Bird! Variations in a species?

I bought the Bird bead from two different ebay sellers, both of whom had been recommended to me by Trollies. Sort of a comparison shopping test! One of the sellers is more personable, the other more efficent, so it's a toss-up.
But there are some variations in the beads, particularly in the marks, so I thought I'd show y'all, see what you think.

Both birds have the hallmarks on the bottom beak when the bird is facing to the right. Bird 1 has 925S LAA upside down in two parallel lines, looks like it was done with one stamp , in a smaller font. Bird 2 has 925S and LAA in a slightly larger font, right side up, and on two lines that converge towards the beak tip.
Bird in the TB Universe products pages does not show the hallmark on that side of the bird at all.
http://www.trollbeadsuniverse.com/canada/en-ca/products/silver/11127(base_usd)









I'll add close-ups in next post.

Closer shots of Bird 1







Bird 2:

I think bird #1 looks good.

Although silver beads can vary in finish due to different production lots & the fact that they are polished/finished somewhat differently, #2 looks like a reproduction to me, or at the very least a poor quality bead.

The loss of feathering detail is noticable, but what really stands out is the divets/dents on the edge of the bead, and the lack of sharpness of the beak itself. This are qualities I've seen on many fake silvers. To be sure you could send the bead to TB HQ and they should be able to confirm it for you.

Also bead 2 looks a bit bigger, less sleek that 1, which is a by-product of casting a reproduction mold, but Smaug will know more about that aspect. I think she mentioned they are about 10% bigger than the original when a copy is made.

There is so much variation in beads bought from known genuine stores that I wouldn't know how to tell a fake.

If either of them is a fake, it's a very good fake! I didn't really want to use the word fake in my original post, didn't want to poison anyone's mind. And I have no concrete reason to suspect that either seller is knowingly selling fakes.

Both measure 9mm x 9mm.

Wondering . . .

Linda, I would send it to HQ and see what they say.

Send the beads? That would cost me more than the beads did!

I've also seen a lot of variation in beads held by my LD, in silvers as well as glass beads so I would have assumed both were genuine as they look pretty similar to me but the weird thing is the stamp, you'd expect them to be in the same place and the same way round. Luckily it sounds as if they didn't cost the earth so you can just enjoy them both

rainyday wrote:I think bird #1 looks good.

Although silver beads can vary in finish due to different production lots & the fact that they are polished/finished somewhat differently, #2 looks like a reproduction to me, or at the very least a poor quality bead.

The loss of feathering detail is noticable, but what really stands out is the divets/dents on the edge of the bead, and the lack of sharpness of the beak itself. This are qualities I've seen on many fake silvers. To be sure you could send the bead to TB HQ and they should be able to confirm it for you.

Also bead 2 looks a bit bigger, less sleek that 1, which is a by-product of casting a reproduction mold, but Smaug will know more about that aspect. I think she mentioned they are about 10% bigger than the original when a copy is made.

That's exactly what I thought...............but rd articulated it much better than I could.

rainyday wrote: I think she mentioned they are about 10% bigger than the original when a copy is made.

I thought it´s the other way round ? Aren´t usually the fake beads smaller ?
At least most of the silver fakes from the NL were.

What about the stamp ? Don´t all TB beads have them on the same place with the same lenght ?

Bird 2 looks a bit dubious.

Hmm, the Bird shown by this former TB dealer (was iluvtrollbeads) is most like my Bird 2, in extent of detail, and in placement and look of hallmark stamps.

http://www.iluvallbeads.com/store/trollbeads-trollbeads-silver-trollbeads-animals,Category.asp

(They are selling off their old TB stock, but only ship to the US. They can't use TB's stock pictures anymore, so they took their own photos.)

LindaJo wrote:Send the beads? That would cost me more than the beads did!

Why don't you just email them with these pics and ask their opinion?