Hi,  I'm new to the forum.  I need some help validating if this Farmboy Luke is real or fake.

Background:
 I went to an auction in central Ohio.  Some older Tonka's and games.  They had 2 Star Wars cases unopened.  They had two cases with figures.   I bought the C3P0 case with between 35 and 40 figures.  They ranged in condition from mint to well played.  

When I looked at the Farmboy Luke, I could not find any markings....no GMFGI, no LFL, no year, no COO,  no anything.

I read somewhere that there was a factory that got parts and assembled the figures....thus it was possible to get a figure with 2 COO markings on it.   I'm wondering if the opposite is true and it was possible to ge a figure with no markings.

• The figure has a seem that looks like the front and back chest could have been separate and sealed together.  The indention in the arm for the light saber is not clean and looks to have left over plastic from the mold or maybe from being routed out?    
  The hands seem to have some dark paint on them...maybe some overspray form pants or belt?
  The belt looks to be brown instead of black,  but I'm partially color blind so I do not trust my color identification
  

Since this was a whole collection and the other pieces looked good,  I do not think it is a fake.
But then without any markings and the other mentioned oddities,  I'm not really sure

I'm hoping someone on here can help solve this mystery.

Thanks

Send a pm to the_dark_artist and direct him to this thread. He may have some insight. Also can you get closer pics of the rear of each leg?

Closeup of legs...no markings

I sent a pm to both Steve (the dark artist) and Oli (olisuds) asking them to take a look at this figure. Curious of their opinions on it.

IMO, you have a 100% first shot prototype. I see many things that point to my conclusion. I also have one, and have studied the traits. This looks legit. Can you do me a favor. In good light, take a pic of his lower back. Close up. I know of a mark that will most likely be there and I want to see if I am correct.
Congrats though, I believe this is legit.
Have you checked all the figures in the case? There may be more.
-Steve
ps-if you want to message me privately, I can discuss this with you more.

Is this pic good enough?  This is the best my tablet could do...I can try a different camera/lighting tomorrow if need be.

All the other figures (all sold on ebay already) had normal COO markings...mostly Hong Kong...one Taiwan
If it is a prototype,  then I guess it goes into my collection instead of being sold

Thanks for all your help....

I believe it is a prototype. Yes.
I will just ask.... can you see a faint circle on his lower back? Look in really good light.

Regardless, the mold mark on mine and some others could have been modified out of the mold as more were created. Yours has all the other signs I would expect with a Luke first shot. You can always get Tom Derby's opinion by sending it to CIB, but I am 100% sure he is going to agree with my verdict.

This is why I wanted Steve and/or Oli to chime in. Honestly my initial thought was prototype, but the hair and head was throwing me. With the exception of the eyebrows, the hair and eyes look production; so I was then thinking possibly an altered production piece.

If Steve says it is proto, it is likely proto. He and Oli have spent many years studying these prototype stages and amassing awesome collections.

Forgot to also say thanks Steve for chiming in. Oli hasnt read his pm yet, but will likely respond here also at some point.

Amazing find.

If you wanna make some cash, let me know. I have a friend that would pay well for it. Send me a PM if interested. I could give you his contact info. If not, totally understandable. Either way, Congrats!

One note about the paint. Mine has hand painted eyes, that are tighter handed. The paint on my Luke matches very closely the hand painted facial features on my Ben. I have talked to Ben Sheehan about this for hours. These pieces were all painted somewhat different. The facial features on this example actually matches one of Ben's examples closely. There was obviously more then one person painting them and for different reasons. But the paint scheme on this is what I would expect to see.

Looking at this pic I don't see the same circle so maybe this was a post modified mold first shot?  Interestingly I also don't see a saber hole into the hand, saber handle area so this limb may be like one I have seen.  I think it was Steve's that doesn't have a saber hole, but I might be remembering wrong.

Edit: It must be the angle of the pic as in a previous one the saber hole is there.

I see the hole on this one. It is cored.

This is mine.

