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Why did PSA stop grading 1984 Star Co. basketball--anyone?

steadyeddie33steadyeddie33 Posts: 60
in Trading Cards & Memorabilia Forum
Can anyone tell me why exactly PSA stopped grading Star Co. basketball cards and sets? I guess I've never heard the reason why. I got curious when I saw these a few days ago.

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Comments

  • CDsNutsCDsNuts Posts: 10,092 ✭
    Basically, what it amounts to is they can't tell the counterfeits from the legit cards, so they don't grade any of them.

    Lee
  • steadyeddie33steadyeddie33 Posts: 60
    So unless they are the unopened bagged sets, or are singles taken from bagged sets directly by GAI graders, is there a chance then that some of the Star Co. singles that were sent in and graded counterfeit? Does GAI have access to the "experts?" Does anyone know of bagged sets that have been counterfeited? Was thinking about picking up a 1984 Star #101 Jordan. I thought maybe it would be smarter to get the graded team bag instead of the single. ????
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  • Ladder7Ladder7 Posts: 1,221 ✭
    From an earlier PSA report... It sorta went like this;

    The Star company went out of business, sometime after the original plates "resurfaced". Another entity began reproducing them years (?) later. Apparently, for the graders, there is great difficulty determining the reprints from the original issue.
    some cards
  • steadyeddie33steadyeddie33 Posts: 60
    Or what I meant to say is, what are the chances that some of the '84 Star #101 Jordans graded by GAI are counterfeit? Thanks
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  • Ladder7Ladder7 Posts: 1,221 ✭
    Personally, too risky for me. I'd look for the Fleer r/c. They're fairly affordable, graded. But like all the rest, there are many counterfeits.
    some cards
  • RedHeart54RedHeart54 Posts: 2,282 ✭✭✭
    There are just too many unanswered questions. Did the counterfeiters produce cards of every card in the set or just the money cards such as Jordan, Barkley, etc? Were the fake cards produced in team bags or not? If they were not, wouldn't that imply that cards in sealed bags are legit? If that was the case couldn't someone just send a sealed team bag to PSA with instructions of which card(s) to grade? PSA could then add "from a sealed team bag" to the card's label ensuring its legitimacy.

    I do not know about GAI cards from this set. With regard to SCD they supposedly had a guy on staff who was an expert of these cards and who could determine which cards were real and those thast were fake. If this was the truth you'd think he'd be auctioning off his services to whatever grading company was willing to pay him. (Who knows, maybe HE works for GAI. If he does they sure haven't marketed his expertise.) Then again, despite how popular these cards were (or still are to the extent of their reputation of being faked), it may not be worth paying said guy what he might demand. In other words, there may not be enough submissions to warrant such an expense.
  • steadyeddie33steadyeddie33 Posts: 60
    I have a PSA 9 Jordan, but was thinking about rounding out the Jordan collection with a GAI graded '84 Bulls team bag set. You think a graded team bag set is risky too? Thanks for your opinion!
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  • handymanhandyman Posts: 5,396 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I actually have a complete set of this. And was wondering the same thing. I actually busted mine out of the bags back in 1988 and I havent sold my set bc I know there are so many fakes. I was waiting untill someone knew how to grade them. But PSA just hasnt come around. Ill post a pic of the jordan.
  • SkinpinchSkinpinch Posts: 1,531
    Those bags are not very hard to reseal. A lot of them used to basically come open by themselves...so there was no damage to an 'opened' bag. Then it is just a matter of sealing them back up again.
  • handymanhandyman Posts: 5,396 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I dont think the real ones opened so easy. I still have a few unopened and they dont just pop open.
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  • steadyeddie33steadyeddie33 Posts: 60
    I saw this and thought that if nobody puts in a bid, that I would. Am I a complete idiot, or would this be a good deal if I could get it for the opening bid price. All your comments help. Thanks much!

