Just curious who everyone puts the most faith in as reflected in the value of their documentation and why. Limit discouse to merchants you believe in positively rather than create a freeforall full of negativity.

My vote is for Warner Brothers. I figure if the item comes direct from them its more likely to be real than if it goes to someone else first.

I don't have any experience with Warner Bros, but I have experience with every other outlet here. I put my faith in New Line Cinema and its documentation because I can easily match up the items on screen, and I know Carrie Williams at New Line personally, and she is extremely professional, courteous, and knowledgeable. However, if I had to go with another outlet, I'd go with Warner Bros because again, this is straight from the studio so the items are most likely to be marked properly, and be in the best condition.

-HorrorPropKing

P.S. I also want to add that Propstore is very good along with many of the others listed here. The only drawback, is that these other outlets did not work on the movie and so they have the job of properly authenticating an item before it goes up from sale. That leaves the door open to human error, because a good fake can and sometimes slips by.

I say all paperwork authenticating anything is not worth anymore than a receipt from Walmart. And I can get one of those with any ten dollar sweater and claim its whatever I like.

I agree paperwork may not be worth much but at least it can help show an item is believed to be authentic by someone higher up the supply chain so to speak.
But if an item is plain and can be bought at any store and has no label or identifying marks then the paperwork perhaps does not aid things very much.
But at the least it shows whoever is selling it now if its not from the original studio at least knows where things do come from.
A person selling an item who knows who premiere props or profiles in history is at least is taken more seriously upon a first look than someone claiming they bought it from "the largest suppplier of movie props and costumes" or something like that.

In the first level of distribution when one gets something from Profiles in History or whoever that is reputable even a mailing address indicating it was sent from the right seller has as much validity as the documentation provided.
Now when one goes to resale it the COA can help sell the item and verify it originally came from whom it is being claimed to come from.

But I agree in theory items coming direct from the studio like Newline Cinemas items and not a middle man like premire props or rainmaker should be deemed more reputable. But then again even by the time Newline Cinema gets the item its gone through a lot of hands most likely. I really don't worry too much about if an item is from a given production if its from an official auction from Newline or Premiere props, or Rainmakers. Now the items could be items used in unfilmed scenes, backup items and not used in the production at all. This is the only real concern in such instances.

This is no different than collecting antiques, art, or other collectibles. A person who knows what to look for in a screen-used prop will undoubtedly be able to authenticate a piece whereas the average person may not. So, to an extent, it's "buyer beware" but what I personally do is, I only go after items that are hand-made and can't be purchased in any old store.

Lastly, paperwork from the movie studio is not equal to a receipt from wallmart lol. These COA's cannot be duplicated very easily. The type of paper, signature on the COA, and certain decals give the COA a very unique difference. I have seen people try to fordge COA's. They almost ALWAYS get caught. Also, I can authenticate a piece that comes from say New Line simply by contacting my contact at New Line, sending pics of the COA and item, and simply asking. Then, I save the email response to go along with the paperwork I have. I have had many people try to pass fakes to me. They are easily spotted if you know what you are looking for. matching an item up on screen is also helpful but then again, replica makers can do this as well. However, the one thing I am increasingly noticing, is that movie studios are not using every day clothing that can be purchased at any local store. Many items are hand-made or come from very low-key sources. In the end, the COA, if it comes from a reputable source, makes all the difference when trying to authenticate a piece. Unless you've actually owned the real COA, it becomes difficult to duplicate it exactly. Also, when I take pics of my COA, I purpolsely leave out little details so that if people copy them, I know right away that it's a fake. I hope that helps

-HorrorPropKing

Hey CostumeDude,

I'd like to see if you could duplicate a New Line COA perfectly so that not even New Line would know the difference. If you can do that, you are right about the paperwork. But I don't think it can be done that easily.

-HorrorPropKing

Paperwork is helpful but if the item is ordinary can't one just switch the item?
Even if the item in question is custom made if you believe the documentation aids that much in authenticating someone could just buy an original and pass of a bad replica with the original documentation.
Unless you know what the original looks like in detail to begin with the documentation doesen't really guarantee you much.
One can also easily buy a screen used item from Punisher or what not and a bunch of backups and just sell the backups as screen used with the documentation for the screen used items for example.

Documentation helps though, it helps weed people out. But its no guarantee iteself I think. Also unless you already have an original Newline Cinema Certificate of authenticity for example how do you even knwo what it is supposed to look like. I mean from a newbie persepctive. Luckily not too many eager to pass of fakes as originals do a lot of research and know much about the industry. The real targets for such attempts are newbies who don't know much to begin with. Private auctions make it even easier for would be wrongdoers.

I voted for Warners/New Line (especially true of WB older stuff for their sewn in custom tags - expensive and harder to fake) but I have also had good luck with Reel Clothes and with individual dealings with crew members on various productions -- the latter tend to also have continuity Polaroids and what have you that make it far easier to identify a costume or prop as authentic.

The challenge is finding the appropriate crew members and getting them to part with what you want but it can be done (and they're generally pretty good at providing materials to support the provenance of what you're acquiring).

The Newline Auction's have an advantage over most other sellers of Props in that they are the studio and they don't have another middleman like Premiere Props or Rainmakers then resell the items. Also they primarily focus on items from movies just out of production so information about the items should be best remembered. Also they sell few items rather than dumping hundreds or thousands out there at a time as Preimere Props does so they can make sure some tshirt that was never used is never accidentally presented as screen used T-shirt. This happens by virtue of them only selling better items rather than anything and everything.
Now if Newline has an auction of something in big demand the items are going to fetch high prices as seen with the Blade and Austin Powers auctions. And most of the really good stuff is still out there and has to be found elsewhere.

Of course some resellers can research items far better than any studio cares to.
Reel Clothes is good about trying to provide screen caps, and information about how and when something was used. They often do have polaroids to go with things and have a basic idea how collectors go about verifying things. Some larger auctions have not a clue on such things and have the attitude it is what it is. Some studios don't even know much about what they have like Disney.

I have looked for the sewn in tags in many warner brothers items from the past and the lack of it made it easier to deduce its a replica.
I was mainly speaking of the value of the documentation from the Newline Cinemas online auctions though with this post. Since they do sell Warner Brothers items and not just items from movies marketed under the New Line Cinema brand only thats why I combined them as a single choice. But I agree tags like that make it easier.
Sure one can always take one from a lesser item and sew it into what you want, but its one more step that a seller has to do. And it at least ensures they have something from Warner brothers, so a good weeding out step.

Until recently Reel Clothes spent some time and effort on their COAs and that was rather comforting. Premiere has downgraded theirs to no longer include a studio signature or detailed description. Rainmakers just mass produces them without any description nor manual signature. These are still credible, but not as much as they were.


So Warner Brothers/New Line wins by default.

The studio signature is just a mass signing if best where someone signs saying they got from us in essence. Its not by anyone that knows what anything is usually. So at best it helps you believe the item is backup, prototype or screen used. Like a studio would know the difference on average. Could easily be from another studio production and something got mixed up. If you can't find how to contact the person that signed it from the studio on one of these reseller COA's thats about worthless for all practical purposes.

Intellectually I completely agree. But there is a small jaded part of me that believes that it is just a little bit harder to get two people to agree to the same lie and sign it. LOL.