New '52 Mantle Forgery on Ebay BEWARE
Brianruns10
Posts: 227 ✭✭
All,
There is a new Mantle forgery on ebay. I've contacted the seller, but if you all can chip in by reporting this auction, it'd be a tremendous help. The sale is going for serious money, and someone will get burned unless we do something.
1952 Topps Mantle Fake Auction
The disturbing thing is, the forgeries are getting better. Last year I saw 3 or 4 fakes in cracked holders, but all were rather obvious in that the Yankees Team Logo was too good, and had a two tone baseball bat instead of the correct solid black.
But this new forgery corrects for that. However, there are four key diagnostics which can be easily spotted, to save you or people you know from being taken for a ride!
Here is the card in question.
Diagnostic 1: Every forgery I've seen is of the Type A, and all examples are artificially aged, appearing in cracked PSA holders graded 3 to 4. They have well rounded corners. They never come sharp. But the corners are UNIFORMLY rounded, unnaturally so, as if done by hand, when of course real wear comes unevenly based on how the card was handled over the years (such as being repeatedly removed from boxes or sleeves, or being handled by one corner or another)
Diagnostic 2: Despite the rounded corners, the card is ALWAYS perfectly centered with bright white corners. Centered examples are tough to find, centered with original colors...but centered, with original colors, yet heavily worn on the corners? There should be more fading to correspond with the level of wear.
Diagnostic 3: In the lower left corner of the image border, on the fake example there is an extra pixel. This is inconsistent with both authentic types. Type A is missing a pixel and has a rounded corner, while type B is just right with a nicely defined corner. However, this detail may not be apparent for ebay auctions, if the image isn't sufficiently high res. Which leads too...
Diagnostic 4: This is the KEY diagnostic, and has to do with the positioning of the Y in Mickey, in relation to the inner black border of the star box.
Compare the images below, of an authentic Type A & Type B, and the suspect card.
Note the position of the Y in relation to the black border. For type As it practically touches. Even for type Bs, it is very, very close. But the suspect card, indeed for EVERY forgery I've seen, there is a sizeable gap.
This diagnostic is an absolute means of verifying authenticity. Tthe 52 tops were printed in a four color offset method, with the three primary colors (Yellow, Cyan, Magenta) topped by a B/W layer to add contrast. This last layer contained the autograph itself as well as the black portions of the star box....so the spatial relationship between the two is ABSOLUTE (as opposed to some variable shift as each separate layer is applied to the backing). The positioning of the Y in relation to the black border is absolute, and if the card you see does not fit, it cannot be an authentic Mantle.
There is a new Mantle forgery on ebay. I've contacted the seller, but if you all can chip in by reporting this auction, it'd be a tremendous help. The sale is going for serious money, and someone will get burned unless we do something.
1952 Topps Mantle Fake Auction
The disturbing thing is, the forgeries are getting better. Last year I saw 3 or 4 fakes in cracked holders, but all were rather obvious in that the Yankees Team Logo was too good, and had a two tone baseball bat instead of the correct solid black.
But this new forgery corrects for that. However, there are four key diagnostics which can be easily spotted, to save you or people you know from being taken for a ride!
Here is the card in question.
Diagnostic 1: Every forgery I've seen is of the Type A, and all examples are artificially aged, appearing in cracked PSA holders graded 3 to 4. They have well rounded corners. They never come sharp. But the corners are UNIFORMLY rounded, unnaturally so, as if done by hand, when of course real wear comes unevenly based on how the card was handled over the years (such as being repeatedly removed from boxes or sleeves, or being handled by one corner or another)
Diagnostic 2: Despite the rounded corners, the card is ALWAYS perfectly centered with bright white corners. Centered examples are tough to find, centered with original colors...but centered, with original colors, yet heavily worn on the corners? There should be more fading to correspond with the level of wear.
Diagnostic 3: In the lower left corner of the image border, on the fake example there is an extra pixel. This is inconsistent with both authentic types. Type A is missing a pixel and has a rounded corner, while type B is just right with a nicely defined corner. However, this detail may not be apparent for ebay auctions, if the image isn't sufficiently high res. Which leads too...
Diagnostic 4: This is the KEY diagnostic, and has to do with the positioning of the Y in Mickey, in relation to the inner black border of the star box.
