How do you tell.....

[8 perf]

....If a Superman costume is authentic or not.
Going to see the movie today, and a local "uber-collector" will be at the theater showing off his collection. He says the costume he has on display is a real one from the Christopher Reeve classic. What should I look for for authenticity? Just curious, not gonna destroy his fantasy or nothin'.

 

[MattMunson]

Not to sound too predictable, but I would say your best bet is to take lots of pics and post them here. There are a couple of board members who are INTIMATELY familiar with the Reeve suits, and would probably be able to pick out the fakes in a line up in two seconds flat.

Barring that, I'm not sure what to tell ya. If you've seen an original, you'd probably know what to look for, but it's difficult trying to describe the subtleties if youre not familiar with it.

I'd just be polite to the guy and tell him it's a beautiful suit. Off the top of my head, I'd guess if the guy is willing to take it to to a local theater for public display, it's probably not an original. But maybe he's one of those collectors who doesn't mind people poking at 100,000 bucks worth of movie history. Dunno

 

[Got Maul]

first indication is the color and thickness of the fabric. Matt's right, in that its something only someone who's studied the suit inside and out could tell you. But for one thing, the suit is NOT blue, its not green, its somewhere stuck in the middle, more like a sheeney blue-ish, teal. Secondly, the suit fabric is much much thicker than the standard spandex we find today. It almost seems like a cotton.

Those are my tells, but again, only pics could tell. The classic tells are the shoulder seams, the neck hole, the sewn in emblem, etc., but replicators are getting real good now a days.

 

[8 perf]

All I had was a camera phone, so no decent pix. I do remember the the color was the off blue/ green you mentioned. almost teal. I could not see the back of the cape, but i did see the long straps that held it on tucked/ tied inside the neck hole. Fabric did seem thicker than I was expecting too.
And yes, the emblem was sewn into the costume, not onto it. For some reason though, the "S" did not look right.
The owner did say that the belt was not original. Could tell easily. looked like a piece of dyed leather with a really cheap resin cast oval buckle glued on. Guy said he did that since it looked stupid without it.

 

[propsculptor]

I wouldn't be surprised if he bought it from Armando the Costume guy in Florida,
who seems to have a Neverending supply of "Screen-used Superman Suits" :lol

 

[Apollo]

<div class='quotetop'>(propsculptor @ Jul 2 2006, 02:24 AM) [snapback]1272400[/snapback]</div>

I wouldn't be surprised if he bought it from Armando the Costume guy in Florida,
who seems to have a Neverending supply of "Screen-used Superman Suits" :lol
[/b]

:lol Took the words right out of my mouth. :lol

 

[Got Maul]

ah, too bad you didn;t have pics .

 

[Funky]

Ummmm....guys, just a reminder: My name IS Armando but I'm not the Armando Alvarez that everyone is refering to.