hints as to determine what is real vs. fake. Also, he's asking if there's a way to trace it back to Sideshow. A more suspicious mind might think that he's only trying to determine how to circumvent methods used to determine the authenticity of a piece.

 

[woodsy]

He started another thread this morning asking for clues/hints as to determine what is real vs. fake. Also, he's asking if there's a way to trace it back to Sideshow. A more suspicious mind might think that he's only trying to determine how to circumvent methods used to determine the authenticity of a piece.

Ya think!..........

 

[Geb]

Yeah...this is pretty shady...to say the least. Someone is definitely trying to see what people know...and how people determine what is real vs. recast so they can come up with new methods to fool the collector community.

My only words to my fellow collectors: Buyer Beware!! Especially when dealing with E-Bay and overseas sellers...take caution! If only we could get a MASTER list from Sideshow with edition numbers or something...

 

[ComputerFly]

That is absolutely a recast. Avoid it like the plague. Looks like something OGRM.net has produced. Funny you should show up with that photo, considering nothing like it has been 'discovered' in the last decade since the piece was originally produced, and here you are, a brand new member with something unique. Maybe advertisement?

Also avoid all items by this ebay seller "dmkworkshop". He is one of the biggest counterfeit sellers out there.

The 'Artist Proof' Balrogs he sells are recasts, as well as the Ringwraith on Steed. I truly feel sorry for the person that wins the Balrog he has on auction now. I have one of his 'Artist Proofs' in-hand that another member sent to me to verify, so I can tell you first hand, it is a counterfeit.

Also avoid ebay seller "gigaproshop" who also sells counterfeit pieces. Probably the same person as dmkworkshop ... shop - shop...

There is one more recast seller I'd like to mention, and that is "urgifts". This is actually OGRM.net. They are currently producing the recast Morgul Lord LSB, Tychus Findlay Starcraft 2 statue, T-600 endoskull, as well as the Ringwraith on Steed. What's interesting is, the seller uses the same terminology that our OP used in that these are "Rare editions". IMO, I'd say these are the guys that are actually producing the recasts, and selling them through these other chinese dealers. They are extremely organized, and talented. It's a shame they have to turn to recasting.

 

[Seaward]

ComputerFly,

Thanks for being on top of some of the scumbags that make recasts and try to pass them off as legitimate statues. It is really disheartenting to have greedy, dishonest people like this tarnish what is otherwise a very fun hobby. I've seen a couple of Legendary busts on ebay lately that I am interested in, but I can't feel okay about buying much of anything second hand any longer, and I sell things on ebay as well, so I feel badly that I am losing trust in the system and others likely are as well!

 

[woodsy]

There is one more recast seller I'd like to mention, and that is "urgifts". This is actually OGRM.net. They are currently producing the recast Morgul Lord LSB, Tychus Findlay Starcraft 2 statue, T-600 endoskull, as well as the Ringwraith on Steed. What's interesting is, the seller uses the same terminology that our OP used in that these are "Rare editions". IMO, I'd say these are the guys that are actually producing the recasts, and selling them through these other chinese dealers. They are extremely organized, and talented. It's a shame they have to turn to recasting.

I'm just waiting to see the faux bronze "high quality polaroid stone" version to show up on the website. A statue so rare, no one's ever heard of it before.

 

[Seaward]

What is so frustrating about these knock-offs is that I don't see a huge audience that is clamouring for a garbage version of these statues. The secondary prices on some of the SSW Lord of the Rings stuff can be high for certain pieces, but I can't think of a single collector that would say "The original is too expensive, I'll just get the piece of crap knockoff instead." The originals are truly beautiful, and having WETA have a hand in the creation of the original line made them all the more special. Now that greedy scum copy these, they are devaluing the original item, both in terms of monetary value and just the special factor of collecting.

I don't know lotrcollector from adam, but the type of questions asked seem to suggest that he might fall into the recast category. They all seem to be how to authenticate an item in an effort to circumvent the real items. I've been reluctant to add my collection to our registry here, but I will be doing so to make sure that is one less product that gets made into a crappy knockoff.

 

[The Mike]

Who is getting Horney?

I am. From the polaroid stone.

 

[GondorGirl]

I am. From the polaroid stone.

shocker!

