WARNING heads up - repainted loose figures on the rise

[Frunkstar]

Hi Guys

I got an email from Steve @ UKG a few days ago regarding repainted figures, seems a great many are going in for grading of late & obviously being refused due to touch ups & re painting, I figured it wise to share this info with you all so you can be on your guard for these if buying through ebay etc, there is also a link to a guy showing you how to do this which is insane, ok he is doing it for his own collection, but then why put the info out there as its obviously going to be used by unscrupulous sellers/flippers.

For safety sake due this being an open forum I will post another thread with the link in the showcase section which is only viewable to members of the forum, but posted in the more frequented section so it gets seen.

Apparently Steve has 13 like this in for grading last week alone & not all from the same person, along with multiple repro weapons, so its getting worse as the value in the collecting is going up.

 

[Robstyley]

Sadly this has been going on for a long time. I've been sent repainted figures in the past, challenged the seller and they always deny it. Trouble is a lot of people and especially newbies would never even think of it happening. If someone is good at it they can be almost impossible to spot. For all we know many of us may have the odd repainted figure in our collections. Where there's money to be made there's arseholes trying to make it by any means :evil:

 

[yak_face]

is there anyway of spotting this? will they show up with an ultraviolet light?
iv heard looking for brush strokes but never seen them.
repos are one thing but this is a real pain.

 

[_Lee_]

Thanks Frank.

Thank feck i was collecting 20 odd years ago, and not just starting out. Its a minefield now, i feel for the newbies-this hobby isnt like it used to be anymore. This makes me feel really sad.

 

[aussiejames]

Black/UV light can often pick up re paints ( Stef's pics)

 

[edd_jedi]

Thank feck i was collecting 20 odd years ago, and not just starting out. Its a minefield now, i feel for the newbies-this hobby isnt like it used to be anymore. This makes me feel really sad.

The funny thing is this isn't a new craze, this is one of the 'old school' hobby problems like ink touch ups on cardbacks. I think most people are savvy enough not to do it these days, but in the 90s nobody knew any better (I know I touched up some cardbacks back then.) It's probably just a coincidence that they're showing up now, I've had a few touched up cards recently.

 

[Pomse2001]

Thanks Frank for the warning :wink:

 

[steve obi wan]

It's a sign of the times !

 

[yak_face]

sorry but cant see anything in that pic. what would Black/UV light look like on a normal figure?