posted 02-15-2012 09:07 PM               

I won item 140690927448 on eBay just over a week ago. The presentation showed up in a timely manner but something just felt off about it.

First off, the patch doesn't look like an original AB Emblem patch to my eyes. The small stars are a different shape, the blue border around the main gold star is way too thick, the "N" in REISMAN is not touching the inside blue border, and there is an odd hash-mark stitching around the RMS and the Kibo module.

Curiously enough, if I lift up the edge of the patch on the presentation, there is an image of the correct AB Emblem patch underneath.

Also, the dedication to the Boeing QA Group. There is a white border around the black rectangle. You would think this is a physical decal of some sort which was affixed to the presentation. Well, it is not. That image of the dedication is printed as part of the photo. Nothing is affixed, but yet why does it have a white border of some sort?

To my eyes, it is almost as if someone scanned the original presentation and had a duplicate made up and affixed a bogus patch.

I did contact the seller and he replied that it is a flown patch. To his credit, the seller does offer a 7 day money back guarantee.

posted 02-20-2012 07:53 PM               

That sounds VERY similar to an STS-96 presentation I have — large display board showing pictures from the mission, crew signatures in silver sharpie, and a flown patch (That is very different from an AB Emblems patch — it's smaller, has a different texture, and lower-quality details) glued over a printed image of the patch.

I know mine is authentic because for one it came from a reputable dealer, and two I saw an image of the Johnson Space Center VR lab with a presentation identical to mine (as well as similar presentations from other missions) hanging on the wall.

I checked and the one you bought came from the same dealer as mine.

*Edit* I can't seem to locate the picture where I saw my specific display type (I now remember it was actually in a room in the NBL, near a robotic workstation trainer though), but I found a picture of the VR lab that's totally covered with similar displays. Later I could post a picture comparing the patch from the display to an AB patch, but they are very different so I think it's very possible that the one you bought (and want to return) is indeed authentic. Plus, Donnis certainly is a reputable dealer.

posted 02-20-2012 08:26 PM               

The signatures on the STS-123 presentation were not hand signed in ink. They were part of the photo print.

In these days of Photoshop, if the Boeing dedication was supposed to be graphically generated as part of the photo versus a physical decal of some sort, then why would it have an inconsistent white border? The border around the dedication is consistent with a physical entity, not something that is printed as part of the photo.

Is the dedication on yours (underneath the patch) a separate physical label/paper which is affixed? Might be irrelevant since yours does not appear to be directed to a specific group or person.