Author Topic: tloceposters (Tom Loce) Have I been duped with fakes  (Read 7717 times)

Offline poster art

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tloceposters (Tom Loce) Have I been duped with fakes
« on: August 13, 2019, 12:17:03 PM »
Hope I am ok to post this here. I originally posted similar message in Tom Loce fake thread but not had any responses so not sure if the thread is being red anymore as it is a couple of years since anyone posted in it. I need a bit of feed back as I don't know if most of these posters are fake or not, Some look genuine but is there any real way to tell please?

I'm afraid to say that I may be the latest victim of the Tom Loce fakes. Not 100% sure but at least I know one of them if a repro due to the size. But to be honest, all the posters I have bought of him over the last few months have all seemed a little thin but I could never be certain as I didn't have the original to compare them with.

Some actually seem ok to me but I just cannot be sure, how can I find out? I am sure that at least one is original as it is on hfailly think paper and the way it has been folded seems to have been like that for decades, by the look of it.

Ok, nothing was expensive, spent a total of £180 on about 12 UK Quads - which I thought were good prices if they are originals - as advertised. I had my doubts on a couple as they seem to be fairly thin paper but the thing that unhinged was a UK quad of Heathers that I bought last month (I see that he has sold 2 so far in the last few weeks and has another on sale now starting at $10 - it is listed as original UK Quad, not a fake or repro/reprint etc and the size is stated as being 27 x 40 (to be honest I didn't notice the odd size), but when I got it and measured it was only 28 x 37 (so obviously not an original quad - and again thin paper).

I have been collected quads for years so normally I am very good at spotting fakes but when someone blatantly advertised it as "Original UK Quad not a repro/reprint) then I tend to trust them. Maybe foolishly - but it is the first time I have been caught out and to be honest if I had known abut this thread I would not have bought of him - but a fellow collector on here just today pointed him out to me for selling fakes.

I think he seems to lure people in to the site with cheap posters on auction (low price start) possibly in the hope that once you are hooked on buying from him then at some stage you may buy something expensive of him - luckily I haven't .

But any advise on the ones I have bought - how to spot the fakes from the originals - they are all UK Quads.

Off the two that I was disappointed before I found out about this thread he has already refunded without issue.

Any advise appreciated. Incidently they are all single sided and all with the acceptation of the Bowie and Fritz the Cat all seem a bit dull. I would say the Fritz is an original as it is on much harder paper and looks like it has been folded inwards over the years on one of the folds.

These are images taken from his listings, I need to get them out and photograph them properly but just wanted to see what you guys think first of all with the ones I have access to.




This was only 37 x 28 inches so definately not right as not correct size and on thin paper










This was the image he used but to be honest the poster I received had strong aged folds so I am thinking may well be original.

The other quads are as follows (but can't access the pictures from listings anymore so will have to get them out and take photos of them.

Shin Godzilla
Performance
House of wax 3D

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance











Offline m154cath

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Re: tloceposters (Tom Loce) Have I been duped with fakes
« Reply #1 on: August 13, 2019, 03:46:41 PM »
Jon I would take them all out photograph & measure. More pictures the better, particularly over text. Check quality of paper, thin, normal etc.  I've got a couple of them so I will check. I'd be pretty confident that a few others will prove to be fake - Breakfast at Tiffany's would be a prime candidate to fake - especially as guessing all single sided

Offline Undead

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Re: tloceposters (Tom Loce) Have I been duped with fakes
« Reply #2 on: August 13, 2019, 05:02:21 PM »
Can't say for sure but I do not think he has many posters that are original any more. Those that he does have, he does not let go cheap, usually 3x to 4x the going rate when he lists them.

The vast majority for the ones he has can be checked first by size and will likely be under sized. For the ones that are correct size, look very closely at the printing, especially wording. If it is not sharp and looks fuzzy/blurry they are most likely fakes. On the folded for decades part, he has been selling bootlegs that long so would not use that as a hopeful sign myself.

I honestly have not heard of anyone making a legitimate authentic purchase from him for at least 10 years.

On the plus side, if you are like me, do a lot of research on bootlegs, and want comparisons of fake vs real, he is perfect to buy from. I have bought a number of his posters just to photograph and return for future reference for people buying them when they are resold later down the road. Of those not a single copy was authentic.

I hope in your case at least one is real.
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Offline poster art

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Re: tloceposters (Tom Loce) Have I been duped with fakes
« Reply #3 on: August 13, 2019, 07:26:15 PM »
I will get them tomoz and take some pictures. Thanks guys


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Online crowzilla

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Re: tloceposters (Tom Loce) Have I been duped with fakes
« Reply #4 on: August 13, 2019, 08:49:14 PM »
His Shin Godzilla quads are most definitely fake.

