1953 Mantle Question

Love of the Game

Hi Everyone:

Been lurking here a while, and thought I'd come out of the woodwork and ask a question, because you're all so knowledgeable. I've learned so much from reading this forum, and I'm hoping I can get some opinions.

I bought a "1953 Mantle" on Ebay a couple of weeks ago. I couldn't tell from the scan whether it was a fake, but the seller had 100% feedback on several hundred sales, so I figured if it was fake, I'd be able to tell immediately and then I would use his feedback rating as leverage for a refund. I'm working on that set, and although the card isn't in the greatest shape, I've got the rest of my life to upgrade it, and so I did something stupid and took a risk.

So the card arrived, and I swear I cannot tell if it's fake or not. The stock weight is the same as my other 1953s. The gloss is the same, and the texture feels the same. Under a magnifying glass, the dot pattern looks the same as my other 1953s, and it seems like a very difficult dot pattern to counterfeit. As with the other 53s, the red border and text is solid with no dots. There's even a stain on the back that appears to be a wax stain. Although it appears that the card was trimmed on the left-hand corners, the measurements are accurate, so I can't even tell THAT for sure. I've compared the dimensions and artwork-specific detail to scans of other 1953 Mantles, and they look identical.

I'm shipping the card off to PSA today, figuring at least they'll authenticate it (although maybe not grade it if it has been trimmed). However, I thought I'd put it to the group for opinions.

So: fake, or not?

Thanks in advance,
-Al

Cubfan

What makes you think it might be a fake? Did you get it for a bargain basement, too good to be true price?

Just curious as to why the suspiciousness.

Love of the Game

There are a handful of high-profile cards that I automatically assume are likely fakes when I see ungraded copies on Ebay. '52 and '53 Mantles, T206 Cobbs, Youngs, Johnsons and Mathewsons, '33 Goudey Ruth and Gehrigs.

I can usually tell pretty quickly with the T206s, just from the scan. I don't collect '33 Goudeys, and I'm only working very slowly on a low-grade '52 set just for fun (no Mantle), but I've been working on the '53 set all summer. Having about 85% of the set, but still needing the Mantle, Mays, and Paige, I'd been keeping a lookout for ungraded cards on Ebay that may have slipped under the radar. I got this one on a Saturday afternoon, for a little over $200. The same day, a PSA 2 went for almost twice that. I figured I'd be happy if I could get a crummy one for that much. So far, most of my set is grading out in the PSA 6 range, but I'm in no hurry on the Mantle - but when I saw it in the high $100s with just a few minutes left, I figured I'd give it a shot.

-Al

A761506

Looks and sounds authentic to me. Since the red area that you looked at under the loupe is solid, as you mentioned, then it is very likely authentic. It's very difficult for a fake to exhibit solid print areas, such as the red area, because of the costs associated with trying to reproduce an original using half-tone print only in the areas where the original had it. 99% of fakes are printed entirely in half-tone, which is a dead give-away.

PSA will definitely not grade the card, as it has clearly been trimmed. I don't know if they allow requests as far as slabbing as authentic, but if they do, then that would be your only possible business with them with that card. Hopefully you didn't pay too much, I'd say that card is worth at most $200-250 given the trimming and condition.