Disappointing experience at an anique mall this weekend. :(

cwazzy

I went home to visit my parents this weekend and my dad told me about an antigue mall in Columbia, MO that he had been to recently that had a lot of older cards. I was pretty excited to hear about it so I made a side trip up there on Saturday. Dad took me to the case in question and to my disgust there were probably 40-50 fakes staring at me. Most of them were labeled as "salesman samples" or "proofs" but they all had the freshly printed and antiqued look. The cards included a '53 Bowman Color Musial, a '49 Bowman Robinson, and the cream of the crop: a 1914 Baltimore Sun Babe Ruth (with a nice $995 price tag ). There were also several Derek Jeter "autos" and a Pujols "auto" that a blind person could tell was fake. I don't know enough about vintage yet to proove that they weren't real so I didn't say anything. But if anyone lives near Columbia that can proove these are fakes and can swing by and say something I would highly encourage it. They were at the Midway Antique Mall on I-70. It makes me sick even thinking that people have probably been taken for a ride by this creep. The funny thing is that the fakes were all "great" deals (the '53 Bowman Musial was under $200 in "nice" condition) yet the one card that I saw that was real (an '86 Donruss Nolan Ryan) had a $26 price tag. LOL

jimq112

The people who buy that crap will someday end up here or at a similar board, looking for values or to sell it, and we'll hassle them for selling their fakes.

PoppaJ

Hi Chris,

Sounds like a real scumbag! There is always a possibility, though I think extremely slight in this scenario, that the seller may have been duped himself and believes that what he is selling is real.

But in reality, I'd contact the Columbia MO police just to report him if nothing else.

At least your parents didn't surprise you with anything from the guy!

Hopefully, Storm will know what the best action is to take, if any, and who to contact.

Your compassion to save others from hardship is very commendable. Your parents raised you well

PoppaJ

RedHeart54

I love cards in antique malls. They're usually a bunch of beat up cards of minor stars or long-forgotten rookies with the price tags (usually $2-$10) paperclipped to the cards themselves. There also always seems to be an unopened box of 1988 Donruss or 1991 Score baseball for $50 each.

NickM

I have had a few good experiences with cards and other sports collectibles in antique malls, including a framed Ronnie Lott signed B/W 8x10 for $5 (promotional picture with a company logo on it, obviously from an autograph signing he did while a player). My best ever was a quantity of '50s and '60s autographed cards for $1 to $5 apiece - no tough signatures (in fact, most of these were guys known as great TTM signers), but '50s cards in collector grade can sell for those prices unsigned.
There is also the occasional good buy on programs, yearbooks, or Sports Illustrateds.

Nick

storm888

"...Your compassion to save others from hardship is very commendable...."

///////////////////////////////

I don't disagree.

But, I am not sure it is worth the mental stress/effort to report
each and every bad guy we encounter in our daily travels.

Clearly, it is an individual choice, but such efforts seem rather
futile, to me.

Beating up crooks in the closed EBAY "community" is prolly only
slightly more productive, but "slight" is about the best payoff any
such effort can likely earn.


The local cops might chat the guy up, if he was reported. I have
no clue how the cops would determine if the guy's JUNK was real
or fake.

Nathaniel1960

I found a lot a 71 Topps Super, VG-EX that I was considering buying, then I saw that on the back of each card the dealer had written the condition and price.

Ahmanfan

Chris you were in como and didn't call!?
I haven't been there ,I'll go and investigate.
John

MooseDog

I'll bet if you go back to that store in 5 or 10 years those cards will still be there at the same price. I've seen lots of overpriced sports stuff at those Antique Malls and those things just do not sell. I'd like to think that most people are not really that stupid, but you never know.

ElToroLoco

I think the local police would be a good response to what you've seen. I've been to a few Antique malls and haven't found a darn thing that the seller hasn't graded as NM with a paper clip to it. It's also amusing seeing 80's cards marked as vintage! Are we getting that old?!