Cels Forum

Howdy,

   Since you left no e-mail address I'll have to post
here on the forum, although I believe any information on
how to tell a reproduction cel from an orginal production
cel would be of interest to most of the forum readers. Yes,
I would like to know more how you can tell that the cel I
have is a reproduction. I am not saying that the cel is
or isn't a reproduction or is or isn't a orginal production
cel but, just telling me the color is off is not enought
to prove anything to me about the cel one way or the other.
Colors do fade, scanners do mess up, certain web browsers
do not display the pictures right, and so on or the cel is 
a reproduction/fake. However, without more specific
information I do not know.

   I bought the cel from a Japanese dealer in Japan at
a Japanese anime convention called Wonderfest in 1991.
At that time I had been collecting cels for about a year.
I was still just learning the ins and outs of the hobby,
so it is possible that I bought a reproduction cel without
knowing that I did. The first reproduction cels I saw for
sale wasn't until 94-95. Yet, I am sure that the practice
has been around a lot longer than then. 

   The characters on the cel are actually smaller than you
see on the screen. I blew up the picture so everyone could
see the scan better. So, it is not like I got the greatest
of Totoro cels in the first place. I paid less than $40 US
for the cel. I have truly enjoyed having the cel in my
collection for 9 years now. Even if it turns out to be a
reproduction cel I got my money's worth out of it. Like I
stated in my orginal message I got in the hobby for the 
friendships, not for the selling of cels. If I could not
have the friendships I would get out of this hobby.

   Please, do not think I am mad about your comments. On
the contary I would like to know for sure if the cel is a
reproduction or not. If I do ever let it go I want to give
the proper information on it. Also, this way I learn more
so as not to be taken in as easily by someone trying to sell
a reproduction as an orginal cel. Just a side note I have
never bought anything off e-bay and won't from any site 
that I do not know well. It took nearly 5 months of reading
every post in the archives of the forum and learning
about the various dealer sites before I bought any cels
off the internet just to make sure I wasn't wasting my 
money foolishly. I state this only to let collectors know
there is a lot of good information in the archives and
nothing is worth what a hasty decision could cost you.

   So, any information you can give me is greatly welcome.
If, you would prefer to keep the information just between
us then please send me an e-mail at my address above and
I will respond in kind.

Thank you for time.
Sincerely,

gdpj