Are these recasts?

Condottiero Magno

Condottiero Magno

Member
From this LAF thread, Fakes? What do you lot think?, I checked out ale_bennytin's listings and the £0.99 opening bids didn't raise an eyebrow, though not sure why the McDeath or MecDeath figures have "unreleased" in the title. Looking at the Xena listing, I do notice some differences with the one I purchased for $50+ (How much does Xena the Warrior Princess go for?) back in 2017: the dagger on the left hand looks slightly different and some of the details are a little soft, though not sure if it's due to the photo. :?:

I am interested in the Fergus McEwman/Hercule Throb sculpt, but the £16 shipping to the US for individual figures is just ridiculous... :lol:
 

Juxt

Member
I couldn't really give a solid reason why, but when I stumbled across these auctions a couple of days ago I assumed them recast. I have seen a LOT of mordheim figures coming from Italy over the last two years, nearly all of them in pristine condition. That is no reason to believe them recast of course. The seller has a large amount of desirable miniatures, but so do many other genuine sellers. The weird lot of halflings adds an element of credibility to it being someone selling their personal collection- they would be a poor choice of minis to recast (even the psychohobbit in the lot isn't particularly valuable) but do appear too new to be true. The account having no activity for a year and then listing a load of rare minis is kinda strange, but not unheard of.

In short- I'm suspicious but can't really explain why.
 
Golgfag1

Golgfag1

Moderator
Best thing I can say is look at the sellers previous sales and feedback if it look OK, more than likely it is, if not more than likely isn't . Sorry best I can do.

Paul / Golgfag1
 
dieselmonkey

dieselmonkey

Member
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the vast majority are almost certainly recasts. For one example, I've never seen preslotta halflings in anything other than a very dark, high-lead content alloy. The castings look to be in a much more modern alloy.

Also, Italy in particular seems to have a rather lax attitude to copyright infringement.
 
Condottiero Magno

Condottiero Magno

Member
Golgfag1":13481pq3 said:
Best thing I can say is look at the sellers previous sales and feedback if it look OK, more than likely it is, if not more than likely isn't . Sorry best I can do.

Paul / Golgfag1
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Feedback isn't always a good gauge, as I recall some discounted Forge World stuff on eBay years ago and the seller had excellent feedback. Based on info from Frothers, turned out they're resin recasts, so unless all those positives were from shills, those buyers were only concerned about comparative quality. Was also told that some of those GW resins from China were "recast" using original molds by employees, probably in their spare time. :|

If it weren't for the shipping, I'd be tempted to pick up another Xena, to convert it into a mounted version, though I'd remove that dagger... ;)
 
Condottiero Magno

Condottiero Magno

Member
Juxt":2iozk9of said:
I couldn't really give a solid reason why, but when I stumbled across these auctions a couple of days ago I assumed them recast. I have seen a LOT of mordheim figures coming from Italy over the last two years, nearly all of them in pristine condition. That is no reason to believe them recast of course. The seller has a large amount of desirable miniatures, but so do many other genuine sellers. The weird lot of halflings adds an element of credibility to it being someone selling their personal collection- they would be a poor choice of minis to recast (even the psychohobbit in the lot isn't particularly valuable) but do appear too new to be true. The account having no activity for a year and then listing a load of rare minis is kinda strange, but not unheard of.

In short- I'm suspicious but can't really explain why.
Click to expand...
Good eye on the halfings, as I glossed over 'em for the other stuff. I do have that psychohobbit and it's almost as shiny as the one in the listing, except this one has spikes that look a little soft in comparison, though I can't tell if it's to do with the photo quality or wear and tear. The Imperial arquebusiers and swordsmen look okay...

Looking over the Mordheim sculpts made me realize, there's a lot of stuff I missed when these were available, due to not subscribing to Town Cryer. :cry:
 
dieselmonkey

dieselmonkey

Member
Condottiero Magno":3blosvu5 said:
I do have that psychohobbit and it's almost as shiny as the one in the listing, except this one has spikes that look a little soft in comparison, though I can't tell if it's to do with the photo quality or wear and tear.
Click to expand...

As it was a slotta mini, the psychohobbit ended up in the general halfling range, and so was produced up until the mail order archive service ended in the early 2000's.
 

Zhu Bajie

Member
Saw these, and yes they set off alarm bells as looking soft / dodgy.

But, as dieselmonkey suggests, the Mail-Order Archive service was running up until 2000, and it's possible some of these were ordered through that, which explains both the odd quality and the modern, shiny metal, although IDK if they did preslotta stuff.
 
dieselmonkey

dieselmonkey

Member
Zhu Bajie":3u4z7yjw said:
although IDK if they did preslotta stuff.
Click to expand...

They didn't. Preslotta production moulds were shredded/discontinued by 1989 when I started. I had to get preslotta models made by asking a friendly mouldmaker to dig out the master moulds and spin them for me. No way they'd do that for mail order customers.
 
Condottiero Magno

Condottiero Magno

Member
dieselmonkey":fr47zjod said:
Condottiero Magno":fr47zjod said:
I do have that psychohobbit and it's almost as shiny as the one in the listing, except this one has spikes that look a little soft in comparison, though I can't tell if it's to do with the photo quality or wear and tear.
Click to expand...

As it was a slotta mini, the psychohobbit ended up in the general halfling range, and so was produced up until the mail order archive service ended in the early 2000's.
Click to expand...
Makes sense, but until moving back and getting internet access ad finding SoL, I had no idea of a "general halfling range", just had the Blue and Red catalogues, White Dwarf and whatever flyer included with mail ordered items - I recall someone at school selling his figures and I picked up several halflings. :) The Elven Attack Chariot never made it to the early 2000s, as my brother wanted one in the early to mid 90s. :(
 
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