Interest Hobbit Bofur's Tobacco (Coin) Pouch

[Arwyniel]

I received my pouch, and like Tom, I'm also a bit disappointed. The prototype looks brand new, but mine looks pretty aged/been in the dirt. There is some sort of residue on parts of the leather and even what looks like a cut on the side of the pouch. It pains me to post this because I love Indy's work, but this one fell a bit flat for me.

 

[TomVDJ]

In the meanwhile I did quite some work on mine, and now it looks more or less like I want it to look. I could not do much about the stitching, but I colored it, so it looks much darker. I also gave the complete pouch a treatment with various layers of leather wax and leather coloring paste to make it darker (especially the red sides). Also waxed the cords so they look less ragged. I dit cut the flap to a bit rounder shape that is parallel with the leather decoration. Also reglued the leather decoration, puched out the holes on the side flaps (that were not completely punched out). I'll post some pics of the result this evening. Battery of my camera is flat right now, and charging .

I also decided to go for the Weta coins to put in this pouch. They are also cast from the originals, but look more detailed than the coins dat Indy Magnoli is offering, and they are also a bit cheaper. Con is that there is a tiny "
©weta" on each coin (luckily only on one side).

 

[TomVDJ]

So here are the pics of my reworked pouch. The stitching still looks quite white in the first pic, but that's due to the flash. In reality it's much darker now.



A picture with some gold coins. Since I don't have the weta coins yet, I used Magnoli's Indiana Jones Lao Che coins .



I also dyed the inside of the pouch dark brown, since the red leather side flaps were almost white, and that didn't blend it at all with the overall look.



So with some elbow greas, some leather wax, dark brown leather dye, a sharpie and sanding paper, I have a pouch that is quite OK now. The stitching is the only think I couldn't fix to my liking, but since it's much darker now, it's acceptable...

 

[TomVDJ]

I received my pouch, and like Tom, I'm also a bit disappointed. The prototype looks brand new, but mine looks pretty aged/been in the dirt. There is some sort of residue on parts of the leather and even what looks like a cut on the side of the pouch. It pains me to post this because I love Indy's work, but this one fell a bit flat for me.

View attachment 650878

Mmmm, thinks like that should not happen. Indy Magnoli is an almost legendary name / brand. This kind of things are not good for his reputation, if you ask me .

 

[Indy Magnoli]

I think I might have misunderstood what you guys were expecting. From the get-go I was envisioning a well worn, aged looking prop to be displayed, not something new to be used. I specifically picked out off-cut leather fully of imperfections, markes, etc, and then wore it down further by bending and twisting each piece for a while before sewing. When the bags were done, we applied fuller earth (as used by film studios for a century) to add further distressing. I was really happy with the end results, but perhaps I didn't make it clear what my idea was for this prop.

So, that all being said, if someone received one of these old-looking pouches, but would prefer a "clean" one, you can certainly send it back and we'll send you a "new" one. And, if someone would like to order one "clean", just request it that way as the aged version is the default way we make these.

Tom, your revisions look great! The inside recoloring is an especially good idea. I don't really like the lighter underbelly either, but that's how the leather is and redyeing each one would take more time, which means a higher price, so we opted to leave it as-is.

Kind regards,
Indy

 

[Indy Magnoli]

I also decided to go for the Weta coins to put in this pouch. They are also cast from the originals, but look more detailed than the coins dat Indy Magnoli is offering, and they are also a bit cheaper. Con is that there is a tiny "©weta" on each coin (luckily only on one side).

The Weta versions are lighter weight too. Although this takes away from the realism, in my opinion, it's probably better for having a few of them in a pouch if you ever plan on carrying them with a costume, for example.

 

[TomVDJ]

I think I might have misunderstood what you guys were expecting.

I think people just expected a similar pouch as seen in the picture in the opening post. But that pouch seemed to be a more "idealized" version of the one I got (and apparently also what Arwyniel got). From commercial companies, you can expect that their "promotional pics" show a more idealized version of what you will get, but here on the RPF we are not quite used to this. Anyway, Now that I reworked my pouch, it's not that bad. Only the sloppy looking stitching work bothers me a tiny bit, but that's all...

The inside recoloring is an especially good idea. I don't really like the lighter underbelly either, but that's how the leather is and redyeing each one would take more time, which means a higher price, so we opted to leave it as-is.

For the buyers of the pouch: it's not difficult to do: just take some dark brown shoepolish and a cloth, and rub in the complete inside until everything is dark brown. Be gentle with the side flaps, because that leather is much thinner and you could tear it off the stitches when handling too roughly...

 

[Indy Magnoli]

I think people just expected a similar pouch as seen in the picture in the opening post.

