History Main / BreakTheFake

* Played with in ''Manga/HunterXHunter''. An episode is dedicated to someone who makes counterfeits of rare artifacts. They come across an artifact at an auction: A sealed clay container for valuable jewels. The only surefire way to determine its authenticity is to break it and see the contents inside, but this would ruin its value as an artifact. The counterfeiter gets into a heated debate with an appraiser over its authenticity, both trying their hard not to resort to breaking the object. The counterfeiter ultimately convinces the appraiser that it's fake, [[spoiler:but it's actually real--he can sell the jewels inside for a lot more money than he paid for the supposedly fake container.]]
* Inverted in ''Manga/DragonBall'': A peddler sells the villains what looks like a genuine dragon ball, until it is accidentally dropped and shatters. Colonel Silver apparently deduced it was fake all along, however.

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' anime episode 137. After the arrancar Patros is defeated, the Hogyoku he stole from Lord Aizen breaks into pieces. Kisuke Urahara explains that Aizen let Patros steal a fake Hogyoku, because the real Hogyoku would never have broken so easily.
* In ''Anime/PokemonArceusAndTheJewelOfLife'', Sheena tries to soothe Arceus' anger by returning the Jewel of Life that was violently taken from it. Arceus takes one look at the Jewel before shattering it, revealing it to be a fake as the real jewel cannot be destroyed so easily (in the original Japanese version) or is completely indestructible (in the English dub).

* ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'': During a routine inspection of the Dark Judges' containment unit, Dredd smashes the [[CrystalPrison Crystal Orb]] containing Judge Death after noticing that the spirit inside it doesn't move. A rookie Judge instinctively draws his gun (not that it would have helped), but Dredd explains that the crystals were designed NOT to be breakable by anything less than a high explosive device, proving that the real orb was switched for a fake one.
* ''ComicBook/WonderWomanRebirth'': Franchise/WonderWoman accidentally crushing the supposed helmet of Ares reveals that not only is the helmet fake, but so too are the Olympians and Amazons she was interacting with in ''ComicBook/WonderWoman2011'' as the Olympians decided that merely altering her memories to hide Themyscira wasn't enough.

* ''Film/{{Octopussy}}''. General Orlav smashes a real (in-universe) Fabergé egg, having been inadvertently tricked by Film/JamesBond, who switched the real egg with a forgery much earlier in the film. The jewelsmith flinches at the sight, but since Bond had planted a bug in the real one, it's not an entirely unproductive move on Orlov's part. Later when an audit exposes Orlav's scheme, an art expert examines the Romanov Star in a Soviet state archive, then smashes it on the floor. SmashCut to Orlav showing Octopussy the real Romanov Star.

* Done in the Russian comedy ''Shirly-Myrly'' by a man who wants to buy a huge diamond. The one really shocked, BTW, is the ''seller'', who never let another man hold the suitca- OhCrap!
* ''Film/ThatManFromRio'' - three Mesoamerican statuettes are keys to an ancient treasure, and two have been stolen - archaeologist Catalan visits his old partner, industrialist De Castro to make sure the third in his possession is safe. He quickly pronounces it a fake, and De Castro congratulates his perception, hurling it to the floor, assuring him the real one is safely hidden.
* In ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade'', when Indy breaks into the room where his father is being held, Jones Sr. smashes him on the head with a vase and then shows more concern over the broken relic than his own son. He then smiles as if finally recognizing Indy only to point out that the vase is a fake.

* In ''[[Film/RushHour Rush Hour 2]]'', Carter purposefully burns a $100 bill given to him by Kenny who runs an illicit gambling parlor and took that money from someone Carter and Lee are trailing. The bill burns red, indicating that it's counterfeit as actual $100 bills burn black and convincing Kenny to name who gave that money to him in outrage over being swindled.

* In ''The Detachment'' by Creator/BarryEisler, Larison uses a hammer to smash the fake diamonds he's been paid off with. In the [[https://www.barryeisler.com/mistakes/ Mistakes]] section of Eisler's website, a reader points out that while diamonds are hard they're not tough enough to avoid shattering when hit with a hammer, so this wouldn't prove anything.
* In ''[[Literature/MythAdventures M.Y.T.H. Inc. Link]]'', Skeeve has his dragon Gleep burn the consignment of comic books when he realizes they're fake. Justified because he doesn't want to let them be sold to gullible buyers, and is willing to catch flak for failing to protect the shipment.

