Counterfeit grippers are circulating!

[Cannon]

This weekend, we helped a Japanese customer identify a counterfeit gripper which they had acquired. In this case, it was a fake FBBC Super.

The original FBBC Hard and Super were made by Robert Baraban for John Beatty of FBBC. We talked to John in 2023 about these grippers and he was 99% sure there were 100 of each produced making them quite rare. Both the spring and the handles were chrome plated. The handle ends were engraved deeply with "FBBC" on one handle and "HARD" or "SUPER" on the other handle. Once chromed, the engravings took on a characteristic bold look.

Here are some photos of the fake:

 

This one was a pretty easy call because of the engraving especially. The letters on the fake are not even engraved at all, but rather printed on the handle. Also the handle was plated for sure, but possibly not with chrome. And the spring appears polished and not chromed.

I could not find a picture of an actual FBBC Super, but examples of real FBBC Hard grippers are easy to find on YouTube. The characteristics for Super would be the same.

The lettering should look like this:

 

With the cost of collectible grippers skyrocketing, the motivation for a counterfeit is clear. We have heard many other rumors of fakes being produced and circulated. Remember you can post questions at the GripBoard and the community can help to try and authentic items.

 

 

[deadgrip]

this is kind of crazy… most people out there don’t even know about FBBC grippers…. This makes me think the person creating fakes was/is a collector..  

 

[DoctorOfCrush]

1 minute ago, deadgrip said:

this is kind of crazy… most people out there don’t even know about FBBC grippers…. This makes me think the person creating fakes was/is a collector..  

 

[deadgrip]

3 minutes ago, DoctorOfCrush said:

Haha but yea dude—- think about it… FBBCs are a pretty obscure gripper..  never made public.. were only around briefly and really the only people that knew were serious benders/grip nuts.. very strange..

NOT TO MENTION - these were from a VERY long time ago!  the first FBBCs that were made by Baraban!

Edited October 14 by deadgrip

[Blacksmith513]

2 minutes ago, DoctorOfCrush said:

Now thats funny. 

 

I dont plan on ever making counterfeit anything or conning people. But if I do counterfeit grippers would probably be the last thing id think of doing.🤣

[DoctorOfCrush]

2 minutes ago, deadgrip said:

Haha but yea dude—- think about it… FBBCs are a pretty obscure gripper..  never made public.. were only around briefly and really the only people that knew were serious benders/grip nuts.. very strange..

NOT TO MENTION - these were from a VERY long time ago!  the first FBBCs that were made by Baraban!

Oh no, I totally agree. Even with the moderate amount of gripper knowledge I have, I would have to do a ton of additional research to faithfully recreate something like this. 

[liftyzig]

FBBC Super

[Forever]

57 minutes ago, Cannon said:

This weekend, we helped a Japanese customer identify a counterfeit gripper which they had acquired. In this case, it was a fake FBBC Super.

The original FBBC Hard and Super were made by Robert Baraban for John Beatty of FBBC. We talked to John in 2023 about these grippers and he was 99% sure there were 100 of each produced making them quite rare. Both the spring and the handles were chrome plated. The handle ends were engraved deeply with "FBBC" on one handle and "HARD" or "SUPER" on the other handle. Once chromed, the engravings took on a characteristic bold look.

Here are some photos of the fake:

 

This one was a pretty easy call because of the engraving especially. The letters on the fake are not even engraved at all, but rather printed on the handle. Also the handle was plated for sure, but possibly not with chrome. And the spring appears polished and not chromed.

I could not find a picture of an actual FBBC Super, but examples of real FBBC Hard grippers are easy to find on YouTube. The characteristics for Super would be the same.

The lettering should look like this:

 

With the cost of collectible grippers skyrocketing, the motivation for a counterfeit is clear. We have heard many other rumors of fakes being produced and circulated. Remember you can post questions at the GripBoard and the community can help to try and authentic items.

 

 

Thanks for posting this. 

[Luke Blackwell]

  Reminds me of those fake Coc grippers circulating around Amazon. The ones that come zip tied to the card with no vacuum seal

[VITALIK SEVKO]

This was done by the same person who recently made a fake certification for coc 4. Be careful when shopping!

[DoctorOfCrush]

4 minutes ago, VITALIK SEVKO said:

This was done by the same person who recently made a fake certification for coc 4. Be careful when shopping!

