# These “tells” that give away knockoff merchandise **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 26, 2025, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-tells-that-give-away-knockoff-merchandise/1014850 "2025-02-26T23:55:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2025, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-tells-that-give-away-knockoff-merchandise/1014850/141 "2025-04-02T23:32:58Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > They are often the same thing. The stuff once collected by kids who are now dying off _en masse_ is a glut on the market. The only people interested in that stuff are other dead or nearly-dead people. Right but I meant something that was bought by an adult in the first place becuase “it will be valuable some day” like that Franklin Mint shit. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2025, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-tells-that-give-away-knockoff-merchandise/1014850/142 "2025-04-02T23:40:26Z")
Granted. There are two sorts of “collectibles”. Things that had been naturally collected by enthusiasts of [whatever] and stored for decades. And shit that had been created and marketed as being inherently collectible as such. The former has both genuinosity going for it, and the inherent scarcity of lost collections over time plus anything popular when the comparatively poor USA had 80M people will be scarce in a world with 380M much wealthier Americans. Even our poor now are better off than 1920s or 1940s poor. The middle class now is far better off than middle class then. Yes, middle class is losing ground now and has been for 30+ years. But they’re still far better off absolutely than 1930s or 1940s middle class were. The real problem with shit marketed as collectible is that everyone interested was buying new. Then once they owned it, there was nobody from later who wanted it. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2025, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-tells-that-give-away-knockoff-merchandise/1014850/143 "2025-04-03T01:58:03Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > Right but I meant something that was bought by an adult in the first place because “it will be valuable some day” like that Franklin Mint shit. I should point out that the Franklin Mint pieces made of real silver are sought after. People will pay a premium over spot for them. I was in the bidding for a complete set of their “Banks From all 50 States” and dropped out at spot. It went for not too much more. But that was a year ago when silver was $24 a troy ounce and now it is $34. > **[Set of 50 Franklin Mint "State" Ingots, 104 oz troy total](https://auction.caseantiques.com/online-auctions/case-antiques/set-of-50-franklin-mint-state-ingots-104-oz-troy-total-5648304)** > > Box of fifty (50) sterling silver ingots representing different state banks in 1972, within a stock walnut wooden box with fitted blue velvet interior accommodating each ingot. Each rectangular ingot weighing approx. 1000-grain and hallmarked... ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2025, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-tells-that-give-away-knockoff-merchandise/1014850/144 "2025-04-07T22:40:27Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > The collectables that make money are the things that people collected as kids. The problem being that kids from my era didn’t care what condition their toys were in. I remember telling the local Comic Book Guy that my fondest memory as a kid was buying the latest Spider-Man comic, rolling it up, shoving it in the back pocket of my cutoffs, and jumping on my Schwinn Sting-Ray to go get a Slushie. “And, now that I’m retired, it’s still my favorite thing to do!” And I rolled up the latest Spider-Man comic he’d just sold me, and shoved it in my pocket. He winced as I yelled over my shoulder: “Now, I’m riding my bike down to the 7-11 for a Slushie!” So, lots of us have old Supes/Batman/Spidey comics… that’d be worth a ton if the condition wasn’t, well, crappy. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2025, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-tells-that-give-away-knockoff-merchandise/1014850/145 "2025-04-16T10:04:13Z")
> [@Pork\_Rind](#): > > Because of the more or less handmade nature of the cars, and Ferrari’s understanding that they can make more money (and preserve the value of their brand) selling a few very exclusive vehicles at a high price vs filling the marketplace with as many cars as they can make. I’d put the emphasis more on the market strategy than the handmade part. Rolexes are mass produced, and I know some car brands like Porsche, that are much more mass produced than Ferrari, and they similarly gatekeep premium models. I think your post is correct, and enlightening, but I think it’s also worth asking _why_ a brand would care about flippers. If a car is available on the grey market for more than the RRP, _why should_ Ferrari care? It’s because the exclusivity is a key brand strategy. Rich people are used to buying whatever they want, but then suddenly a brand is saying they need to _earn_ a particular model, and earning it will be some measure of the respect and esteem in which they are held… That’s a beguiling challenge for them. Plus they get to show off their car and get asked “Is that the XKS!? I thought it was impossible to buy those”. It generates extra sales directly (by people buying cars / watches to build their relationship with the dealer) but more than that builds brand hype and creates brand evangelists. As you can tell by the way I’m writing this, I’m a bit cynical about such tactics. However, when you think about it, such psychological gimmicks are used at all price levels, it’s not just rich people being irrational, we all are. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2025, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-tells-that-give-away-knockoff-merchandise/1014850/146 "2025-04-16T10:46:31Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > eBay is the bottom trawling of the antique biz. Monstrously destructive as it scoops up the entire ecosystem, leaving nothing but wreckage in its path. On the up side, eBay makes it possible for many people to find things that would have been impossible to find otherwise outside of chance. I collect Seeburg 1000 records: background music recorded on proprietary 9-inch 16 2/3 RPM vinyl records. Both the machines and the records that they play are rare. Without eBay I would not be able to collect them. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2025, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-tells-that-give-away-knockoff-merchandise/1014850/147 "2025-04-17T10:49:11Z")
