Is this a real collectible minifig piece?

[NizNoz]

I bought a bunch of collectible minifigs on eBay. Everything's be fine except for this piece. Obviously, it's Santa's torso, series 8. But was troubles me is the black marking on the neck. I don't recall seeing this on any of the other collectible minifig torso's. Even bricklink's database shows a torso without this mark. Is this a substituted part? Love to hear your thoughts!

[Sandman77]

That's the Santa from the Christmas advent Callander from a couple of years ago. 

[agp548]

My cmf Santa is all red on the neck 

Edited May 7, 2016 by agp548

[NizNoz]

That's what I thought.. I wonder if it's like that all over. Perhaps Asian versions are different?

[KShine]

The black stem are usually from actual sets. The non-black stems tend to be from other types (such as magnets, book minifigs, collectible minifigs, etc.).

I would assume that there is some overlap, but that is what is mostly found.

Whether that constitutes it being a substituted part would be debatable (most would say no, but then again the vast majority would never even know).

It has also been debated that the non set minifigs are of a lesser quality - I know that the extremists will sometimes inquire whether the stem of the neck is black.

[Phil B]

Does it have LEGO markings (on the top of the neck for example)?

[NizNoz]

Yes, it has the Lego markings. Looks legit, along with the 14+ minifigs I received from this seller..

[Sandman77]

It is legit. I have the exact same one. It's from the 2013 city advent calendar. 

[Quacs]

This torso appeared in two Santa minifigures: one from the advent calendar and one from set 850939 - Santa Set.  I would guess this one came from the Santa Set.

http://alpha.bricklink.com/pages/clone/catalogitem.page?S=850939-1#T=S&O={}

[DadsAFOL]

The black neck mark is how the automated assembly machines know to put the head facing forward rather than backward or sideways prior to packaging.  So likely that torso came from a package where the figure is assembled and visible through the packaging.

[NizNoz]

Thanks everyone. I figured it was from a Santa set. Seller apologized although I could tell he/she was somewhat surprised. I decided to keep it:)