😳 Woah, seriously?!

[insane.warrior]

sweet memories

[VITALIK SEVKO]

27 minutes ago, DoctorOfCrush said:

😳 Woah, seriously?!

Yes. Perhaps someone has already bought fake Thor grippers.

[DoctorOfCrush]

1 minute ago, VITALIK SEVKO said:

Yes. Perhaps someone has already bought fake Thor grippers.

😳 Yikes. Thankfully, all of my grippers have come from CPW or reputable, long-time GripBoard members (or Weightlifter's Warehouse back in the day). 

[VITALIK SEVKO]

3 hours ago, Cannon said:

This weekend, we helped a Japanese customer identify a counterfeit gripper which they had acquired. In this case, it was a fake FBBC Super.

The original FBBC Hard and Super were made by Robert Baraban for John Beatty of FBBC. We talked to John in 2023 about these grippers and he was 99% sure there were 100 of each produced making them quite rare. Both the spring and the handles were chrome plated. The handle ends were engraved deeply with "FBBC" on one handle and "HARD" or "SUPER" on the other handle. Once chromed, the engravings took on a characteristic bold look.

Here are some photos of the fake:

 

This one was a pretty easy call because of the engraving especially. The letters on the fake are not even engraved at all, but rather printed on the handle. Also the handle was plated for sure, but possibly not with chrome. And the spring appears polished and not chromed.

I could not find a picture of an actual FBBC Super, but examples of real FBBC Hard grippers are easy to find on YouTube. The characteristics for Super would be the same.

The lettering should look like this:

 

With the cost of collectible grippers skyrocketing, the motivation for a counterfeit is clear. We have heard many other rumors of fakes being produced and circulated. Remember you can post questions at the GripBoard and the community can help to try and authentic items.

 

 

This person who bought the fake FBBC. Maybe he also bought Thor gripper. Ask him.

[DoctorOfCrush]

8 minutes ago, VITALIK SEVKO said:

This person who bought the fake FBBC. Maybe he also bought Thor gripper. Ask him.

Are you referring to the "Thor" that sold recently for like $620 on eBay? The same seller sold the Hercules for $700+, didn't they? 

Edited October 14 by DoctorOfCrush

[liftyzig]

7 minutes ago, DoctorOfCrush said:

Are you referring to the "Thor" that sold recently for like $620 on eBay? The same seller sold the Hercules for $700+, didn't they? 

Dont think thats the same person he's referring to, that sellers name was Victor

[VITALIK SEVKO]

15 minutes ago, DoctorOfCrush said:

Are you referring to the "Thor" that sold recently for like $620 on eBay? The same seller sold the Hercules for $700+, didn't they? 

No-no!

[B1ackD3ath]

@C8Myotome it's time for camel picture here, i think)

[C8Myotome]

4 minutes ago, B1ackD3ath said:

@C8Myotome it's time for camel picture here, i think)

 

[Alawadhi]

6 hours ago, Cannon said:

This weekend, we helped a Japanese customer identify a counterfeit gripper which they had acquired. In this case, it was a fake FBBC Super.

The original FBBC Hard and Super were made by Robert Baraban for John Beatty of FBBC. We talked to John in 2023 about these grippers and he was 99% sure there were 100 of each produced making them quite rare. Both the spring and the handles were chrome plated. The handle ends were engraved deeply with "FBBC" on one handle and "HARD" or "SUPER" on the other handle. Once chromed, the engravings took on a characteristic bold look.

Here are some photos of the fake:

 

This one was a pretty easy call because of the engraving especially. The letters on the fake are not even engraved at all, but rather printed on the handle. Also the handle was plated for sure, but possibly not with chrome. And the spring appears polished and not chromed.

I could not find a picture of an actual FBBC Super, but examples of real FBBC Hard grippers are easy to find on YouTube. The characteristics for Super would be the same.

The lettering should look like this:

 

With the cost of collectible grippers skyrocketing, the motivation for a counterfeit is clear. We have heard many other rumors of fakes being produced and circulated. Remember you can post questions at the GripBoard and the community can help to try and authentic items.

 

 

This is so upsetting! There are weirdos and sickos who fake gripper close, and now sell them. Thank God I bought most of my items long ago. I do own the original FBBC hard and super and I am glad it's not fake.

