Real Or Not Real?
fformicaa
Posts: 2 ✭
Since the pandemic, I have gotten back into the sports card hobby after some 25-30 years on the sidelines. I have been able to purchase some great cards at substantial discounts after advertising on Facebook that I was buying cards. It seems that a lot of people are selling off cards and collections for very cheap as they are in bad financial straits. I recently discovered a guy selling some Goudey and T205, 206 and Caramel cards of Ruth, Cobb and DiMaggio (raw cards of course) at huge discounts to what you see on Ebay. I looked at the pics of the cards and compared them to all of the reprints being sold on Ebay. These cards all appeared to be real, so I bought a few of them, a 1933 Goudey 144 Ruth, a 1938 Goudey 274 Dimaggio and a couple of Ty Cobb cards. They are in say Fair, Good or VG condition, most likely in Good and appear old and somewhat worn, like the old T206 Goudey cards I collected years before of Cobb, Ruth and DiMaggio. Now I see the guy has posted a T206 Ty Cobb card with the bat on his shoulders but with a Ty Cobb King Of Smoking Tobacco back. After reading on here that all of the known Ty Cobb cards with that back were of the portrait with red background, I'm very skeptical. Again I went through every T206 listing of reprints on Ebay and did not see any listed for the card he is showing with this back. How is this possible??? Could he possibly be dumping a card this rare for in the hundreds of dollars? It looks like it's from 1910 like in Good condition. I'm looking for possible explanations as I received 2 of the 4 cards I ordered and they look real but I want to ultimately get them authenticated. But seeing this listing just threw me. I figured maybe getting some explanations about this on here...
Comments
Be careful buying raw cards.
You should ask your question here, and add any pics you can get https://www.net54baseball.com/forumdisplay.php?f=2
if it seems to good to be true, I think you know it is.
Have you handled t206 and Goudey cards before? If so, you can tell the difference in hand. If not, my guess is you just threw away a good chunk of change. If you add some photos we can advise you.
John
HOF SIGNED FOOTBALL RCS
About six weeks ago I bought a 1948 leaf Joe DiMaggio on Facebook for what I thought was a really low price from a guy who I thought didn’t know what he had. Yeah, it was fake.
I have not seen or heard of a NON-graded Cobb with a Cobb back. They are very , very rare and very expensive. Google cobb with cobb back.
Thank you all for your feedback. I suspected something wrong with the 2 Goudey cards I received yesterday as the cardboard seemed awfully thin, not like the Goudey cards I used to have. And they had more of a glossy feel to them even though the corners were rounded and the backs looked somewhat worn. I took them to a friend of mine who owns a thrift store and sells sports cards and he told me no doubt they were counterfeit. I called my credit card company to dispute the charges and hope for the best... Lesson learned....
Sorry this happened to you. Those names and cards (Goudey, T-206, Cobb, DiMaggio, Ruth...) are some of the most valuable cards in our hobby and therefore some of the most counterfeited. There’s some shady people out there.
yeah, I think we probably all got burned on the deals too good to be true when we were getting back in the hobby after years out of it. Ya gotta get burned sometimes in life to learn the lessons, hope the dispute works for you.
Hmm, that never happens. High value cards in oddly worn (but appealing to the eye) condition, selling for way less than they should. I saw a Jackie Robinson Leaf rookie listing last night that was being LISTED AS A REPRINT and it was still bid up to $100+. Do these bidders think they are getting over on some fool who mistakenly listed a real card as a reprint? NO! Why, because that same seller has probably already sold 5 more just like it prior and has 5 more ready to queue up for sale over the next several weeks/months.
People need to stop buying first and questioning later. I'd be willing to bet they are all fake with just what you have shared so far, but of course you may be one of the ultra lucky who actually falls into a legit once in a lifetime deal.
funny you mention this for several reasons. perfect read.
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/1055438/need-help-trying-find-out-how-much-a-card-is-worth-within-my-collection#latest
...and yeah, the guy never came back for some reason. i guess this time eventually being a d!ck mighta saved someone here.
now that i think about it, wasn't that you? if so, even alanis morsette would say that's ironic.
eta: yep, was totally you. sorry. but that is totally funny.
@blurryface
Nothing wrong with calling out scammers for what they are, and why should you be nice to the ***holes that are trying rip people off. I've found some great deals on facebook and craigslist in the past, but not since the recent boom in prices. Also I'm amazed people would trust anyone on facebook with raw cards these days. Every card that of any significant value I bought from Facebook/Craigslist was a local pickup where I could examine the card. Here is my Public Service announcement to newbies/just getting back into collecting, I would never buy any high dollar raw card unless I knew the what look for in a fake for that brand of card, and even if I did know what to look for I still wouldn't do this on facebook through the mail. Most high dollar raw cards, unless you really know that brand of card, should only be bought graded through a reputable grading company. If really good scammers can occasionally get one past PSA, they know they will screw over the average collector looking for a "Great Deal".