Not a Savage collector, but a long time amateur stock butcher. I've used a number of reproduction buttplates on various brands of guns. They have been all made of epoxy/urethane, as stated in the ebay description for the thick Savage plate. A previous post in this thread stated the originals were made of hard rubber (as many older plates were from most manufacturers). Hard rubber plates have a slightly grainier, matte looking texture than epoxy/urethane reproductions. This difference is particularly noticeable on the back side of the plates. Anyone looking for a serial number scratched on the back should be able to see this difference in texture. Also most hard rubber plates I have seen are not smooth on the back, they usually have a raised area around the screw holes and around the edges. Repros I have used were all flat on the back. A magnifying lens should work for identifying the difference in texture when you can't remove the plate at a show.
Posting front and back pictures of an original Savage plate and one of the repros could be educational and help differentiate between them.
