Trying to get my eye in detecting fakes/scrappers

[Fishyfins]

Hey there

So, i am new to this whole pin trading lark after being dragged into it by several friends (and girlfriend) on a recent holiday to Florida. I bought quite a few pins whilst i was there (genuine ones from DW stores), but also did a few trades in the parks. I am now trying to get my eye in to detect fakes and scrappers, and have turned my eye suspiciously to the pins i got in trades, as i now know cast lanyards can be rife with the fakes. Here are the 3 i got. The butterfly pin is the only one i got from a cast lanyard. The dwarf was from a random young boy who wanted to trade with me, and the Rufus pin was from one of my friends, though i suspect he got it from a cast lanyard. Anyway, here they are...

The Happy pin (#99888) seems to have the correct colours, and everything looks good with it. There are no counterfeit warnings on Pinpics (though i know that isnt always perfect), so my gut says it is genuine.

The butterfly pin (#74888), according to Pinpics, came in 2 versions. The second release was more purple than the first, and mine is certainly slightly more purple than the pic on pinpics. No counterfeit warnings on Pinpics, and everything "feels" ok with it except on the top and bottom of each wing there is a slightly "odd" area that looks like where it was cut from something. See here...

Everything else feels ok about them, so i am on the fence with this pin as to whether it is genuine or not.

The final pin (#58007)... Something about it feels off. I cant see any obvious flaws when comparing it to Pinpics, but the back of the pin seems a little plain. I did initially think the colour was off as well, but after comparing it to pinpics it seems ok. Again, im on the fence, but im edging towards it being a fake. There is also a counterfeit warning for it on Pinpics.

So any help determining the authenticity of these pins would be of great help! I wont be doing this for every pin i get, but i would like some help with these ones specifically as it will help me learn how to appraise them myself in the future

 

[Ksnuggles]

Backs of pins can have a plain design or various other designs..

As for the other 2 I am not sure.. I have not seen those in person so have an opinion..

Oh and scrapper warnings are not always posted on Pinpics.. I would say 98% of newer hidden mickeys are scrapped and there are quite a few older sets too..

I want to say that Happy would pass my test... everything looks good to me...

 

[NDBounce]

OK, I am definitely an amateur here, but on the back the butterfly, it appears that the pattern does not go all the way to the edge of the pin. To me that suggests it is counterfeit.

 

[norlando319]

I like the Happy pin. The metal is good, and the pin matches my known good one.
The butterfly does have the "reverse border" effect that's a traditional hallmark of counterfeits, but I have personally purchased several pins in mystery boxes from park stores, which have the same thing, so that's not a guarantee, any more. However, I don't like the metal on the butterfly - it looks too "flat" to me. Also, the boxes with text are normally plain, except the text, on most of my pins, and the text is normally very clearly printed and easy to read, on my known good pins. I don't have a known good butterfly to compare, so I can't swear to this one, but I feel the butterfly is suspect.
The Rufus feels suspect, mostly because of the text box issue I mentioned above. Again, I don't have a known good to compare with, but I'd go with suspect.
Have you applied the magnet test, or the drop test? True Disney pins are not USUALLY (there are exceptions) attracted to a magnet, and they USUALLY sound different from fakes/counterfeits. The bad pins have a kind of tinny sound when you drop them on a table or something hard, while the good pins kind of ring. It's like the difference in silver coins as opposed to normal clad coins. If you aren't sure what I'm talking about, go to a coin shop and ask to see some of their silver "slicks" (coins with no collector value). Then make a small stack of them in your hand and drop them one at a time onto the stack. Do the same thing with quarters or regular half dollars, and you will hear a very clear difference.

 

[TonkaToy]

Recently I have seen pins that were purchased at WDW with waffle heads that do have an edge. Quality control seems to be dropping.
It is so hard to tell scrappers from real now-a-days. Sheesh.
I did make a comparison of some pins that I purchased at WDW with some fakes/scrappers I traded.
REAL PIN is on the right, FAKE on the left....Snow White cameo, the fake has a poor glitter color - more pink than red - and looks uneven. Shoulder line is much thicker on the scrapper. On the back the metal color is different and there is an edge on the waffle pattern (although this can now be found on real pins too sometimes).
Also, logo on back is messy.

 

[TonkaToy]

Here is a fake Olaf candy apple next to one I bought at the park. You can see what I mean by low quality on actual purchased ('real') pins.
My real pin has an orange stain on his face!!! Who passed that as being a good quality pin? nobody wants a pin with a stain on it, even if it is real.
REAL pin is on the right, FAKE is on the left:

You can see that the back of the pin has some differences. Nub next to the post is different, writing on the fake pin is crowded, and there is a thickness to the cut out that the real pin does not have. Nose lines on the fake are different and the carrot touches the mouth.

 

[KT07]

Look at the guide that was made here. Also study all you can to learn all the tricks. The only sad part is you can't tell a factory fake. So any over run or so called extra. Will look and feel the same in 100% of the things you look for. It is a true pin from the factory that should not have been sold. Best of luck. Study up.