aia wrote in Interesting Items Currently on eBay:Is it legit? A 30th anniversary reprint...

** expired/removed eBay auction **

Wow, that sold for a lot!

dbartman wrote in Interesting Items Currently on eBay:Wow, that sold for a lot!

First a high quality ST1 reprint and now a Jade Hare.  Who is doing these and why would anyone pay more than a few dollars?

aia wrote in Interesting Items Currently on eBay:

I like that. I bid £5 on the “Jade Hare” and see it’s now at £58. Don’t think I’ll bid again.

I just sent in a question asking the seller for more details about where this came from.  I'll post the answer back here if/when I hear back.

Well, there's three possibilities: 1) it's an original 2) it's a re-shrink of an original; 3) it's a poorly wrapped or handled reprint.

I think (3) is the least likely.
First, if one was going to go through all this effort to cheat some collectors out of money, then the quality would tend to be higher than what this thing looks like: (i) someone going through the trouble would want to maximize the return; (ii) it would have likely been done more recently, with better printing and scanning technology; (iii) this type of cheat entails fixed costs, which lower the relative price of doing it right. All that to say, I think intentionally mangling a reprint to increase believability is possible but highly unlikely. Second, the shrinkwrap on the Jade Hare module is consistent with a lot of the overly tight shrinkwrap found on modules from that later era - tight along the chest, and towards the edges (but not at the tips). Many SJ, DS, and DL materials have gone through my hands, and I can't say this looks any different.

What about (2).
I don't know if re-shrinking has caught on as a practice; I've been a little out of the loop. Nevertheless, because (i) a lot of the cool products should have the characteristic H seam; and (ii) it is/was difficult to re-create, re-shrinking has disadvantages working against it. Moreover, I have seen re-shrinks of non H-seamed modules (i.e., post 1985 or so?) and those could be tight too like this one. But that tightness tended to create a more bowed appearances along the middle vertically and/or bowed at the very tips of the corner. Put differently, a re-shrink just looks like it was wrapped too tight; an original warping looks like the wrap has just shrunk, causing often asymmetric tight spots.

So in that respect I would tend to agree with Brian, and that it looks legitimate. That was my first instinct from the pictures. Maybe the seller will give more information, and buyers would be wise to have the seller fill in the gaps, and provide more details/pictures. But yeah, just looking at it, it looks real.

I'm not saying one way or another, but I'm wondering, and you still didn't answer, why you would say that you are 'almost certain" that it is legit, when you don't have one to compare it to? Why chime in, and possibly mislead people, when you really don't know? Doesn't that seem irresponsible?

You have 6000 posts here bclarkie, people know who you are. You don't think that your "opinion" might carry more weight than someone else? Your response was not "it may well be legit". You issued a very strong declaration. And I'm wondering, with what we know right now, why you would make that declaration? Are you saying "my opinion carries the same weight as anybody else, no more, no less and I can opine what I like, without being in a position to defend it"? Well, okay.

Here is my exact question and the sellers response so far:

"Hi there. Just wanted to query on this a bit further. You said you obtained a large collection of D&D stuff in this listing along with this module, can you please maybe provide some additional details(no need to provide personal details) as to where it came from?Thanks for your time, Brian""

Sellers answer:

"Hi, There is some sort of cardboard screen and a red box with a dragon on the front, it’s quite badly damaged though, it’s been crushed. A friend gave them to me, they came in a big box of old comics."

I had initially planned on querying further, and then to direct them here, but I think I'll just direct them here and peace out. As always buyer beware.

In full disclosure I have/had a 150 GDP marker bid in there, but I have no other stake in at this point.

Hopefully the seller can provide more details or can have someone else verify whether it's legit or not.  I'm not encouraged by the responses so far.  The seller's responses aren't very descriptive or detailed.  I've tried to emphasize the importance of validating it, but I'm not sure they are that interested in doing so.  The seller is at least communicating, though.  Take that for what it's worth.

The seller did add a couple of additional pics, which was suggested, but I don't think the pics help a lot because they appear to be high contrast and the colors/text are washed out.  There have been some comparisons done by others between Sir Kill Alot's prior copy and these pics, which haven't been favorable to this one being authentic.

We'll see how this unfolds.  A lot of days still remain.