I think it's more a case of seeing something in person versus a photo. The pouch shown in that photo has a bunch of fullers earth on it, for example:

Similarly, the prototype pouch also has wonky stitching (blue arrows) as well as a not-quite-rounded flap (the orange arrow points to where the "U" piece is almost flush with the edge of the flap edge):

I'm not trying to make excuses, I just don't want you guys to think I was trying to be dishonest by showing an idealized produce and then shipping something else. This prototype was made using the same materials, techniques and production methods as the run. There is absolutely no difference between it and the other pouches (except, of course that each one is hand-made so they're all a little different).

I really want everyone to be happy with what you've received, so e-mail me to discuss options for us to fix, replace or to help you modify your pouches.

Kind regards,
Indy

 

[Sourdoh]

Boy! I can't believe the bitchin' going on. It is a reproduced prop, not a custom made luxury item from a top end boutique. I especially love the "not what I expected" comments because outlandish expectations seem to be rempant here on the RPF. People dream what something must look like and then gripe that it doesn't meet unreasonable levels they imagined in their mind. Get real! The item looks like the one in the movie.

 

[Arwyniel]

For me, if distressing/aging had been mentioned in the original advertisement, it wouldn't have been such a surprise upon receipt. In my experience, you usually have to pay extra for the aging/distressing process. I couldn't see the distressing in the original photo until Indy pointed it out. Indy mentioned trying out new glues on the leather and I thought maybe this glue had a reaction with the leather, causing the irregularities. I know now, thanks to his explanation, that that wasn't the case.

A good business man values his customers' feedback. That's why I respect him.

 

[TomVDJ]

Boy! I can't believe the bitchin' going on. It is a reproduced prop, not a custom made luxury item from a top end boutique. I especially love the "not what I expected" comments because outlandish expectations seem to be rempant here on the RPF. People dream what something must look like and then gripe that it doesn't meet unreasonable levels they imagined in their mind. Get real! The item looks like the one in the movie.

Boy! I can't believe you stepped into this thread to post a useless comment like this. Check my feedback profile mate. The positive feedback I got from sellers, is good proof that my expectations are not too high (apparently higher than yours, but I'm glad they are). I'm glad Magnoli takes our remarks seriously and doesn't react like you. :facepalm

If we want "just a reproduced prop", than I'll buy my stuff on eBay or websites like www.reelart.net. It's just because we want something more than that, that sites like the RPF do exist. Quality actually IS a big thing here on the RPF...

 

[TomVDJ]

I'm not trying to make excuses, I just don't want you guys to think I was trying to be dishonest by showing an idealized produce and then shipping something else. This prototype was made using the same materials, techniques and production methods as the run.

I guess it's just a case of "an unfortunate picture" then. The stitching on the prototype is indeed also not 100% perfect (which I didn't expected to be on mine) but still way better than the stitching I posted pictures of. Also the fullers earth on the picture of the prototype is barely visible. There is also none of this stuff on my pouch, so I have no reason to complain about that aspect.

I really want everyone to be happy with what you've received, so e-mail me to discuss options for us to fix, replace or to help you modify your pouches.

Really appreactiate this. But since I already said: this is not an expensive replica at all, and I managed to "tweak" it to my likings, so for me, all is OK. But hey, I'm a honest guy. If a prop is great, I let it know. If there is room for improvement, I also let it know. Even if we're talking about Rylo, Relic Maker, Sarednab or Indy Magnoli here ;-). Case closed as far as I'm concerned...

 

[Indy Magnoli]

This picture (from the Etsy item page) shows the fuller's earth pretty clearly on the side of the pouch. Personally, I love this look, but I guess it's not for everyone:

 

[Raiders March]

So heres a pic of mine. I'm glad you explained about the fullers earth indy, I was' nt sure what it was (residue)
I'm happy with what I received, and finally have a safe place to keep my small dragon coin stash... (he says on a public forum....)

 

[finarfin]

I just received my pouch and I am 100% satisfied with it. It looks aged and worn as it is supposed to and as I would like it to. I must say it is exactly what I was expecting and I would like to extend my thanks to Indy for such a nice prop.

 

[TomVDJ]

View attachment 651509

I would have been very happy with a stitching like the one on yours ;-). On the other hand: my flap and leather decoration on the flap were cut better than on yours. I can also recommend the "treatment" I have done to mine: darken the leather a bit with leather wax and dark brown shoe polish.

 

[TomVDJ]

Did some final modifications on my pouch. The uneven stitching bothered me, so I took the pouch to a local tailor. He removed the old stitching and redid it with a darker, nicer thread. The old stitching holes are barely visible (in the pictures they are more visible than in real, because the pictures were taken with a flash). Now the pouch looks the way I like it. Some pics of the final result, along with two sets of great Smaug Coins from WETA. Nice detailing on the coins, but I would have liked them a bit shinier, and without the tiny copyright stamps (they are really small and only on one side of each coin, so that's not too bad).