I wonder if that’s because there is a perception that they are way less likely to be a complete loss - even if the ‘collectible’ value of them evaporates completely, they’re still made of silver, so they have a failsafe value as scrap. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2025, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-tells-that-give-away-knockoff-merchandise/1014850/148 "2025-04-18T16:08:18Z")
Absolutely. ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2025, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-tells-that-give-away-knockoff-merchandise/1014850/149 "2025-04-20T01:29:21Z")
> [@mixdenny](#): > > You probably don’t want to hear about my collection of 120 electric kitchen mixers, all earlier then WW II. Oh, I do! In exchange I will tell you about my small collection of WW1 era paraffin (aka kerosene) camping stoves… I love nerdy hobbies. One ex-girlfriend collects kitchen balance scales. Back on topic, no one is ever going to try sell you a fake Primus stove… ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2025, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-tells-that-give-away-knockoff-merchandise/1014850/150 "2025-04-22T14:01:45Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > My primary watch that I wore for 30+ years but don’t wear at all since I retired was a black plastic Casio I originally got at K-Mart. Had to replace it a few times, but always a basic model for ~$20. I had to stop wearing watches when I had wrist issues including carpal tunnel, so I dont wear one now and just use my phone. But when I did, I preferred a black Casio I typically bought at Walmart for about $20. Same as you, I cycled through a few of them over the decades. > [@Jackmannii](#): > > I have difficulty imagining people who, casually observing someone check the time on their watch, lean over to gawk at it and then demand to know if it’s “real”. Those watches are often made to get attention. A big gold watch draws the eye the way a cheap black one does not. Someone seeing a flashy watch just might be curious. As for collections, one person’s total waste of time and money is another’s fun hobby. I personally collect ties. Standard neckties. It started when I realized I had a dozen lovely ties in the closet that I never wear and never get to enjoy, so I decided to display them in my wall. That led to an obsession. I now have most of the free wall space in my bedroom covered with ties on display racks - easily 500. And I’ve probably got that many more in a storage container in my garage because I don’t have any space to display them. Yet I still feel compelled to visit thrift stores regularly and see what I can turn up. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2025, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-tells-that-give-away-knockoff-merchandise/1014850/151 "2025-04-22T14:05:49Z")
Really the only times I wear a watch recently are on airline flights or in the movie theater. In both cases, my phone is off. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2025, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-tells-that-give-away-knockoff-merchandise/1014850/152 "2025-04-22T14:06:50Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > I now have most of the free wall space in my bedroom covered with ties on display racks - easily 500. You should turn your home into a pub. Then you could legitimately say you have a tied house. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2025, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-tells-that-give-away-knockoff-merchandise/1014850/153 "2025-04-22T16:10:35Z")
Mine is silent and/or airplane mode but never OFF. Those are both places I may need a flashlight at a moment’s notice and it isn’t too hard to conceive of a life of death situation, perhaps farfetched but not impossible, where the house/cabin lights go out entirely. I always want my camera ready, too, but not like a light. In fact, the phone is my backup flashlight. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2025, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-tells-that-give-away-knockoff-merchandise/1014850/154 "2025-04-22T16:14:44Z")
Pulling your phone out of your pocket. even to glance at the time, can be a big distraction for others. I was in a theater last year and the Apple Phone on the wrist of the guy next to me was almost as bad. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2025, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-tells-that-give-away-knockoff-merchandise/1014850/155 "2025-04-22T18:19:30Z")
Ready to go, as said. But I agree that frivolous use of a distracting device of any kind is rude. “Ya, I’m in line at the DMV, I can talk!” Probably too much information: I avoid my own screens on airplanes but make a little game of learning the time by peeking at other people’s watches, lockscreens, laptops, overheard convo. I say game but, a lot of time, it’s effortless. There are hundreds of timepieces on a typical passenger jet and people are fidgeting with them, basically nonstop. You can’t assume timezones on other traveler’s watches, either. Challenge accepted! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/these-tells-that-give-away-knockoff-merchandise/1014850.md?page=7)