Is this a audioquest cable counterfeit fake?

@bishop55 - how much did you pay for the cable? I went briefly through the thread, but I didn’t catch it. 

This is one reason I like Triode wire labs cables. Each cable has a serial number.

@willywonka …respectfully, does each single cable have a unique serial number? The reason I ask…is a serial number may not buy you that much either… only if you can use it to validate with mfg.

I think the best, but not perfect answer is to request and maintain original receipts for purposes of authenticity.

One thing I still find really suspicious is when cables like Valhallas were being sold without their original wood cases …who would spend tens of thousands on cables and throw out the custom boxes (and doc)…??!!

There are no serial numbers and no certificates of authenticity (silly slips, anyways - CoA is a gimmick for Franklin Mint type of trinkets to certify that you have genuine worthless junk, lol) with AQ. The solution is simple - send it to AQ for authentication. I'd absolutely bet it comes back authentic. The posted pics are very far from approaching proof of counterfeit. With 0 feedback, OP won't gain many sympathetic ears until he does this. 

I am in Industrial printing, which includes packaging.

The industry, like most others has been hit with supply line shortages. Packaging materials taken for granted for years/decades are suddenly unavailable for the forseeable future. Package producers are scrambling to get any types of materials so consistant feel or color may not be possible. Furthermore, a compartively small company like AQ, that doesn’t order millions of packages every month will get lower priority than those that do.

A package that has slightly different appearance is not automatically going to be a counterfit.