Flattered you consider me an expert :-) I know Steve's studied these quite a bit recently so would go with his judgement. As far as I can see it looks genuine. Lack of copyright, signs it's hand painted, hand cored saber slot. The only thing I'd add is that you'd need to confirm the mold if you're looking for sign of the mold circle on the back - perhaps you already have. And then it could also be another mold cavity or it was already smoothed out. Anyway my opinion for what it's worth is that it looks genuine.

My only piece of advice to the owner would be to take caution if you are selling it. A first shot Luke Farmboy is going to be extremely desirable and you will no doubt receive lots of low-ball offers from both collectors and dealers looking to take advantage. I would imagine it's value is around the 5 figure mark in $.

just incredible . cool piece

I agree on value Oli, and that's exactly what I told him by PM also.

olisuds wrote:

Flattered you consider me an expert :-) I know Steve's studied these quite a bit recently so would go with his judgement. As far as I can see it looks genuine. Lack of copyright, signs it's hand painted, hand cored saber slot. The only thing I'd add is that you'd need to confirm the mold if you're looking for sign of the mold circle on the back - perhaps you already have. And then it could also be another mold cavity or it was already smoothed out. Anyway my opinion for what it's worth is that it looks genuine.

My only piece of advice to the owner would be to take caution if you are selling it. A first shot Luke Farmboy is going to be extremely desirable and you will no doubt receive lots of low-ball offers from both collectors and dealers looking to take advantage. I would imagine it's value is around the 5 figure mark in $.

The_Dark_Artist wrote:

IMO, you have a 100% first shot prototype. I see many things that point to my conclusion. I also have one, and have studied the traits. This looks legit. Can you do me a favor. In good light, take a pic of his lower back. Close up. I know of a mark that will most likely be there and I want to see if I am correct.
Congrats though, I believe this is legit.
Have you checked all the figures in the case? There may be more.
-Steve
ps-if you want to message me privately, I can discuss this with you more.

There you have it. First shot figure is what it is thought to be. Usually I direct new members to the intro thread bit seeing what you had I forgot to do that. If you want to stick around and get to know people on the board a bit more take a sec and let us know about you.

http://www.imperialgunneryforum.com/t7181-who-s-who-don-t-be-shy-introduce-yourself-here

Let us know the outcome of this if you send it to Tom or are planning to move it on. Hopefully your a collector and it will stay where it is. Not a lot of them around so for a collector this is truly a Grail piece.

Thanks so much for all your input. I'm still in shock over it all.

I'd consider myself to be a comic collector more than a Star Wars collector. However, I collect lots of stuff, mainly toy lines from 70's and 80's.


Star Wars
Micronauts
Mego
Super Powers
Secret Wars
Star Trek
Transformers
Thundercats
etc

Mainly I collect just the figures of the above....they take up less room.

I do have a majority of the Star Wars figures...and buy more to keep upgrading my collection. But I do not have many of the variations. I actually started my Star Wars collecting when I stumbled upon a double telescoping Luke when I bought a collection back in the mid 90's

I'll keep this figure for now.

Thanks again for all your help

Jedi Bumble wrote:

Thanks so much for all your input.  I'm still in shock over it all.

I'd consider myself to be a comic collector  more than a Star Wars collector.   However, I collect lots of stuff, mainly toy lines from 70's and 80's.


Star Wars
Micronauts
Mego
Super Powers
Secret Wars
Star Trek
Transformers
Thundercats
etc

Mainly I collect just the figures of the above....they take up less room.  

I do have a majority of the Star Wars figures...and buy more to keep upgrading my collection.  But I do not have many of the variations.  I actually started my Star Wars collecting when I stumbled upon a double telescoping Luke when I bought a collection back in the mid 90's

I'll keep this figure for now.

Thanks again for all your help

Lots of comic collectors here also. Check out this topic in the off topic section: http://www.imperialgunneryforum.com/t8397-anybody-collect-comic-books-here

Also the off topic section is full of other toy lines we all collect.

Welcome to TIG Jedi Bumble and congrats on that Luke! Please keep us informed on the progress.
And you say you also struck lucky in the 90s with a DT Luke? Looks like you have some good fortune on your collecting trail

Craig, I sent you a couple PM's. Thanks, -Steve

Incredible. Nice score and welcome to TIG