DnDgeek,

You are correct, I shouldn't have jumped to a conclusion and since I did so very openly in poor judgement, I want to apologize just as openly and not in message. I'm very glad that you came here and openly supplied the information and reminding me to keep my mouth shut. :) I've been taken by the manufacturer of these multiple times and it has probably left me a little jaded.

Best of luck working out this situation.

Again, sincerest apologies!

cdenham wrote in Interesting eBay alert! TSR belt buckles:DnDgeek,

You are correct, I shouldn't have jumped to a conclusion and since I did so very openly in poor judgement, I want to apologize just as openly and not in message. I'm very glad that you came here and openly supplied the information and reminding me to keep my mouth shut. :) I've been taken by the manufacturer of these multiple times and it has probably left me a little jaded.

Best of luck working out this situation.

Again, sincerest apologies!

No worries, cdenham! I can definitely understand how it looked shady. Thanks for the kind words.

misterspock wrote in Interesting eBay alert! TSR belt buckles:Jason, I was looking back at the seller's feedback profile. This was the account that used to be called "pearsonmichael"

eBay Feedback Profile for afe32b343e483600436be6786bd788e91183702751

This guy's account was created in 2013. This account was the one selling the fraudulent buckles we discussed earlier.

dndgeek wrote in Interesting eBay alert! TSR belt buckles:Jason Cook here, the seller of that buckle. Here's the story: I bought it off of eBay about 15 years ago and it has sat proudly on my shelf since then.

Did you purchase two (or more) additional buckles from this seller between 2013 and 2015 (when his account was suspended)? Plus one other buckle (the one you listed recently that Warduke won) that was purchased 15yrs ago from possibly someone else?

I forgot that I had a second one because I sold it not long after I bought it, but I am on that feedback list twice, so looks like they were both counterfeits. Now I'm worried about my bronze buckle and chalice.

Jason Cook here, the seller of that buckle. Here's the story: I bought it off of eBay about 15 years ago and it has sat proudly on my shelf since then.

Did you purchase two (or more) additional buckles from this seller between 2013 and 2015 (when his account was suspended)? Plus one other buckle (the one you listed recently that Warduke won) that was purchased 15yrs ago from possibly someone else?

I forgot that I had a second one because I sold it not long after I bought it, but I am on that feedback list twice, so looks like they were both counterfeits. Now I'm worried about my bronze buckle and chalice.

I'm confused here. You bought only two buckles from the same seller "pearsonmichael" (Both of these were fakes) and have only ever had two buckles and not three? I saw two separate feedbacks that you left him on this particular account. One buckle was purchased between the middle of 2013 and late 2015. And you're saying the other pewter/silverish one was purchased 15yrs ago from his account? His account only existed since Aug 2013. Did you mean you bought the 2ND one in 2015 or that you've had it in your possession for 15yrs?

I believe you can leave only one feedback per purchase Btw. So either you bought two buckles between Aug 2013 and late 2015, or you bought three total, with one in Bronze 15yrs years ago.

You said this particular silverish one that you sold to Warduke was on your shelf for 15yrs. Or was it the bronze one that was on the shelf for 15yrs?

misterspock wrote in Interesting eBay alert! TSR belt buckles:

Did you purchase two (or more) additional buckles from this seller between 2013 and 2015 (when his account was suspended)? Plus one other buckle (the one you listed recently that Warduke won) that was purchased 15yrs ago from possibly someone else?

I forgot that I had a second one because I sold it not long after I bought it, but I am on that feedback list twice, so looks like they were both counterfeits. Now I'm worried about my bronze buckle and chalice.

I'm confused here. You bought only two buckles from the same seller "pearsonmichael" (Both of these were fakes) and have only ever had two buckles and not three? I saw two separate feedbacks that you left him on this particular account. One buckle was purchased between the middle of 2013 and late 2015. And you're saying the other pewter/silverish one was purchased 15yrs ago from his account? His account only existed since Aug 2013. Did you mean you bought the 2ND one in 2015 or that you've had it in your possession for 15yrs?

I believe you can leave only one feedback per purchase Btw. So either you bought two buckles between Aug 2013 and late 2015, or you bought three total, with one in Bronze 15yrs years ago.

You said this particular silverish one that you sold to Warduke was on your shelf for 15yrs. Or was it the bronze one that was on the shelf for 15yrs?

Good point, misterspock! Those dates definitely don't add up. I don't have a very good memory, but I guestimated that 15 years based on where I was living at the time I acquired it and that was long before August 2013. I guess it's possible I mixed up the dates of the bronze and silver buckles, but I was pretty sure I acquired the silver one first, because I remember longing for a bronze one for awhile. I do have many years of e-mails stored, though, so let me see what I can dig up this weekend.

dndgeek wrote in Interesting eBay alert! TSR belt buckles:

ExTSR wrote in Interesting eBay alert! TSR belt buckles:Am familiar with both, if you want to share pix (public or private).

F

Will do after work today, Frank; thanks. I'm seriously worried about that bronze one now, considering the dates mentioned above.

The pearsonmichael eBay account was active from approximately 08/2013 to 05/2015 (when the counterfeit buckle scam was identified).  During that time, sellers bought multiple buckles and Michael Pearson & Joe Pendleton seemed to have an unlimited supply.  Pearson said " he said he can get you all you want...." and that was for an order of 100 buckles at $50 a piece.  Pearson also said, "hey my friend just called he said he actually has 3 different buckles dun and dragons", suggesting other styles of TSR buckles were also counterfeited.  We also know the duo were active on Etsy until our complaints shut them down.

With all that being said, the actual number of counterfeit buckles which entered the market is unknown.  I think this might be the first instance of a future problem.  I suggested this in the original part of the thread and I'm bringing it up again now to get some input, should we make the information we have public knowledge?  A website possibly, detailing the events, educating fellow collectors that counterfeit buckles are out there, and how to identify the counterfeits from the Pearson/Pendleton batches.

grodog wrote in Interesting eBay alert! TSR belt buckles:Perhaps a fraudulent products sub-web/section off of The Acaeum main page would be worthwhile to build, assuming it doesn't provide too much "how to" knowledge to counterfeiters?

We would also want to know about how to avoid online sellers of counterfeit buckles. Like if someone is selling buckles, we should be alerted about it as soon as possible so we will know which sellers to avoid. The embarrassment of being seen at the local game store in a counterfeit lizardman buckle would make someone feel terrible. I think I have a pair of jeans it would look terrible on.

The Collector's Trove wrote in Interesting eBay alert! TSR belt buckles:Good call Jason.

You are definitely one of the good-guys and I have seen you help out numerous gamers before, including me! You also contributed to the GenCon 50th charity game at 330 Center St. to help Jim Ward among others.

Your decision to refund the buyer's payment and take the whole thing as a lesson learned is a good one

Thanks for the kind words, Paul! I hope you get a chance to swing by my Little Wars table next year and critique my setup. Your guidance is much appreciated.

ExTSR wrote in Interesting eBay alert! TSR belt buckles:

dndgeek wrote in Interesting eBay alert! TSR belt buckles:here are links to the pics

Both seem fine.
Would like to see a shot of the buckle peg to be 100%.

The only counterfeit chalice I ever saw centered the copyright line
(and used a different font);
the period after inc should be very near the rim, as is yours.

You can relax now.

So what are the two items worth?  :wink:

This one looks OK