Hello guys. I'm posting for the first time, but have been signed-up and communicated via PMs for awhile. Shane is a good friend of mine, so let that be known. I too am a collector of G.I.Joe preproduction, prototype, and other unique items.
Shane's first post was pretty direct and to the point, but not insulting. He's got plenty of experience & knowledge in this prototype area. He also mentioned a few times that he's not intending to come-off harsh, etc.
But if after explaining things a few times, I'd think anyone (know matter who you are) would get kinda frustrated.
1.) Below is a main reason why the CC isn't a prototype: RESIN
Hardcopies are made of resin, not the regular Gijoe plastic. Resin is a MUCH heavier substance. Unless the CC is very heavy, and has a mostly unpainted internal pieces (which it doesn't judging from the pics Sabateur provided)...then it's not a hardcopy.
Hand painted hardcopies were used for internal promotion pictures, catalog and dealer catalog pictures. They are used because this photography work needs to get completed, while the manufacturing process being processed. They don't wait until they get painted production versions to start taking catalog pics.
So, because of this I'm sorry to say that this CC can't be a hardcopy prototype. I wish it were, as it'd be pretty darn cool to see this show up.
2.) This CC in question's History:
I spoke with the seller of this item. He's a Gijoe collector out of North Carolina and has been selling off much of his collection. Out of respect for privacy for Sabateur, I'll not post the direct link to the auction in which Sabateur won this CC.
As Sabateur stated earlier in this thread, the seller has NO information behind this figure. He said he didn't even realize it had a different symbol until he auctioned it. I asked plenty of questions, like "Did you get it in Rhode Island?", "Do you have ANY possible connections with Hasbro, or former/current workers?", "Do you happen to remember purchasing any large lots of figures from sellers in Rhode Island"?, etc.etc.
He said he doesn't know anything about it and said he has no idea where he got it.
Now, if you've tried searching for unique/preproduction G.I.Joe items you know that there is always a story, or provenance (see Shane's first post) behind the figure. These were made 25 years ago, and that's not a long time. There should absolutely be a "paper trail" if you will tracing the item back to some connection with a Hasbro employee.
3.) Finding ONE "prototype" is AMAZING! When TWO show-up...well lets jus say it's incredibly unlikely:
Both Sabateur and Tazzman have these different CC's with the odd symbols. There is no traceable source on the one Sabateur owns, and I'd venture to guess the same holds true for Tazzman's (but I'd love to know the history).
Thought there's no scientific rule of thumb to prove otherwise, when two untraceable "rare" items pop-up...it's very unlikely that these have any legitimate authenticity.
So, in closing hopefully all 'Joe collector's can get some good information out of reading this thread about prototypes. So in the future, people can be more prepared as to what to look for, what questions to ask, etc. No body want's to be taken for any big $$ on faked or 'undocumented' items.