Marvelous Treasures & Amusements

Certificate of Authenticity

A Certificate of Authenticity (COA) is an important document that can accompany an item to help show its history and provenance.

Marvelous Treasures & Amusements issues a COA with each original item from movies and TV shows. Each COA includes a photo of the item accompanied by a description, the production that it was used in, and its status. Each COA includes an embossed stamp, tamper proof hologram sticker, an anti-counterfeit background pattern, a hand-written inspection date, and hand-written initials from the person who performed the inspection.

Each item is also allocated a unique Marvelous Treasures & Amusements serial number, which enables us to later reference the original sale in our records if an owner wishes to verify its authenticity and confirm its provenance.

Item Status

Film props, costumes, and memorabilia can be used in a variety of ways. Some may have been seen on film, and some may have only been used during the course of production. This information is included on the COA.

Screen Matched - Item has been confirmed to be visible in specific scene(s) by matching certain unique details visible both on the item and on the item as it appears on screen.
Screen Used - Item has been confirmed to have been used during the course of filming and appeared on film. This can be determined from documentation or property tags accompanying the item, statements from crew, or matches to production stills/photos/footage.
Production Used - Item was used during the course of production. May or may not have been seen on film. Item may have been set aside, kept on-hand as a backup, was a supporting item for other aspects of the production, used in alternate takes not seen in the finished film, or just could not specifically be confirmed as being screen used.
Production Made - Item was created during the course of production, but was not seen on film. Item may have been set aside, left in an unfinished state, or was a supporting item for other aspects of the production (such as a maquette, mold, or unfinished casting).
Production Test - Item was created during the course of production to evaluate something specific prior to arriving at a final version, such as an alternate design, a paint color/finish/texture, a material, a mechanical mechanism, lighting/electronics, a fitting for other items or on an actor, or any number of other aspects of an item.
Production Prototype - Item created during the development of production, usually before arriving at a final version of the item.

Sometimes, items are replicated, and although they won't come with a COA since they aren't original items, it is still good to be aware of the terminology that surrounds them.

From Production Molds - A replica made using the original molds/materials of an item created for production. The replica itself was not created nor used during production. However, it may be more accurate than other replicas since original molds/materials may have been used to create it.
Replica - An item that was reproduced and was never used for production. Some replicas are officially comissioned by the studio, and others can be fan-made. There might be a wide range of accuracy and quality depending upon the attention to detail, even with official items comissioned by the studio.

Other terminology:

Visual Match - This is a term occasionally used within an item's description to indicate when an item (or one similar enough in appearance) may have appeared on film, but is not seen with enough detail to determine a screen match, and does not have supporting documentation to be declared as screen used. This simply indicates that the item or one similar in appearance was seen at a particular point on film.
Production Still - A still image (a photo, projector slide, polaroid, negative, etc) that was taken on set during production. Sometimes an item can be matched to one of these images, but not necessarily screen matched within the finished cut of the film. The item might not have beenseen with enough detail in the finished film to determine a screen match, or the specific item may have only been used in an alternate take or deleted scene.