* In the first book of ''Literature/TheSwordOfTruth'' series, Darken Rahl arrives at Queen Milena's court to obtain one of the [[CosmicKeystone Boxes of Orden]]. As soon as he receives it, he nods at one of his bodyguards, and the guy crushes the box into pieces. Then Rahl takes away the court wizard, who had to know the box was a fake, and therefore, where the real one is.
* In ''The Practical Princess'', one of the {{Impossible Task}}s Princess Bedella sets her AbhorrentAdmirer is to bring her a cloak made of FierySalamander skin. When he apparently does so, she casually tosses it into the fire, and points out that salamander skin wouldn't burn in a mere fireplace.
* In ''Literature/EqualRites'', spircles are a chameleonic gemstone, but can be distinguished from actual precious gems by the fact they dissolve in hypactic fluid. An assayer does this to confirm Esk's claim that the ultramarines Aschat was offered are fake.

* ''Series/BlakesSeven''. The MineralMacGuffin in "Games" is a priceless stash of Feldon crystals. After the VillainOfTheWeek fools everyone and makes off with them all, Vila proudly shows a necklace of Feldon crystals that he stole from the villain's lair. Avon just smashes it under his pistol butt, [[AllForNothing as it's a fake]].
* ''Series/YoungBlades'', Siroc examines what he believes to be a fake diamond. He smashes it into powder, proving that it is fake, because a real diamond wouldn't be so easy to destroy. (Much to the chagrin of the other Musketeers, who helped pay for what was sold as a real diamond, and planned to return it to the pawn shop after Siroc was done studying it.)
* On the ''Series/{{CSI}}'' episode "Suckers", Nick accidentally damages a samurai sword from a collection of Japanese artifacts, but discovers that it's a forgery because of what the damage reveals. The whole team then disassembles the entire collection, as it's all fake and taking it apart may provide evidence to explain the scam.
* Craig on ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'' thwarts a comic book dealer trying to pass off a reprinted Spider-Man #1 as the real deal by throwing a glass of water at him. That the dealer shields himself with the comic rather than vice-versa is proof enough that it's a fake.
* Nate Ford does this on ''Series/{{Leverage}}'' in "[[Recap/LeverageS03E11TheRashomonJob The Rashomon Job]]". A bejeweled dagger is being displayed in a museum, and at the end of a series of crazy events, Nate ends up with the dagger, confronts the curator with it... and breaks it, knowing it's really a fake (the real one [[spoiler:was sold by the curator]]).

* The short Sci-Fi series ''Series/TheLostRoom'' featured a number of strange Objects with seemingly random supernatural powers, all connected to a physics-breaking disaster at a motel in the middle of nowhere that resulted in a room and its contents being shifted out of our universe (hence the title). The only thing the Objects had in common was that they were all indestructible, and therefore attempting to break, burn or tear something suspected of being an Object was a common way of identifying fakes. One character is shown with a dozen identical radios hitting each one with a hammer. When she finally hits the last one, she is visibly pained by it being the equivalent of punching a brick wall.

* An episode of ''Series/MurderSheWrote'' had Jessica's nephew Grady staying at Jessica's home (while she was out of the country) when three treasure hunters came seeking an extremely valuable artifact that had somehow been gifted to Jessica years ago. At the end of the episode, Grady accidentally dropped and broke it... and then his wife noticed "MADE IN TAIWAN" stamped at the bottom.

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[[folder: Film - Live-Action]]

[[folder:Live Action Television]]

* ''Series/BlakesSeven''. The MineralMacGuffin in "Games" are a priceless stash of Feldon crystals. After the VillainOfTheWeek fools everyone and makes off with them all, Vila proudly shows that he helped himself to a necklace of Feldon crystals that he stole from the villain's lair. Avon smashes it under his pistol butt, [[AllForNothing as it's a fake]].

* ''Film/{{Octopussy}}''. General Orlav smashes a real (in-universe) Fabergé egg, having been inadvertently tricked by Film/JamesBond, who switched the real egg with a forgery much earlier in the film. The jewelsmith flinches at the sight, but since Bond had planted a bug in the real one, it's not an entirely unproductive move on Orlov's part. Later when an audit exposes Orlav's scheme, an art expert examines the Romanov Star, then smashes it on the floor. SmashCut to Orlav showing Octopussy the real Romanov Star.

* In ''Series/YoungBlades'', Siroc examines what he believes to be a fake diamond. He smashes it into powder, proving that it is fake, because a real diamond wouldn't be so easy to destroy. (Much to the chagrin of the other Musketeers, who helped pay for what was sold as a real diamond, and planned to return it to the pawn shop after Siroc was done studying it.)