This thread has made me question whether I want replicas of any sort anywhere near my collection!

I’ve found that I can easily tolerate repro brochures and printed things - Giffard, Webley, BSA, Crosman literature etc - because they are interesting reads.

I don’t really collect pellet packaging, except by accident, so I’m not interested in replica boxes, despite what I said earlier.

I probably wouldn’t bother with a replica Webley oil can unless it was the only thing missing to complete a set. I certainly wouldn’t spend hundreds on an original.

My unboxed Webley pistols will stay unboxed, however perfect the replica boxes are.

Thinking about the subject properly, I realise that authenticity is a key part of what makes me a collector. I half expected my Walther LP52 pistol to be a fake before it arrived, but on seeing it felt immediately it was genuine (as did the other collectors who have seen it in the flesh). So I kept it, but would have quickly got rid of it if not.

Generally I think that if the money is tempting enough then conmen will always try to diddle people out of it, sadly. In the long run, increasingly facsimiles will be sold as originals even if it means obliterating the word "replica", or filing off the word "reproduction".

My Morton booklet is too fresh and shiny to appear original now, but in 30 years it won’t be. Lesson: as John says, beware of 6th edition Mortons!

It’s a case of caveat emptor and the ‘experts’ will have the final word on what’s genuine or not, just like they do in the art world, where the difference between fake paintings and genuine ones can be millions.

There’s a strong human tendency to believe that what you have is genuine - ie. a factory variant - (read John Atkins’ AG article on broken lugs on Webley ‘spring clip’ Mk1s) rather than the work of a random gunsmith.

This means owners will always be the last people capable of making unbiased decisions on authenticity (ie. my LP52!).

It also means that the line between ‘passing off’ and ‘good faith’ is blurred, because for every seller trying to dupe you with a fake, there will be another seller who is an honest, earnest believer.

Finally, I share everyone else’s horror at the thought of facsimiles that don’t declare themselves openly for what they are. Anyone who makes something hoping to sell it ‘under the radar’ is no better than a thief.