 

[DaveMac]

It takes a couple of minutes to send an e-mail to e-bay, Sideshow, WETA etc, just to voice your concerns over some of these dodgy pieces.

I would urge everyone who is annoyed about this practice to do so as maybe, just maybe, the selling grounds for this crap i.e. E-bay might take a stand for the consumer and ban these criminals and keep removing their listings when we point them out

 

[Geb]

Well...technically speaking are they really doing anything illegal? Do they quote Sideshow or WETA in their listings...misleading is probably true, but perhaps the buyer beware plhiosophy holds water better than anything legal.

 

[cstojano]

I imagine this is technically illegal, at least here, not that that matters where they are produced. Someone mentioned devaluing the originals. True enough. Some items from the vintage toy arena are so faked and so well faked that now most won't even touch them. That is a shame. But I would also argue that the recasters do no more harm to SSW statue values that SS is. You think people will ever pay upwards of 800 dollars for this piece once the PF comes out? Ditto for Sauron.

I guess my question is why they aren't asking less for the recasts? This is a 400-500 dollar piece right now, a legit one. So who would pay these prices for a recast? I would say pricing them at 100-150 dollars would get some takers including those knowing they were recasts, especially given all the new product SS is producing driving down demand even further for SSW originals.

For 100 dollars I'd buy one to have repainted, assuming the cast was good, which I doubt it is.

 

[DaveMac]

Well...technically speaking are they really doing anything illegal? Do they quote Sideshow or WETA in their listings...misleading is probably true, but perhaps the buyer beware plhiosophy holds water better than anything legal.

That's the point I suppose. It is all in the wording as to how they avoid legal action. The adverts are worded to imply without directly naming original artists, companies et., However, I think it is still worth voicing an objection to the people who run the outlet sights for these people.

 

[woodsy]

I imagine this is technically illegal, at least here, not that that matters where they are produced. Someone mentioned devaluing the originals. True enough. Some items from the vintage toy arena are so faked and so well faked that now most won't even touch them. That is a shame. But I would also argue that the recasters do no more harm to SSW statue values that SS is. You think people will ever pay upwards of 800 dollars for this piece once the PF comes out? Ditto for Sauron.

I guess my question is why they aren't asking less for the recasts? This is a 400-500 dollar piece right now, a legit one. So who would pay these prices for a recast? I would say pricing them at 100-150 dollars would get some takers including those knowing they were recasts, especially given all the new product SS is producing driving down demand even further for SSW originals.

The only things that have 'harmed' or devalued the former SSW LOTR statue line are the high ES's [esp. in the latter years] and poor quality of many of those statues, neither of which are SS responsible for. Nor are they responsible for the general decline in interest of LOTR on the whole which has caused the secondary value of most SSW statues to crash in recent years. Any of the great statues produced by SSW will always retain their value, certainly not the ridiculously over-inflated secondary values they once achieved, but decent values all the same.

 

[cstojano]

The only things that have 'harmed' or devalued the former SSW LOTR statue line are the high ES's [esp. in the latter years] and poor quality of many of those statues, neither of which are SS responsible for. Nor are they responsible for the general decline in interest of LOTR on the whole which has caused the secondary value of most SSW statues to crash in recent years. Any of the great statues produced by SSW will always retain their value, certainly not the ridiculously over-inflated secondary values they once achieved, but decent values all the same.

Interesting that the high ES keeps coming up. I can barely find any of these statues for sale on a given day on eBay. I mean this is an odd phenomenon, low ES, high ES - these statues are not that common on the secondary market. I sometimes doubt they even made all 9500 Saurons given how few show up for sale. Breakage maybe? Who knows. The point is these recasts likely do little to suck what's left of the value in some of these statues. I don't think you can argue that making a bigger, better Sauron or RWOS will not suck more out of it. My reading of the statue collecting hobby is that it works differently than other collectible areas. It has little time depth and its very much a consumer, in the moment type of pursuit. Few would be willing to replace their 1978 vintage carded Star Wars figure with a better articulated, new Hasbro version of the same figure because of nostalgia. I don't see that here. I see emphasis on the latest and greatest and the companies are all upping their game all the time. Then again you have to figure there will not be another Sauron EVER after this release so it may be a safe purchase. I don't mean to harp on the investment side but when you plop down 7-800 bucks for something it would be nice to have it not depreciate so significantly.