As is the strange Godzilla "Festival" quad.
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Offline rumble

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Re: tloceposters (Tom Loce) Have I been duped with fakes
« Reply #5 on: August 14, 2019, 02:06:46 AM »
Those white borders definitely make warning bells ring. It’s hard to say without better pictures and exact measurements and paper quality, but most of these seem fake to me, sorry.

Offline archstanton

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Re: tloceposters (Tom Loce) Have I been duped with fakes
« Reply #6 on: August 15, 2019, 11:59:13 AM »
99% likely they're all fakes he printed off himself.  Open a case with ebay and send them back.  There's really no use fooling around with that guy.  I've taken chances a few times with his auctions and every time the posters came they were obvious fakes (paper not even close to the right type, poor print quality, etc.).  I bought a quad for The Fog from him and compared to an original is was night and day.  Since it's likely you have worthless paper in your possession I'd just send it all back and not take any chances. 

Offline poster art

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Re: tloceposters (Tom Loce) Have I been duped with fakes
« Reply #7 on: August 15, 2019, 12:38:43 PM »
99% likely they're all fakes he printed off himself.  Open a case with ebay and send them back.  There's really no use fooling around with that guy.  I've taken chances a few times with his auctions and every time the posters came they were obvious fakes (paper not even close to the right type, poor print quality, etc.).  I bought a quad for The Fog from him and compared to an original is was night and day.  Since it's likely you have worthless paper in your possession I'd just send it all back and not take any chances.

For a lot of them it is too late now unfortunately as some I bought back in March/April and I only just found out about this guy last week. Though I was a bit suspicious of the quality of some of them. Problem as I bought the first batch and then went away for 4 months and bought some more on 3 occasions. I didn't actually see them until I got back to the UK a few weeks ago. So in most of them I have gone bast the ebay deadlines for opening cases...

Offline archstanton

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Re: tloceposters (Tom Loce) Have I been duped with fakes
« Reply #8 on: August 19, 2019, 11:20:22 PM »
I don't know if the policies are different in the UK but I believe if you paid with Paypal you get up to 180 days to file a dispute.  So, even if you bought it through ebay, if you paid with Paypal you may still be able to open a claim and say you believe they're fakes and insist upon a return. 

Offline poster art

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Re: tloceposters (Tom Loce) Have I been duped with fakes
« Reply #9 on: August 20, 2019, 07:14:16 AM »
I don't know if the policies are different in the UK but I believe if you paid with Paypal you get up to 180 days to file a dispute.  So, even if you bought it through ebay, if you paid with Paypal you may still be able to open a claim and say you believe they're fakes and insist upon a return.

I will check out the dates that I bought them and see if I can do that. Thanks

Offline paul waines

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Re: tloceposters (Tom Loce) Have I been duped with fakes
« Reply #10 on: August 20, 2019, 12:47:39 PM »
Only one I have from that lot it is the Beatles one, and mines double sided. Thats not a saying they didn't make single sided ones, as somethings the Cinemas themselves get extras printed up at a local printers.

You can basically say anything off this guy is a fake, no one should let him have a penny as this destroys the hobby... Hope you can get your funds back.
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Offline poster art

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Re: tloceposters (Tom Loce) Have I been duped with fakes
« Reply #11 on: August 20, 2019, 12:51:31 PM »
Only one I have from that lot it is the Beatles one, and mines double sided. Thats not a saying they didn't make single sided ones, as somethings the Cinemas themselves get extras printed up at a local printers.

You can basically say anything off this guy is a fake, no one should let him have a penny as this destroys the hobby... Hope you can get your funds back.

Hi Paul, Yes I thought the orginal was indeed double sided as I used to have one but couldn't be sure, and if indeed a cinema did a their own extra printing single sided then that still mean's it's not an original so he wouldn't get away with that excuse either.

Does anyone who has one know if the Shin Godzilla is double sided one?


Offline poster art

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Re: tloceposters (Tom Loce) Have I been duped with fakes
« Reply #12 on: August 20, 2019, 01:02:53 PM »
I wrote to Thomas Loce asking him if he know which of the posters were fakes or originals. I got this reply which seems very genuine to me, and he has offered to refund anything that I believe not to be authentic, which I think is fair.