Edit: This is also the reason I am not buying anything "collectable" nowadays; because of these nonsense. And I do own a lot.

6 hours ago, deadgrip said:

this is kind of crazy… most people out there don’t even know about FBBC grippers…. This makes me think the person creating fakes was/is a collector..  

 

Yes this might be true, and I thought the same too. If you (yes you Mr. THIEF) are reading this, fear God, have shame and stop stealing from people.

Edited October 14 by Alawadhi

[Slipshod]

Pretty much sums up why I wouldn't buy the older grippers i.e. WT, Silver Crush etc. Obviously there are sellers with good reputations, but faking one would be far far too easy. Literally the only thing preventing it is that if suddenly 5 appear on the market from an unknown collector, everyones spider senses will be tingling.

I guess you could get a spectrometer and test the alloys, but I think we are a couple of 0s away from that being a realistic verification method

[B1ackD3ath]

1 hour ago, Slipshod said:

Pretty much sums up why I wouldn't buy the older grippers i.e. WT, Silver Crush etc. Obviously there are sellers with good reputations, but faking one would be far far too easy. Literally the only thing preventing it is that if suddenly 5 appear on the market from an unknown collector, everyones spider senses will be tingling.

I guess you could get a spectrometer and test the alloys, but I think we are a couple of 0s away from that being a realistic verification method

For reasons like that, we've got grip community, alot of experienced people can sharp there eye balls into given photos or videos to tell there validating opinions. Spectrometer will not help in case the item is already 'frankensteined' from separate original parts into 'damn rare, just one in whole world, bla bla bla...'😅

[bdckr]

On 10/14/2024 at 12:20 PM, deadgrip said:

Haha but yea dude—- think about it… FBBCs are a pretty obscure gripper..  never made public.. were only around briefly and really the only people that knew were serious benders/grip nuts.. very strange..

NOT TO MENTION - these were from a VERY long time ago!  the first FBBCs that were made by Baraban!

Were they never made public?  I don't remember that.

The limited Baraban re-branded grippers were definitely marketed to a very limited audience, but when John started making them in-house, they were listed on the FBBC website with a ton of customization options.  They might not have been as popular, which might be why it seemed they weren't public, and they had a rough finish (especially compared to the Baraban grippers), but they had a rustic charm and I loved them.  Aluminum, steel, brass; 3/4", vs 5/8"; knurled, not knurled, or polishedhandles.  Parallel heavy duty springs. Not only were there an overwhelming number of options, but John had the most reasonable shipping options to Canada.  He even offered a discount when you bought at least 5 grippers ($15 off for the first 5, then $3 off each additional).  I am still amazed that more people didn't buy the steel handled grippers that cost only $5 more than aluminum.  The weight of steel and brass handles feel great in the hand, especially on the tougher grippers.

I'm sure at some point I'll regret selling them all off (last one just shipped out this week!), but it's cool to know that they will be appreciated by true aficionados.

[deadgrip]

1 minute ago, bdckr said:

Were they never made public?  I don't remember that.

The limited Baraban re-branded grippers were definitely marketed to a very limited audience, but when John started making them in-house, they were listed on the FBBC website with a ton of customization options.  They might not have been as popular, which might be why it seemed they weren't public, and they had a rough finish (especially compared to the Baraban grippers), but they had a rustic charm and I loved them.  Aluminum, steel, brass; 3/4", vs 5/8"; knurled, not knurled, or polishedhandles.  Parallel heavy duty springs. Not only were there an overwhelming number of options, but John had the most reasonable shipping options to Canada.  He even offered a discount when you bought at least 5 grippers ($15 off for the first 5, then $3 off each additional).  I am still amazed that more people didn't buy the steel handled grippers that cost only $5 more than aluminum.  The weight of steel and brass handles feel great in the hand, especially on the tougher grippers.

I'm sure at some point I'll regret selling them all off (last one just shipped out this week!), but it's cool to know that they will be appreciated by true aficionados.

what I meant by that is basically weren’t sold on any other sites- just his own-  like how you were able to get CoCs from other sites, HeavyGrips, Barabans, Tettings- FBBCs were just from his site and really not many folks knew about FBBC compared to the other gripper guys-  well unless you’re from this place but we’re not regular folk haha