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  • AllenAllen Posts: 7,165 ✭✭✭
    search some of the older threads on the star cards. It is not like many people think. GAI has Steve Taft who is an expert on them to grade and authenticate them. I am too lazy to dig out all the old threads, but if you know the story and what you are looking for Star Basketball is not to hard to figure out.
  • metalmikemetalmike Posts: 2,152 ✭✭
    I don't collect basketball but I do remember when a boatload of these showed up on Shop at home and a mini scandal ensued, supposedly they were reprinted from the Original Plates which makes the reprints hard to spot. I remember Tuff Stuff was all over this at the time.
    USN 1977-1987 * ALL cards are commons unless auto'd. Buying Britneycards. NWO for life.
  • zef204zef204 Posts: 4,742 ✭✭

    That is the case about the original printing plates, but I pose to you this...


    If they are from the original printing plates are they actually counterfeit or just reproductions?
    EAMUS CATULI!

    My Auctions
  • shagrotn77shagrotn77 Posts: 5,617 ✭✭✭✭


    << <i>I actually have a complete set of this. And was wondering the same thing. I actually busted mine out of the bags back in 1988 and I havent sold my set bc I know there are so many fakes. I was waiting untill someone knew how to grade them. But PSA just hasnt come around. Ill post a pic of the jordan. >>



    Too bad you didn't send them to SCD (Sports Collector's Digest) a few years back. They were right on the money with Star basketball grading, but unfortunately their sportscard grading division went belly up.
    "My father would womanize, he would drink. He would make outrageous claims like he invented the question mark. Sometimes he would accuse chestnuts of being lazy. The sort of general malaise that only the genius possess and the insane lament. Our childhood was typical. Summers in Rangoon, luge lessons. In the spring we'd make meat helmets. When we were insolent we were placed in a burlap bag and beaten with reeds - pretty standard really."
  • AUPTAUPT Posts: 806 ✭✭✭
    Bagged status is no guarantee of originality with the Star basketball sets; some of the "second-generation" versions were also sold as bagged sets, though, as I recall the Tuff Stuff/SCD investigations, the type of bag was different. I think this might also be summarized in the SCD Counterfeit Detector book, 3rd edition.
  • handymanhandyman Posts: 5,396 ✭✭✭✭✭
    What was different about the bags??????
  • ajwajw Posts: 2,281 ✭✭✭
    Hey SteadyEddie...any chance you can shrink that sig picture some? Ryno's a fine looking man, but that's probably more than we need.
  • SkinpinchSkinpinch Posts: 1,531
    I handled a bunch of bag sets from when they originally came out. Some of the bags were beginning to open on their own, and some were easy to open wtihout damaging the back. Some had a very tight seal.
  • handymanhandyman Posts: 5,396 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Does anyone know around what years the fakes came out??
  • AllenAllen Posts: 7,165 ✭✭✭
    Article about Levin and Star Cards


    Link to what happens when to many people start asking questions....

    GAI Press Release about Steve Taft being their expert

    The biggest part of the whole reprinting is summed up in "The Star basketball trading cards alleged to be counterfeit include the following sets: 1985 Miller All-Star Set, 1985 Chicago Bulls Arena Set, 1986 Chicago Bulls Arena Set, 1986 Crunch 'n' Munch Set and 1991 Michael Jordan Promotional Sets." He thought the big money was in these previously unreleased undiscovered sets and sold them to several distributors including Shop at Home (imagine that). There was also some uncut magic johnson sets he had in his office he sold to a distributor. Levin didn't so much reprint stuff as he made "fantasy" sets and tried to say they had never been seen or released and had been setting in a warehouse for 7-8 years. Thats why he targeted so much Jordan stuff, also since it was never seen there were no originals to compare to on many of those issues. There are also some star cards like those that bigboyds sells on ebay all the time that are counterfeit and are pretty much just modern day computer copies just like any other card people fake these days.

  • RedHeart54RedHeart54 Posts: 2,282 ✭✭✭
    So it appears that everything that was reproduced was Jordan-related. Does anyone ever remember anything about fakes of the other desirable cards in the sets including Bird, Johnson, Wilkins, Thomas, Ewing, etc etc?
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