"I have had repros over the years that have passed through my hands . I have not produced them myself but I have over the years bought out many many dealers in the USA and noticed that certain modern titles have been reproduced , some looking almost exact as originals . I have large quantities of certain titles that I have acquired over the years that to the best of my knowledge are originals . Some of the back talk about me has spun out of control as I have not purposely listed anything which I thought to be fake . My forte is the vintage older material pre seventies and I have many times been fooled by the precise duplication of the modern posters as many other dealers have . I have picked up in my travels and buyouts several items that had turned out to be repros as they looked perfect to me . Anything that you feel is not authentic I will quickly and with no problems refund your money on them without you having to return them . After your closer inspection of them , or you might want to show them to other dealers to get their opinions, please let me know what you feel may be a reproduction and I'll take care of it immediately . My apologies for the problem".
Sincerely ,
Thomas

Offline Crazy Vick

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Re: tloceposters (Tom Loce) Have I been duped with fakes
« Reply #13 on: August 20, 2019, 08:19:12 PM »
I don't buy it, sounds like a canned response he's used time and again. Probably protects him from any real legal trouble too.

Why doesnt he explain the shitty fuzzy pictures?  And since he's been doing this for so long shouldn't he know the basic cues such as one sheet standard sizes, paper etc.
And how does one keep "buying out" all these apparent poster dealers full of repros?  Even relatively recent ones?  Does he spend summers driving across the continent looking for dealers with lots full of genuine mixed with repros...

After he has refunded you ask if he will take those titles out of the rotation now..

Offline jpicken

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Re: tloceposters (Tom Loce) Have I been duped with fakes
« Reply #14 on: August 21, 2019, 06:56:27 AM »
I wrote to Thomas Loce asking him if he know which of the posters were fakes or originals. I got this reply which seems very genuine to me, and he has offered to refund anything that I believe not to be authentic, which I think is fair.


"I have had repros over the years that have passed through my hands . I have not produced them myself but I have over the years bought out many many dealers in the USA and noticed that certain modern titles have been reproduced , some looking almost exact as originals . I have large quantities of certain titles that I have acquired over the years that to the best of my knowledge are originals . Some of the back talk about me has spun out of control as I have not purposely listed anything which I thought to be fake . My forte is the vintage older material pre seventies and I have many times been fooled by the precise duplication of the modern posters as many other dealers have . I have picked up in my travels and buyouts several items that had turned out to be repros as they looked perfect to me . Anything that you feel is not authentic I will quickly and with no problems refund your money on them without you having to return them . After your closer inspection of them , or you might want to show them to other dealers to get their opinions, please let me know what you feel may be a reproduction and I'll take care of it immediately . My apologies for the problem".
Sincerely ,
Thomas


I wish there was an archive of that old "Professor Powers" website helping to sell bogus inserts and reprinted Pulp Fiction posters with a Miramax stamp on the back. That was certainly good for a laugh.

Offline erik1925

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Re: tloceposters (Tom Loce) Have I been duped with fakes
« Reply #15 on: August 21, 2019, 08:46:44 AM »
I wish there was an archive of that old "Professor Powers" website helping to sell bogus inserts and reprinted Pulp Fiction posters with a Miramax stamp on the back. That was certainly good for a laugh.

The Prof. Powers site is still online :

http://www.angelfire.com/stars4/mymovieposters/index.html
« Last Edit: August 22, 2019, 08:11:50 AM by erik1925 »


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Offline AdamCarterJones

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Re: tloceposters (Tom Loce) Have I been duped with fakes
« Reply #16 on: August 21, 2019, 12:07:55 PM »
Thomas Loce is a disgrace and liar.

See my thread here from April 2018:
Thomas Loce Story - Obviously a Counterfeit Poster
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Offline jpicken

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Re: tloceposters (Tom Loce) Have I been duped with fakes
« Reply #17 on: August 23, 2019, 02:17:39 PM »
The Prof. Powers site is still online :

http://www.angelfire.com/stars4/mymovieposters/index.html

Thanks for finding this. Not being able to find this myself, I must have the intellect of a small dog.  laugh1

Offline eatbrie

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Re: tloceposters (Tom Loce) Have I been duped with fakes
« Reply #18 on: August 25, 2019, 04:52:11 PM »
Loce is the biggest crook in the poster collecting world.  I refuse to give him my money for ethical reason, even if I see something I want.  Not worth my time.

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Offline erik1925

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Re: tloceposters (Tom Loce) Have I been duped with fakes
« Reply #19 on: September 01, 2019, 12:34:11 AM »
Thanks for finding this. Not being able to find this myself, I must have the intellect of a small dog.  laugh1

That outdated site of "Pfr Powers" is always worth a look at and a laugh (beard and wig included)...   laugh1


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Offline jedgerley

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Re: tloceposters (Tom Loce) Have I been duped with fakes
« Reply #20 on: September 01, 2019, 10:55:45 AM »
The long ponytail is the funny part.