Fakes, Bootlegs and Frauds

Items on this page are not for sale!!!

China Fake Keychain Set Terrible quality, no trademark.
Germany Cigarette Case New Line licensed pipes, but not cigarette related items. This is a cheap metal cigarette holder with a vinyl collage sticker stuck to it. One of my first purchases, and my first bootleg. Live'n Learn. Sigh.
Thailand Arwen Evenstar Not licensed, but cheap and pretty. Was only on the market for a short time.
Thailand Calendar Cards The first batch of Thai calendar cards were licensed. Once the Thai sellers realized how popular these cards, and other small theatre trinkets were, they went nuts and started making all kinds of fakes. Some of the fake postcard sets were lovely, art as nice as (or better) than the licensed stuff. Please go to Articles for more information.
China Cigarette Box New Line did not license cigarette related items, although they did licensed pipes via a German manufacturer. This box is from China. Although a fake, the coloring is very attractive on it.
Russian Stickers Colorful, but questionable if truly licensed. The movie title logo is all wrong, and there is no trademark.
Various Countries: 5 Pin Set These have turned up from various countries, but seemed to originate out of either France (Montreal?) or Spain. There is no backstamp on them. My husband and I have an extensive Olympic pin collection, and all I can tell you is, after handling tens of thousands of pins, these have the look and feel of fakes. Paris is notorious amongst Pinheads for fake pins.
UK Cell Phone Cover Well, one look at this and it's obvious. New Line's licensing department was very careful about how images were approved and would NEVER have permitted a character to have a whopping great hole in his face. Package header also has no writing on it, and cover is cheaply made.
Asia Matchbox Set One of three sets of matchboxes that were produced. Beautiful art, nicely made, very attractive to display, but no licensing info anywhere on them. All three are probably fake. Creative idea, though, don't you think?
Legolas Buttons Can't remember where I got these, I think Asia?, but definitely homemade.
Spanish Poster Poorly made, no licensing or logo info on it.
USA SFX Press CD Rom home made burned copy of a very rare SFX (special effects) Press CD. Sold by an Ebay seller as an original, he later admitted it was a "rare" copy of an original. Folks, if you are buying press material, PLEASE learn up before you waste your money. I have an article on fake presskits on the articles section of this site. I consider myself an experienced collector, but another collector and myself both got burned by this guy.
USA Lenticular (one of a series) Homemade lenticular sign.I have about twelve different versions of these in my collection, including this rather good (but still bootleg) Frodo looking up/looking down version that I keep on my desk. All were obtained from a seller in NC. (Please don't confuse these with the three beautiful Canadian special edition DVDs that had the lenticular covers. Those were licensed, and you can very occasionally find someone selling just the covers.) These are pretty obviously fake, just by looking at them. They are thick plastic with heavy ridges, and when tilted, some of them have the old style movie logo, or Bakshi characters.
China Bootleg Action Figure This is supposed to be a series of Chinese action figures, however, they came to me via a Phillipine seller, so anything is possible. In any event, this series is hysterical. Saruman comes fully equipped with Sting and a folding fan, to protect his complexion from those hot times in the bowels of Orthanc. The manufacturer has also kindly inserted a "Ringwaraith" (sic) trading card.
China Bootleg Action Figure The back of the package is even better. This series of 12 figures includes such favorites as "Ralph" and "Cecilia", posers who seem to favor their Middle Earth names of Celeborn and Galadriel. Not to be outdone is that raffish elf of Rivendell, "Michael". And then of course, representing the race of Man is "Ned". So much easier to spit out in the heat of battle than Boromir. "Beware of that orcish spear, Borom.......".
China Bootleg Action Figure Bootleg action figure of Samwise Gamgee. Sam carries a large shield, and a sword that looks like a cross between a Ringwraith and something from Xena. Note the Pippin scarf and bag Sam carries.
China Bootleg Action Figure Bootleg Chinese Action figure of "Michael" aka Elrond, Lord of Rivendell. That might explain the really surprised expression on his face. Or, perhaps it's the scythe and black book they provided him with. This is one bad ass elf. He's takin' notes, and seems to be hand in hand with the Grim Reaper, or at least sharing his blister pack.
China Bootleg Action Figure Bootleg figure of Strider, who bears more than a passing resemblance to King Charles I, and no resemblance at all to his trading card, which is visible on the Samwise toy.
Samwise Gamgee Wiener Dog Tries to pass himself off as loyal companion, but really, all he wants, is a bone and a pet-pet. Sammy would dig his way to Mordor, given the chance.
FAKE Movie "Scripts" These are fake scripts that appear for sale all over the internet. You can print these for FREE from a number of fan websites, just Google "Lord of the Rings script". These were NOT issued by Peter Jackson and the rest, they are just a transcript of all the spoken parts that some fan sat down and typed out.
Autographed Theatre Button Probably a fake autograph. At the first RingCon, organizers caught a woman in the lobby, boldly "practicing" the signatures she had received at the signing session earlier in the day. They immediately ejected her from the convention, no questions asked. (One thing about German fans, they don't take no stuff, and they put on a helluva convention.)  FBI estimates are that 60-80% of all autographs sold online are fake. Personally, I'd bet it's higher. Any 10 year old with a printer can make a fake COA. Spend your money wisely. If you just have to have an autograph, get a Topps card, or make plans to attend a fan convention.
Coke Gandalf Pin Bootleg pin. (Photo courtesy of Leona Rivet, USA.) No backstamp on the pin, and the back surface has a texture that is commonly used by bootlegers. Pin bootleggers try to combine popular themes together to try to double the potential market, in this case, Coke and Lord of the Rings. Coke did have licensing rights, but only in South Afrika.
Japan T-Shirt Design from a beautifully made tshirt received from Japan. Screenprinted on a sweatshirt . No copyright, no logo, tag isn't correct. I was astonished that this was bootleg. But I still love the design.
Ivory Coast Stamp Sheet Uncut sheet of stamps from the Ivory Coast. I have been told by reputable stamp collectors that these are fake, as are the unspellable Russian ones. Licensed stamps have been issued in NZ, Isle of Mann, and Taiwan. Photo courtesy of Lee Rivet, USA.
Canada Bootleg Lenticular Set Set of 4 postcard sized homemade lenticulars from a Canadian seller. Images were lifted directly from the NLC website.
China Unlicensed cherry bomb with distinctive Wraith art work. Reverse side even has a Party Tree!