Hi All,

AJ let me in on the UV lamp secret the other day, so I ordered a UV lamp and I think the results are fascinating. However without a wide range of evidence it's hard to know if it's useful in identifying original stuff so please feel free to comment, confirm originality against your collection items and generally discuss...

Firstly, does anyone know for certain if ALL original sabers (especially Luke ones) glow under UV? and from this evidence below it seems not and also that their level of glowiness varies considerably too.

Some observations from the below images:
1) Luke round-tip & Taiwan sabers don't glow much at all (or perhaps they're fake?)
2) Luke flat-transition sabers glow like crazy (v1 thin tip & v2 normal tip on the guide)
3) Perhaps it's possible my round-tips are fake?
4) All Vader sabers glow, even the RevalveIT DT Repro! Argh! ... ooh hold on a moment, maybe it's a real one?    
5) Ben sabers don't glow? v1 flat transition thin tip & v2 flat transition normal tip
6) Some yoda capes glow, but out of the 7 I have (two brown snake dark canes, all other orange snake light canes) only 1 cape glows


For the sake of Luke identification I'm going to use the coo# from this thread: http://www.imperialgunneryforum.com/Vintage-Star-Wars-COO-Guide-h14.htm#Luke%20Skywalker%20-%20Original

Lukes (left to right):
A) coo#3 (3-line high 1977) with broken tip round-transition,
B) coo#2 (2-line small copyright) with v4 round-transition (although it's not smooth, it has rings around the saber so it may be fake) ,
C) coo#1 (brown hair) with v1 flat transition thin top,
D) coo#4 (Taiwan) with v5 Taiwan saber
Interestingly though, the Taiwan saber hardly glows at all
(left to right)
E) coo#6 (3-line low 1977) with fake RevalveIT DT saber (thought I'd add this to show the difference against the real DT)
F) coo#1 (2-line big copyright) with original DT saber - glows like a crazy thing!
G) coo#2 (2-line small copyright) with v4 round-transition (this one is smooth, no rings around the length of the saber - thinking this is a real v4?)
H) coo#3 (3-line high 1977) with flat-transition, normal tip saber - glows like a crazy thing!
Just showing the 'glowiness' of these 2 figures - G (left) vs the Taiwan D (right)

Vaders (left to right):
H) v2 'cc' lettered saber with flat transition, normal tip
I) v5 Taiwan saber
J) Fake RevalveIT DT saber
K) v2 'v' lettered saber with flat transition, normal tip
L) v1 faded saber, no letter, flat transition, thin tip
M) (by itself, not with figure) v2 flat transition, normal tip, no letter
Ben Kenobi's (left to right):
N) white hair with flat transition thin tip (v1)
O) grey hair with flat transition normal tip (v2)

Yodas (left to right):
P) Brown snake, dark cane - cloak that doesn't glow
Q) Orange snake, light cane - cloak that does glow (although I have 6 other orange snake, light cane, brown eyes that don't glow)

From memory all Luke sabers glow ( bar Taiwan) . All Vader sabers glow ( bar one ) Only 'early' Ben sabers ( ie lettered thin tip) glow. Revalve it sabers do not glow.

Someone said this in regards to this test before, but it isn't a fool proof 100% accurate test. We have no way of knowing what chemical composition or breakdown or whatever causes the glow and the plastic from one batch to next could be slightly different. When I saw the comment about the test before it was in reference to lili ledy figures, but I want to say it here as well. It is just a helpful factor in this case, but not a 100% throw away your saber based off the result type of test. In fact lightsabers to me are the number one hardest items to authenticate so you need a culmination of all of the various factors and tests to make a determination.

Bryan is spot on, any 'authentication test' should always be used in conjunction with other 'tests' most importantly visual checks compared to known legit examples.