Got mine in the mail today.  It's just as described by the rest of the posts.  It looks bran spankin new to me.  Has a little bit of a machine oil smell to it.  I'm thinking it was possibly made more recently but I'm not an expert on die cast.  I think the only way to be sure would be for someone to get ahold of someone from the manufacturer to verify.  But either way, it's a friken cool belt buckle!

I was looking through some of the eBay seller rules this morning and I think there is one thing I found that applies.  It has to do with the description of the location of items for sale.  The listing still shows the buckles being sent from Gladewater TX but they are being shipped from Santa Ana CA.

Lazerrus wrote in Interesting eBay alert! TSR belt buckles:I have a question. Does WOTC own the copyright to the old TSR logos? If so then they may want to know about this. If this guy is faking these buckles then who knows what's next.

I think they would still own the rights to the trademark of the art that Darlene created for that logo

dragonsbreath wrote in Interesting eBay alert! TSR belt buckles:It seems like the seller counterfeits old buckles and sells them for "vintage" prices.  I got 4 and I'm not liking the odds they are original. I think I'm going to invoke the Counterfeit clause of Ebays rules to return these. How am I ever suppose to resell these in the future in good faith?  They may look cool, but if they aren't collectible I have no use for $50 paper weights......  I will let you know how it goes.

my thoughts too. How long ago did you buy them?

edit... one other thought is that the seller is far too quick to sell at (almost?) any price the buyer offers.

edit again ... another thing to reinforce that was previously mentioned is the use of all private transactions. This is a deliberate for a reason ...why in hell would you need to do that for selling belt buckles?

dragonsbreath wrote in Interesting eBay alert! TSR belt buckles:It seems like the seller counterfeits old buckles and sells them for "vintage" prices.  I got 4 and I'm not liking the odds they are original. I think I'm going to invoke the Counterfeit clause of Ebays rules to return these. How am I ever suppose to resell these in the future in good faith?  They may look cool, but if they aren't collectible I have no use for $50 paper weights......  I will let you know how it goes.

Will eBay give the seller an opportunity to prove that the buckles are "genuine" new old stock?  If these are counterfeit (which I'm pretty much convinced of also), I'd really like to know the details.

dragonsbreath wrote in Interesting eBay alert! TSR belt buckles:It did list this Michael Pearson guy from Gladewater TX in the body of the request, but, like others did, I received mine from some Joe Pendleton in Santa Ana - I saved that location discrepancy for round 2 if needed.

I will keep you guys updated.

cdenham wrote in Interesting eBay alert! TSR belt buckles:I think I'm going to file a claim too. I have zero faith they are legitimate at this point.

muaddib5 wrote in Interesting eBay alert! TSR belt buckles:I was looking through some of the eBay seller rules this morning and I think there is one thing I found that applies.  It has to do with the description of the location of items for sale.  The listing still shows the buckles being sent from Gladewater TX but they are being shipped from Santa Ana CA.

I was thinking ... I wonder if the seller's item location and the address on the package is a deliberate attempt to hedge against any returns/forced refunds. For instance, if you wind up returning the item to the address on the package and the seller then replies to ebay/paypal that he never received at the Gladewater address? or vice-versa if it's returned to Gladewater?

In fact, I wonder if a "Michael Pearson" or even a "Joe Pendleton" lives at either of those addresses

misterspock wrote in Interesting eBay alert! TSR belt buckles:I was going through some old posts about the belt buckles and had a few questions ...

burntwire brothers wrote in Interesting Items Currently on eBay:The buckles we bought from him about a year ago were legit. He stated he worked for the company that cast them. They are absolutely mint.

So the "Michael Pearson" or "Joe Pendleton" did work for Bergamot? Do you remember if they were mailed from Gladewater TX?

Gnat the Beggar wrote in Interesting Items Currently on eBay:

I wrote and asked, seller stated he obtained several of the buckles directly from a guy who worked for the casting company.
I believe Frank and the seller.... and other posters above....

I made an offer for two of them and purchased two buckles for well under the listed BIN.... and yes, seller does offer combined shipping.  :mrgreen:

Then the seller's story changed to "obtaining them from another guy"?

