Hello, I've bought this blaster from a seller who had 7 of these. I believe his story but need clarification to make sure it's not a repro.
Im recording a podcast on Sunday about repro and would like to hear your thoughts on it. Not seen one like this before.
Thank you
Marc

Marc, here are your pics:

Marc. I followed the discussion on facebook. Yes it does lack a little bit of detail but does exhibit a lot of authentic traits

Thank you for your reply. I really need a definitive answer, where would you suggest I go to? I had some weapons checked at echo live last week, only wish I'd of had this then.

Most things I am comfortable betting a carton of beer on for authentication- this one not so much. Where is else to go????Not sure. Perhaps wait for Josh to get one in hand. I did read these 'feel' 'wrong' ?

Does it float after being submerged in water a few times (to get any bubbles out)? it should float back to the surface

I just tried comparing my v1, v3 & v4/ledy (I don't have a v3 yet) versions against your images, but I think there are marking differences on all of them vs yours.

Yours, when looking at the right side of the blaster only, clearly shows the mold dimple in the horizontal line above the clip (like the v1 has, but no others has). This tell me yours is either a v1 or a copy of a v1.

Yours, also on the right side, above the handle appears to be flat whereas on my v1 where the arch/bump protrudes above the handle on the top of the gun has clear lines either side, in fact it's sticks out a little. This concerns me because the v1 isn't flat so either I can't see it on the image (and a natural light in focus picture might help here) or it is flat in which case it doesnt match any known weapons, which means it "might" be a repro.

UV light doesnt shown anything on my weapons so I dont have any suggestions there.

Hope this helps, and if you get the time please post some natural light, in-focus pictures to inspect and I'll take another look for you.

Cheers!
Mat

The seller has been in contact with us, he has offered a full refund to any buyer which no one has taken. We await one example being sent to a collector in the US for examination in hand.

What is the Facebook page referenced in a previous post? I would like to visit it

Echo Base UK Trading Vintage Star Wars 1977-1988

mat8yr wrote:

Does it float after being submerged in water a few times (to get any bubbles out)? it should float back to the surface

I just tried comparing my v1, v3 & v4/ledy (I don't have a v3 yet) versions against your images, but I think there are marking differences on all of them vs yours.

Yours, when looking at the right side of the blaster only, clearly shows the mold dimple in the horizontal line above the clip (like the v1 has, but no others has). This tell me yours is either a v1 or a copy of a v1.

Yours, also on the right side, above the handle appears to be flat whereas on my v1 where the arch/bump protrudes above the handle on the top of the gun has clear lines either side, in fact it's sticks out a little.  This concerns me because the v1 isn't flat so either I can't see it on the image (and a natural light in focus picture might help here) or it is flat in which case it doesnt match any known weapons, which means it "might" be a repro.

UV light doesnt shown anything on my weapons so I dont have any suggestions there.

Hope this helps, and if you get the time please post some natural light, in-focus pictures to inspect and I'll take another look for you.

Cheers!
Mat

Yes it does float and I've posted a video of it doing so. Im really 50/50 on this but erring on the side of original. Not holding my breath though, been let down too many times and I'm not that lucky. It is in the hands of Leia until proven repro.

Many more of these pistols have surfaced- the most distinguishing feature is the very flat square end. It's the pistol on the right. We are now looking to see if a MOC exists with this pistol mould/shape.

So far not one has been found in an existing collection or sealed in a MOC or baggie. I await Steve at UKG to confirm if he will authenticate them.

Announcement on the main site : http://www.imperialgunnery.com/

It seems a second 'version' from the same source has appeared


It does not have the 'square' back end



Still shows details not seen on any known original ( check 'bolt head' on magazine )

I bought two of these. The first, a blue black one, arrived the day I was setting off for holiday. I quickly checked it over and, happy with it, set off on hols. I noticed he had another for sale on eBay so contacted him again and he said he had a blue and a dark blue. I asked him if they were his last ones, to which he replied yes, and promptly purchased them both. While away on holiday I noticed he had another for sale, then another, then another...

