Hi everyone.

I was given a black Porper card clip and was told it is an original bought from the US.

After doing some research online, I realise that there are many fakes floating around.

I am curious to find out if there are ways to physically identify or test it (without breaking it of course) to prove that it is an original.

Mine has the usual signature at the spine on the outside and on the inside, an engraved "MADE IN U.S.A." and fits 52 cards inside a box snugly (Aladdin 1001). Is this sufficient prove?

Hope this thread will attract useful methods to identify the originals from the fakes so as to support the original manufacturer/inventor rather that sellers of fake Porper clips.

Thanks in advance!

Thanks for asking!
One thing I've found with the fakes is that the edges are rough -- they can wear a hole in your pocket and that's no good. There's also no quality control: some are thicker, some are thinner -- they're all over the map! The fakes also have Joe's signature copied onto them, so that makes it harder to tell. If you buy them off ebay for $14.95 or less, they're definitely fakes. Also they're usually made of inferior Aluminum instead of the alloy we use, so they're relatively easy to bend. Paul Wilson told me once about being in a dealer room at a convention in China where they were selling the fakes, and he was bending and breaking them in front of the horrified counterfeiter.

I've started putting PorperClips.com on the ones that come directly from us, but some of our clients who have custom clips made for them prefer to have their own names/sites on them.
If you buy them from PorperClips.com, they will be genuine, with free shipping in the US and $10 per order (not per item!) for the rest of the world.
We also used to have the "Made in the U.S.A." on the inside -- I'm not sure if the ones made in China would want to take the chance with customs, but you never know.

This may help you. I hope it does. I sincerely thank you for bringing this subject up.
Scott

Thanks Scott! Appreciate your explanation.

Regarding thickness of originals, could you give an exact measurement in millimeters? Maybe this could be one way to distinguish them.

Hope to buy an original directly from PorperClips.com someday and compare it with my current porper clip. Perhaps someone will be kind enough to do an original vs fake YouTube video someday. Will be awesome to see those fakes bending and breaking on video! Hopefully the viral effect of such videos will educate and encourage more people to buy originals.

Thanks for this explanation, though for me any time I buy Poper products I always buy from the source. The same thing with Bob Kohler products. As a matter of fact any high quality prop is best bought from the source. It's also more money in the pocket of the creators of these things and that helps them continue to put out excellent products.

Hear, hear! Best to purchase from the source or at least a trusted seller. Way too many Porper Chinese fakes on the big auction site.