:scratch:

I bought a nice looking 2 line COO Farmboy Luke with black eye/brow paint because I have 3-4 Lukes but no complete saber for any of them. Well the figure arrived and I was so excited but then i'm sure can imagine my disappointment when the thing sinks in water.

Please could I draw on your collective wealth of experience to help me identify whether these sabers are genuine original or not.

The circled sabers are the ones I'm querying and these are a few things that I've seen about them:

Luke saber observations:
L1) the color of the circled Luke Saber is brighter than the bottom Luke Saber, but that could be lack of exposure to light.
L2) the shape of the hilt on the circled luke saber is not quite the same as the others
L3) there appears to be a scrape on the top of the luke saber just before the transition.

Vader saber observations:
V1) the color of the circled Vader Saber is much brighter and more orange than the top Vader saber (which floats and shows color degradation so I know it's original)
V2) the hilt is lettered with 2 letters, the second looks like a C but the first is not clear - are there repros with lettered hilts out there?

All the sinking sabers sound the same when dropping them on the table, the discolored vader saber that floats sounds a very slightly higher pitch than the others.

Do all original genuine sabers float or are there original sabers that sink?


I've finally got a complete collection of figures with all original accessories except the farmboy luke & r2-d2 sabers, so I'm really close but just can't quite get there...  

Thanks so much for any and all help!
Mat


Indoors without flash (below)

Indoors with flash (below)

Trying to show the "transition" to the tip (below)

Close-up on the tip transition (below)

Showing the "flattening" or "scrape" on the top of the saber just before the transition - it made me think of this post: https://www.imperialgunneryforum.com/t8426-luke-farmboy-saber-real-or-repro?highlight=original+saber
... and yes, it's on a Rubik Cube because it was the only thing to hand I could find that could clamp the saber for the photo

Outdoors image in sunlight of one side

Outdoors image in sunlight of the other side

Lettered Vader saber is fine, float test is insignificant for sabers as some sink. From memory most/all original Vader & Luke sabres glow under UV.

Thanks for the info James! I'm very pleased to hear the Vader Saber is good. I was just sceptical because of it's vibrant color.

The previous owner of the Luke saber says they got it in the 80's which dates it before the mass production of 90's repros and besides, the 90's repros werent as good as this one anyway. It's therefore likely the luke saber is ok but I was hoping for someone to corroborate that with a "hey, i've got one just like it" or something to that effect.

I tried creating a UV / "black light" with my phone but either that "life hack" doesn't work or none of my sabers (original or in dispute) responded / glowed.

I also tried heating them up with a hair dryer too to see if the plastic density, type or simply the heat retention would show me any correlation. Sadly the results were inconclusive - my floating Kenobi saber stayed cold, and the vader floater heated up quickly. It's a great way to straighten up the saber tips though!

Any more suggestions please anyone?

The Vader saber is good. Only repros i have seen with lettering are the revolve sabers and most say rev or nothing at all.

The Luke saber is hard to determine. I haven't seen one with a flat scrape but that could be playwear or a defect from the mold or in the plastic. Nothing screaming repro that I see though.

I have two Luke's with the scrape before the transition similar to yours. Purchased it from a seller who says it's genuine. Passed the dropped test. Looks like genuine, but not listed on IG. Note that the thin end of the sabre is made up of two halves of differing length( one longer than the other, this is similar to yours)

I have checked the shape of the hilt and the two halves of the Tip of the sabre are not of even length, matching the profile of V8 repro. I believed it is definitely a repro and have already destroyed my Sabres and the figures as repros do not deserve to exist.