How to recognize fake Queen tickets
The past two years have brought many fake Queen tickets on the market. Almost all of the fakes were distributed by two people: Giorgio Bacci from the USA and David Cartars from the UK. 99% of the fakes are tickets from the early gigs - either Smile (1969-1970) or Queen (1973-1974). Having had many of the fakes in my own hands I feel I can now explain how to recognize genuine tickets from fakes. It's important to have scans in high resolution (for example 1200 dpi) - it's difficult to recognize fakes from just low resolution ebay images.
Genuine tickets from 1973 - close-ups
Click on the images and examine the lovely quality of the print! These sharp letters cannot be reproduced by any home printer (neither inkjet nor laser printer).
#1 - Coloured dots, printed stamp
One of the first fakes I've ever come across on ebay - this is a Brangwyn 28.11.1973 FAKE ticket sold by ebay seller newyork-nyc (Giorgio Bacci). Look at the first picture - it looks like a normal Queen ticket. A macro detail of the print (second pic) shows coloured CMYK dots (one hint) surrounding a very blurred print (second hint). If that's not enough, look at the third pic - the stamped number. In this case it clearly wasn't stamped - it was printed by the very same inkjet printer.
#2 - Slightly different size
Some forgers aren't sure about the exact ticket size. The top pic is the genuine Newcastle ticket, the bottom one is fake. (Btw. not only the size but also the printing technique is different).
#3 - Cyan glow
If the fake tickets don't have the CMYK dots around letters they usually have this cyan glow. I'm not sure what type of printers causes this effect but look at the comparison anyway - the top tickets are genuine, the bottom tickets are fake. Warning: such a "glow" or blurred letters may not mean it's a 100% fake. Humidity or age may have similar effects. But it's certainly a strong warning.
#4 - Different font
Even by the cyan glow you can tell the right ticket is fake (as opposed to the genuine ticket on the first pic). BUT look also at the used font. Compare the letter "e" in both versions. The genuine version is "rounded", the fake features a slightly different font. (Both tickets are from the 14.12.1973 gig at Hammersmith Odeon).
#5 - Low resolution
It doesn't happen often but I've come across a few fakes of this type. The forger downloaded scans from my QueenConcerts website and printed them without caring about the print quality much. It's not that much visible on low resolution scans but if you take macro shots or hi-res scans and examine them thoroughly you can see how poor the template must have been. Changing the ticket number hasn't improved the overall quality!
#6 - Ticket numbers
Most fakes have been printed in two or three copies. Their numbers are usually very suspicious. For example if three megarare tickets from 1973 are for sale, what are the odds that their numbers are 22, 33 and 44? Or 24 and 42, or 12 and 21 etc. The forger doesn't want to do too many experiments with the font and the stamp itself so he often just uses Photoshop to switch two digits. He doesn't even bother to change the appearance of the digit - look and compare the "2" in the (printed!) stamp on the following two tickets (both are fake, both come from David Cartars).
#7 - Black & white tickets
In some cases the forger most likely wasn't sure about the exact design and colours of the ticket (and neither were we) so he printed a simple black design on a white ticket. This is something I wasn't sure about, it's much more difficult to examine a pure black ticket than to recognize a fake coloured print. But when I took macro shots I noticed black dots around the letters - same principle as with the coloured inkjet. Please note I do NOT know how this was printed but all the fakes looked like this so I assume it's again some kind of modern printing technique.
#8 - Smile
I came across some Smile ticket stubs and they looked too good to be true. I discussed the issue with Jim Jenkins who advised me to be very careful because he has never seen any Smile ticket AT ALL (and neither have I). I tried to get some more information from the seller and luckily he was bragging and started telling me storied about how he got 200 (!!!) Smile tickets from a Queen roadie and how his fellow collectors also have plenty of Smile tickets. Of course I haven't bought anything but I did "borrow" some of the sold tickets from another collector and they all had the same symptoms as the other tickets above...
#9 - Bent edges
The fakes are often printed on a paper that does look old and can fool many collectors. Luckily some of the fakers often want to make it look even older so they bend at least two or three edges for some reason. It's nonsense, of course. I have around 500 Queen tickets, some of them are in poor condition but basically none are with bent edges. Look at the fake below. It's a small ticket printed on thick paper. It actually requires strength to bend the edges, this can't happen in your pocket :-)
#10 - Comparison
Here is a brief comparison of some of the tickets. The first one is always genuine, the latter is always fake. The fakes look normal when displayed separately. But when you compare them to the real deal you can see how worse the print quality is - and yes, look at the bent edges :-)
Be careful!
I have been collecting Queen/solo ticket stubs for almost 25 years now. I have never seen a fake until last year. But the recent fakes have come in waves and plenty of collector have been fooled. Be careful. The close-ups above look obvious but remember these are very detailed photos. Standard resolution won't tell you much. Take macro shots or 1200 dpi scans and study the tickets carefully. Professional (almost always black!) print done in the 70's is very much different from the modern (almost always colour!) inkjet or laser printers people have at home or in their offices. Luckily for us it's quite easy to recognize these fakes now that I could compare the purchased fakes to the genuine tickets in my collection.