Fakes, etc.

I'll begin populating this page with photos of reproductions, fakes and fantasy items as I see them listed on eBay, Etsy and other such sites. Hopefully, collectors will refer to this page to minimize the occasions reproductions, fakes and fantasy items are unknowingly purchased. If you see something on this page that was sold to you purporting to be a vintage item, immediately send it back for a full refund. 

This is one of the first of the fantasy items to infiltrate widely into many collections. These first began surfacing at the Atlantic City antiques show in ~1995. This has no collectible value. Around 1995, I was fooled into buying one by an unscrupulous dealer who refused to refund my money when confronted with the fact that this was a fantasy item. Needless to say, I have never bought another item from her. 

This is one of the first of the fantasy items to infiltrate widely into many collections. These first began surfacing at the Atlantic City antiques show in ~1995. Most of the time they are peddled without bottoms. This has no collectible value. 

This reproduction/fantasy item was in the vanguard of such items that have plagued the hobby for the last few years. Authentic wind-ups and mechanical Halloween items are VERY scarce, and when they do surface they are almost always in shabby condition. Virtually every such toy I have seen these last few years is either a reproduction, a fantasy item or is a marriage between vintage Halloween elements and a non-Halloween body or mechanism. Interestingly, only one or two sellers have been peddling these types of items for significant dollars. How did these same dealers get such a trove of wind-ups and mechanicals?  I think I know the answer. Be VERY suspicious when buying such items. 

This fantasy item first began surfacing in the late 1990s. 

Fantasy item that first surfaced ~2002.