Can you both look up your paypal transaction to see if the seller's address was in Gladewater or Santa Ana?

That's interesting.  This is the link for another of the seller's auctions  
** expired/removed eBay auction **

This is the item description, "Offered for sale are these Mint Condition 1979 belt buckles. Came from a collector of items made by this company. He also worked for the company that made them for a short time. The other listing he had half of them enameled the dukes of hazard colors."  Sounds like the same story the seller used for the TSR buckles.

Also, this is another auction by the seller.  
** expired/removed eBay auction **
I was able to find an identical buckle on eBay and compare the photos of the back side of the buckles.  Amazing that the post is different on the seller's buckle versus the same buckle offered by a different seller.  Just like the TSR buckles.  8O

muaddib5 wrote in Interesting eBay alert! TSR belt buckles:Take a look at all the seller's auctions.  Look at the back of the buckles pictured.  Most have the same metal belt loop as the TSR buckle, some have the same exact casted part the belt loop goes into (on the buckle itself), AND the same four leaf design around the belt hole post.

Being a kid alive during the late '70's, I had a lot of belt buckles.  I don't remember any of them having identical hardware or casting elements like all the seller's buckles do.  :?

Good eye! Maybe it's a stock casting pattern? Probably not but I am no specialist on vintage belt buckles. The plot thickens!

muaddib5 wrote in Interesting eBay alert! TSR belt buckles:Take a look at all the seller's auctions.  Look at the back of the buckles pictured.  Most have the same metal belt loop as the TSR buckle, some have the same exact casted part the belt loop goes into (on the buckle itself), AND the same four leaf design around the belt hole post.

Being a kid alive during the late '70's, I had a lot of belt buckles.  I don't remember any of them having identical hardware or casting elements like all the seller's buckles do.  :?

I agree, I think they are all fakes. It's possible too that some other sellers on ebay are doing the same thing or got these from the same place the others were re-created.

dragonsbreath wrote in Interesting eBay alert! TSR belt buckles:I filed the claim this afternoon and the buyer has until May 11th to respond and then Ebay steps in.  We shall see if I receive any of the interesting, "hacked", responses that others have received from this guy.

It did list this Michael Pearson guy from Gladewater TX in the body of the request, but, like others did, I received mine from some Joe Pendleton in Santa Ana - I saved that location discrepancy for round 2 if needed.

I will keep you guys updated.

cdenham wrote in Interesting eBay alert! TSR belt buckles:I think I'm going to file a claim too. I have zero faith they are legitimate at this point.

muaddib5 wrote in Interesting eBay alert! TSR belt buckles:I was looking through some of the eBay seller rules this morning and I think there is one thing I found that applies.  It has to do with the description of the location of items for sale.  The listing still shows the buckles being sent from Gladewater TX but they are being shipped from Santa Ana CA.

btw, if you guys are instructed to ship back the buckles to Texas, hold off for a moment. I think you have something like a week to actually post them in the mail and provide a tracking #. I've been trying to find out whether other buyers in similar circumstances lost their money when returning an item to a false address on ebay. For instance, if the tracking info never shows it was delivered because of a false address.

I really wonder if the ebay account was created as an identity theft-thing. I have no idea whether "Michael Pearson" is a part of some possible scam (or "Pendleton" either), but I wouldn't trust that anyone's name on it is necessarily the actual person you're dealing with.
Whatever phone # you've been given that goes to an un-set up voicemail I think is also a red-flag.
I've been doing some searches on the other name though and there was a "Joe B. Pendleton" that lived in the Gladewater area who also resides (allegedly?) in Santa Ana. However, the guy is 34 yrs old so obviously he wasn't employed by Bergamot Brass unless they were skirting employment laws at the time...


for instance,
Seller's address on shipping label different than ... - The eBay Community

edit: it might be that you have to add on a signature confirmation to any package you return. This would provide an extra layer, but I'm still not sure what happens if the seller's address is wrong (intentionally or otherwise). Also, take photos of the package as you're putting the items in and maybe weigh it/with a photo? Possible that the seller could claim you sent back an empty package (like a reverse of the ebay scam where the seller ships an empty package, etc)?