How to Detect Recoloring on Black Border Cards?

bowlarama

I have magnifier loupe for inspecting cards, and a UV Blacklight that is awesome for detecting modern fakes of vintage cards, but I an trying to get a tool or learn a trick for detecting recolored cards like 1971 Baseball or 1962 Football. Granted some are obvious because they used sharpie and they appear glossy or bleed through when looking at the sides of the card. But still seem to get stuck with some that have been rejected as recolored when submitting.

jay0791

You are doing it right
I believe psa uses a black light

Most of the time you can see different shades of black where it was recolored.
Sides and corners also have bleed and runoff.

miwlvrn

@jay0791 said:
You are doing it right
I believe psa uses a black light

Most of the time you can see different shades of black where it was recolored.
Sides and corners also have bleed and runoff.

This. Start with the edges (thickness sides of the card). There have been plenty of times I couldn't see the difference on the front surface side of a card, but the thickness sides were obvious giveaways. Unfortunately you can't check this kind of stuff when judging a scan on an internet listing.

originalisbest

A poor scan can fool the eye, but usually having a card in hand won't be an issue, provided you have proper light. Bouncing light off the card while rotating it slowly can reveal any sins.