1963 Bazooka Baseball - fakes?

uyu906

Can anyone tell me how to determine whether raw 1963 Bazooka baseball singles are authentic or fakes? I understand there were quite a few fakes put out in the hobby a few years back.

Thanks!

Smuggo

I have seen two different types of 1963 fakes. One type has a very glossy photo and is two pieces, it is actually a thin photo layer adhered to some grayish cardboard. You can actually tell at the edge and I separated a Brooks Robinson into two pieces. The second type looks very similar to a real one but has a grayback stock as opposed to the real more brownish-gray color. I actually bought a '63 Musial Bazooka graded by BGS off of ebay and upon receipt I could tell immediately it was fake. Most of the fakes I have seen have been in off-brand type graded slabs; FGS, GEM, Capital, etc.

There have been several articles about them. A Google search would probably yield a few results.

Finally the photos are not as crisp and clear as a real one.

msassin

"Most of the fakes I have seen have been in off-brand type graded slabs; FGS, GEM, Capital, etc."

Definitely. Hooper was responsible for getting these fakes into the market 10 years ago.