Greetings everyone.
Long time lurker and only my second post in as many days.
I just started getting back into collecting recently after finding a bunch of my childhood SW stuff. I have tons of research still to do and of course, tons of questions. And I know this subject has been discussed over and over, but it seems assistance is the best way to really figure out the legitimacy of sabers even after hours of research. Heck, this post took a couple hours to get together!

Anyway, I will get to it.............

I have a bunch of pictures I would appreciate any comments on after all this dribble explaining what I have, what I see, tested and anything else I could think of first.

So.........
I have 4 RT (regular telescoping sabers).
1 is from my childhood (AA on hilt)
1 is from my early 20s when I got back into collecting again (I'm 40 now FWIW).
1 from my youngest brother who got it 4 years ago.
1 from ebay I just picked up.

3 of these sink (including my AA one). 1 floats. I read the float test is not 100%.

Of the 4, two are almost identical in color and are of #4 variant according to the saber section I believe. (my #1 & #4). Both sink.

The AA is the palest. (my #2). Sinks.

And one that is very thin overall. the whole thing is skinnier. This one in the pictures is almost see through especially in the tip. (my #3) Its yellow, not clear but maybe more see-through since it is thinner. Floats.

All 4 glow under UV (black light).

-----------------------------------------

And now for the DT. I just picked it up and of course am not convinced by a long shot.

It is not as pale as my AA saber. It is not as yellow as my 2 #4s . When you see the last image of the two compared, the image makes them look closer in color than they are. It is not as pale as the AA saber, but not as bright as the others.

It floats. It floats when assembled. Both pieces float alone.

Dropping sounds no different than the others.

It fails the UV (black light) test but oddly enough it's hue seems to shift towards the red spectrum slightly under the UV light. Not what I expected. I would expect more of a dull version of its true color. (compared to a repo I have in my possession which doesn't glow - it just becomes dull and opaque).

There are two (can't get a great image of it) tiny tree marks on the inner saber part towards the front that directly line up with 2 of the 3 tree marks on the top of the outer saber (near the slide handle side)

The images below show everything and eventually side-by-side for color comparison.

Obviously I am most concerned with the DT's validity.
I read as much as possible. Tested what I could. Read topics, posts and even between the lines where I could. I compared images on here, RS and anywhere I could and I am at a loss. For each positive, there is a negative in my eyes.

If anyone can help validate this or disprove the DT, please let me know. If it is fake, I have to go beat someone down! haha... j/k

As for the others... any comments on them if something is off, I would appreciate that too.

Any other information needed, please ask. I know the DT story as told to me and the Luke is a 3 line brown eyed (number 3 COO in wolfes guide) but that is irrelevant really. It was supposed to have come from a collection of a collector who sold to the store who sold it to me. But who knows for sure.
Can't trust anyone nowadays.

The AA saber is the only one I know for 100% is legit as it came from my childhood.

Anyway.... thanks in advance!!!
cheers

IMAGES START HERE:

Welcome to TIG , psybertech

I know there are some great custum repro dt saber's out there
Dt saber's with non letters have always some kind off spec marks
may be im missing someting but can't see them,i mean this not as
an offend but just curious what will roll out of this .

Hey Starwizz...

If it turns out to be fake, it sucks and I will be pissed, but at least I will know. And hopefully can provide more images of fakes for everyone.
If its legit, awesome!!!!

So, you mentioned 'spec marks'.... what 'spec marks' were you looking for?
I know about a dot on the slider handle (doesn't have), a possible circle somewhere (doesn't have), letters on the slide handle (doesn't have).... what else am I missing?

The 3 tree cut spots on the outer part are real clean, but they are there (and apparently revalevit have them too).
The inner part, as best I can tell, up close, with and without a magnifier, seems to have two tree marks on it. They do line up with 2 of the 3 on the outer part. I read somewhere, here I believe, that having tree spots was a good thing (having tree marks on the inner). That may or may not be true though.
I did have one image of that, its tough to see in general, let alone in the pics in macro mode (its a bugger to focus on free-handing).

Not sure..... that's why I am asking. Its allllllllll so confusing and nearly overwhelming.

Anyway... I do hope for more input.
cheers!

I had a similar discussion back in November.

Here is the link to the thread. Also there are some other thread links with in my thread. Lots to read.

http://www.imperialgunneryforum.com/t5073-a-recent-dt-luke-find-need-some-help-identifing-if-it-is-real

Hopefully some of the experts chime in.

