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1986 ProCards Edgar Martinez Reprint
MinorLeaguer
Posts: 497 ✭✭✭
If I had to call myself an expert in a certain niche of cards, it would be 1986 ProCards minor league. I recently bought a 1986 ProCards Chattanooga Lookouts Edgar Martinez, his first card, from a popular consignment website (not eBay) mentioned before on these boards. I'm actually dumbfounded how I didn't see it was a fake right away on the website. Either they switched it on me from the website pic as I cannot view the card on the website now since it's no longer there as i bought it. But perhaps more plausible is that I was too eager and enamored with the centering as 1986 ProCards are typically off center L/R and I just bought the thing as fast as I could to upgrade the one I already have as it was a great price of only $10.25 given the possibility of getting a 10. The second I pulled it out of the bubble mailer, i knew it was a reprint. I've seen the 1986 ProCards Greg Maddux, Randy Johnson and now the Edgar Martinez with the same signs of being a reprint. And bad ones at that.
The scans probably do not show it but the stock is always a giveaway. The 1986 ProCards have a duller white finish, front and back. The reprints I have seen all have had bright white stock. If it looks like the bright white of a freshly opened ream of copy/printer paper, it's a reprint.
Next a super easy tell-tale sign I cannot believe I missed is the font on the front (reprint on left):
The font of the Copyright and Copyright year is always a dead giveaway (reprint on bottom):
Closer look (reprint on top):
Another giveaway is the space between the apostrophe's in the inches of the height (reprint on top):
Finally, under magnification, the print dot scheme obviously didn't match. Many of the 1986 ProCards with blue picture borders actually have a thin red line on the outside (including the Edgar Martinez, Greg Maddux and Rafael Palmeiro). Under 60x magnification, on a real 1986 ProCards, that red line will look like interlocking circles, kinda like a stretched red slinky half in half out of the blue. The reprint was just a red line under magnification.
So I contacted the website and they replied asking me to send it back for a refund. I would like all of your input as it's only $10.25 do I:
a) Write reprint on the back and send it back, and ding a corner or 2 for good measure.
b) Send it back just to get my $10.25 back not knowing if the website will simply send it back to the consignor whom will most likely, in turn, try and pawn it off somewhere else (wrong answer)
c) Ask the website their policy and be ok sending it back if the policy is to mark the card as a reprint and/or destroy it
d) Mark it as reprint and keep it as a badge of honor
e) open to some other suggestions you guys think is the correct thing to do
Also, does anyone know where to buy a stamp that says "reprint"? i should add one to my collecting tools.
Cheers
The scans probably do not show it but the stock is always a giveaway. The 1986 ProCards have a duller white finish, front and back. The reprints I have seen all have had bright white stock. If it looks like the bright white of a freshly opened ream of copy/printer paper, it's a reprint.
Next a super easy tell-tale sign I cannot believe I missed is the font on the front (reprint on left):
The font of the Copyright and Copyright year is always a dead giveaway (reprint on bottom):
Closer look (reprint on top):
Another giveaway is the space between the apostrophe's in the inches of the height (reprint on top):
Finally, under magnification, the print dot scheme obviously didn't match. Many of the 1986 ProCards with blue picture borders actually have a thin red line on the outside (including the Edgar Martinez, Greg Maddux and Rafael Palmeiro). Under 60x magnification, on a real 1986 ProCards, that red line will look like interlocking circles, kinda like a stretched red slinky half in half out of the blue. The reprint was just a red line under magnification.
So I contacted the website and they replied asking me to send it back for a refund. I would like all of your input as it's only $10.25 do I:
a) Write reprint on the back and send it back, and ding a corner or 2 for good measure.
b) Send it back just to get my $10.25 back not knowing if the website will simply send it back to the consignor whom will most likely, in turn, try and pawn it off somewhere else (wrong answer)
c) Ask the website their policy and be ok sending it back if the policy is to mark the card as a reprint and/or destroy it
d) Mark it as reprint and keep it as a badge of honor
e) open to some other suggestions you guys think is the correct thing to do
Also, does anyone know where to buy a stamp that says "reprint"? i should add one to my collecting tools.
Cheers
0
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By the way......nacional!!! Lol
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Greg Maddux #1 Master SetGreg Maddux #2 Basic Set
<< <i>As far as the font goes, the easiest tell-tale sign of an authentic issue is that the "D" will look cut off at the bottom. >>
I've seen snakes on eBay make their scans fuzzy on purpose just to slightly blur the front font on the Maddux reprint. An unsuspecting buyer may bite especially if at a too-good-to-be-true price.
All this being said, the reprints aren't a rampant problem but one needs to be aware that they are out there. Like anything else, a little knowledge goes a long way to not getting cheated.
BTW, this is a really useful tool for your arsenal and very cool to take video/pics at 60x - 100x. They make these for other phones as well, just do a similar items search: Magnifier that you can take pics/video with
Office Depot or Staples can make you a custom stamp that says reprint very easily. I'm sure you could just find something on the internet to do the same though if you don't feel like going to the store.
jbox