newbie question w/r/t Aurora Hidden Mickey Pin

[elk with mouse ears]

Hi everyone,

My daughter (and I) just began pin trading and we received the Aurora hidden mickey pin #42028 from a CM. I've noticed that there's a warning out there about this pin being bootlegged... and I'm curious if we in fact have a boot one.

The pin looks and feels real to me (like I have any idea about that!)... and we did get it from a CM... but her dress is pink and it looks more like lavender on the pinpics website... and it's also stamped 2007 instead of 2005. Now I've read this pin is an "open" edition and have seen comments about it on ebay as a "re-issued" pin... so all this just makes me confused.

Is it a bootleg? Please help me understand this!

Thanks!

 

[Parkhopper_Vince]

I am certainly not an expert about the bootleg pins and it is harder and harder to know exactly what may or may not be, but if the quality of the pin is good and you know you did get it from a Cast Member and you like the pin then it isn't something that I would worry too much about. I hate the fact that there are so many pins that are now questionable, but hopefully that is not the case with this pin. Keep it if you like it and trade it if you see something you like better.

 

[elk with mouse ears]

Thanks for your reply. My daughter loves this pin and probably won't trade it... but I'd hate for her to have a bad experience with trading pins before she even really gets started. She's too young to understand the art of bogus merchandise!

Thanks again!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

I have been on the receiving end of counterfeit pins - both ones that we bought on eBay (my bad for wanting inexpensive pins!) and pulling others from cast member lanyards that were obviously put there by other eBay shoppers. (We didn't trade our fakes, we have them in a baggy marked "scrappers".)

The only time it really matters is if you are planning to trade or sell the pin to someone else. If you like the pin and want to keep it then it doesn't make that much of a difference. DH has a Malificent pin that we KNOW is fake, but he liked it and wanted it anyway.

I have found that a lot of the cast lanyard pins have been bootlegged/counterfeited and there are just too many out there to always avoid them. Changing the back stamp info and "re-releasing" old designs has just made it harder to authenticate them, IMO. Trade for what you like and try not to worry about it!