Suspicion sufficiently aroused, when I got back home I picked up the two blasters and set about scrutinising them against variants 1-4 in my collection.

In my opinion the sharpness of detail leads me to believe it most closely resembles variant 1 on TIG - the others are nowhere near as sharp as variant 1 or this particular blaster. However, this blaster does not sport the vertical bar on the barrel, above the handle. The handle itself closely resembles variant 3 with the trademark slight bulge, but again this blaster does not have the two vertical lines or slight bulges further down the barrel that variant 3 has. In the end, what made me most suspicious, and might just be its downfall, was the near perfect straightness and smoothness of the barrel and its consistency in appearance close to the end. The others, including variant 1 just don't have this. Finally, when examining the blue black variant under light I could not replicate the partial transparency and blueness shown in the picture sent to me, or present on my variant 2 dark blue blaster.

I was going to begin writing a buyer beware post but noticed someone had beaten me to it, and low and behold the name of the seller eventually popped up too. At this point I contacted the seller and was told the same story now up on TIG. The buyer offered me and has given me a full refund. Now I've got it I am electing to add my thoughts here too.

Is this a reproduction?

It must be noted that at no point on the listing did the seller claim that it was 100% original, merely said that it had passed the TIG float test, drop test and light test. He sent me a picture of the gun indicating substantial transparency, but since he has multiple blasters there can be no definitive proof that the one shown in the photograph was the one received. The guy has been nothing but polite and obliging - However, this is my reasoning for doubting its authenticity:

- This does not match any of the known variants identified by TIG and one would have thought a version would have popped up on a moc somewhere, or even loose prior to this if it was truly the genuine article
- The seller has not put the story on eBay and has only mentioned it once a case for return has been started
- The seller is listing them one at a time and this could be as to not arise suspicion
- The seller has said they were his last items and this appears not to be true
- If they were genuine and the story is to be believed why would the original source of the weapons give them to an eBay member who started trading in April 2017 and not release them to a trusted source

Should we be worried?

If it is a reproduction and not the genuine article, then hell yes! I noticed that ScruffyLookingNH said on the Star Wars Forum that there were tell tale signs that this was not the genuine article but you have to be an expert collector to spot these. While I don't profess to being an expert I have been collecting since 2003 and I was sufficiently rushed to miss these signs and pass it off as a genuine Princess Blaster. He also said this was a bloody good reproduction.

Let's be clear, if it is one, this is by far and away the best reproduction I have ever come across. Past reproductions have been fairly easy to spot. Early reproductions lacked the finer details, such as no pattern on the handle of the Imperial Blaster, a raised bar on the Bespin Blaster, a raised bump on the Pilot Blaster, no circle on the Princess Blaster. Most of these also failed the float test. Later reproductions were too brittle and would often snap if pressure was applied such as the Bib Fortuna and Amanaman Staffs. The more recent reproductions passed the float test but were easily identifiable by the excess flashing and shiny black appearance. These on the other hand are near damn perfect. They are going to fool loads of collectors, new and old alike.

And as was also mentioned it will only take a slight modification to the mould and we will never spot them. And if they can do it with the Princess Blaster whose to say they can't do it with all the others.

Let's pray it turns out to be an undiscovered original. Though the price of Princess Leia's will crash through the roof.

Looks like the listings have been removed and the seller's eBay account suspended.

I reckon this is going to be the first of many...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Star-Wars-Figure-Princess-Leia-organa-Original-Cape-Weapon-/253067689548?hash=item3aec027e4c:g:Q1AAAOSwOvZZe3Tb

Check out image 5. I believe that's our fake Leia Pistol right there if I'm not mistaken.

http://www.ebay.com.au/usr/dkulikowski
has left feedback for paugildin-6 the original source of these pistols....

These floating Leia blasters have now been labelled as Repro V6 and given an entry on the TIG archive.
http://www.imperialgunnery.com/princessleiablasters.htm