Compare the images below, of an authentic Type A & Type B, and the suspect card.
Note the position of the Y in relation to the black border. For type As it practically touches. Even for type Bs, it is very, very close. But the suspect card, indeed for EVERY forgery I've seen, there is a sizeable gap.
This diagnostic is an absolute means of verifying authenticity. Tthe 52 tops were printed in a four color offset method, with the three primary colors (Yellow, Cyan, Magenta) topped by a B/W layer to add contrast. This last layer contained the autograph itself as well as the black portions of the star box....so the spatial relationship between the two is ABSOLUTE (as opposed to some variable shift as each separate layer is applied to the backing). The positioning of the Y in relation to the black border is absolute, and if the card you see does not fit, it cannot be an authentic Mantle.
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Comments
<< <i>In addition to the above info, that flip is embarrassingly bad. >>
Indeed, the first time I saw that (and I'm not nearly as experienced with graded cards as the rest you guys) I really thought that the font did not look right at all.
You know, maybe not being able to afford 50s/60s stuff can sometimes be a blessing in disguise...
D's: 50P,49S,45D+S,43D,41S,40D,39D+S,38D+S,37D+S,36S,35D+S,all 16-34's
Q's: 52S,47S,46S,40S,39S,38S,37D+S,36D+S,35D,34D,32D+S
74T: 241,435,610,654 97 Finest silver: 115,135,139,145,310
73T:31,55,61,62,63,64,65,66,67,68,80,152,165,189,213,235,237,257,341,344,377,379,390,422,433,453,480,497,545,554,563,580,606,613,630
95 Ultra GM Sets: Golden Prospects,HR Kings,On-Base Leaders,Power Plus,RBI Kings,Rising Stars
<< <i>Am I missing something, or can someone explain how this got past PSA? >>
The flip (font, spacing, etc) appears to be fake as well.
edited to add: and my use of the word "appears" is *very* generous
<< <i>
<< <i>Am I missing something, or can someone explain how this got past PSA? >>
The flip (font, spacing, etc) appears to be fake as well.
edited to add: and my use of the word "appears" is *very* generous >>
Thanks. I guess you never know where liars and thieves are going to rear their head. Sad.
<< <i>Am I missing something, or can someone explain how this got past PSA? >>
It didn't get past PSA. Some nefarious third party cracked a PSA holder and inserted a fake Mantle, along with a (badly) recreated PSA slip with an authentic ID number, which are easy enough to obtain from past auctions. It's like identity theft for cards.
I really wish PSA would get on this and do something. You don't really hear about cracked holder scams with coins, both because those cases are far more tamper resistant, and because they've adopted some handy anti-counterfeiting techniques such as holograms to prevent forged labels. If PSA simply did that, this problem would disappear.
<< <i>Am I missing something, or can someone explain how this got past PSA? >>
Many have. Thats why they dont grade 1947 bond bread or 1985 star anymore.
<< <i>Can someone here tell me how I can prevent from getting screwed over on paying thousands of dollars for a bogus card?? PSA has really in my opinion dropped the ball on its PSA HOLDERS!! I am so affraid to spend anything over $500 as I think to myself that I may be buying a bogus case and card. There has to be a newly developed holder that is tamper proof, for me this is a number one issue PSA needs to get a handle on today!! >>
I agree, they're dropping the ball. The slabs are easily faked compared to a BVG or SGC.
Before I do a purchase, I tried to compare font style, spacing, etc. on the label. Yeah and they change their style every other year which doesn't help.
"Frosted" slabs aren't neccessarily a give away either. They can be frosty brand new or from getting banged around.
Somebody recommended inspecting the "pins" that hold it together.
<< <i>I may have to start collecting BGS, BVG OR SGC cards if this easily fixed problem cannot be corrected by PSA. I am not a millionaire but probably spend around $4K a month on PSA cards... >>
Nice budget! i'd love to up the ante.
My opinion, BVG is too under-rated. Majority of my collection is PSA but I've gotten some sweet deals on beckett slabbed cards. SGC as well. Each example EASILY stacks up to the PSA counterpart. (My '57 Drysdale BVG 8 is questionable tho)
I've noticed beckett and sgc market prices catching up a little more as well.
As usual...BGS great for modern, SGC great for pre-war.
Also to add, love the eye appeal a SGC holder has for vintage era