The DT Luke does not appear to be authentic. The texture, color, and even the finish on it are completely
off from any known authentic examples I've seen. I would happy to look at any other pictures you would
like to share.
Just a general FYI - I have no idea why people keep bringing up the float test for DT sabers. Tom D. and
I are the only two people in the hobby that will go on record, or write COAs for authentications and we
don't use the float, drop, UV*, or anything else other than our decades of experience. If a seller is trying
to convince you of a DT/authenticity, and they cite the float test, they are lying - end of story.

Bill

(* I did put a note on the UV test. We both use UV light to examine sabers that have been suspected of
damage and/or restorations)

sithtoys wrote:

The DT Luke does not appear to be authentic. The texture, color, and even the finish on it are completely
off from any known authentic examples I've seen. I would happy to look at any other pictures you would
like to share.
Just a general FYI - I have no idea why people keep bringing up the float test for DT sabers. Tom D. and
I are the only two people in the hobby that will go on record, or write COAs for authentications and we
don't use the float, drop, UV*, or anything else other than our decades of experience. If a seller is trying
to convince you of a DT/authenticity, and they cite the float test, they are lying - end of story.

Bill

i rest my case thanks(Bill) sithtoys

If Bill says it is fake then most likely it is. He is pretty much the expert on any forum that I have seen on DT sabers and he is good at spotting them and can generally tell fairly quickly on them from what I have seen. If there is still some doubt I am sure Bill may be willing to allow you to mail the saber to him for closer inspection. I don't want to speak for him but I believe he has done this in the past. You can pretty much trust what he says from the pics though as he has a super keen eye for spotting these things.

Thanks everyone.
I feared that was the case.

It didn't look right the moment I got it today. Solely dealing with images online to compare sometimes is difficult.
I trusted the seller and his background story on this and got burned.

I contacted the seller and now await his response. If he doesn't make it right, I will deal with my credit card company, eBay, PayPal and God if needed and hope for the best. Man, I never had to deal with anything like this on eBay before thankfully and now my first time may be a head-spinning doozy if he doesn't fix this.

Thanks again.
The next DT I am interested in, I hope to choose more wisely finding a reputable seller/dealer.

Last thing before you can close/lock this topic.... do the RT sabers look legit?

I am mostly concerned with #1 since it came from the SAME SELLER.
(it's almost identical to #4 of mine, but #4 came from my brother and I can't say where he got it unfortunately).

Thanks again.
cheers

If you need something written up for a dispute/claim, please send me a PM or email me -
sithtoys AT aol.com
The problem with Luke sabers (regular and DT) is the sheer number of variations. Here is a
brief summary of the known, authentic variations:
DT Sabers - Circles Saber (three known color variants), Standard DT (4 known color variants,
and multiple lettering combinations)
Regular Sabers - thin tip, thick tip, rounded shoulder, TopToys, and LL (again, with multiple
lettering and color variants)

Just the basic overview of what is above, you are looking at a minimum of 7 DT Lukes, and
well over 20 for the regular saber. So it's easy to see why there is so much confusion over
properly IDing these. So what is the answer ? Buy from a reputable dealer or collector. In
the case of DTs, I *always* recommend a 3rd party evaluation. While Lukes are the most
common, it's still enough incentive for people to create repros.

Bill

Thanks again to everyone for contributing and to you directly Bill SithToys! I will be bookmarking this and other threads on the topic for that one day I do get my Luke DT!

I contacted the seller and we worked it out and was refunded my money today!
He apologized and I believed him. He said he would refund the money last night and today it was processed and that is that.

I am glad it wasn't a scam and to know it wasn't intentional. I know I am lucky as I have read horror stories of those who weren't lucky enough to get money back.

Moving forward, I'm going to modify the repo DT saber. I will be trimming the inner blade's thick section to about 1/2 its size in length and then inscribe letters on the outer handle with a "FA" on one side and a "KE" on the other... or maybe "RE" "PO". It will be hard on a small area but I'll figure something out. I won't ever sell it but when I die who knows what will happen with it and I wouldn't want it popping up out in the wild for someone else.
I'll post pics when its done if anyone cares for kicks.

Anyway... wow! Thanks again and my hunt for a DT resumes.

cheers