Ken Griffey Jr. 1988 Vermont Mariners ProCards - Legit vs. Counterfeit?

Loyalty32

Is there anything else other than the centering that can be used to tell the difference between legit and counterfeit copies? I recently picked up the cards below. They are all off center. Is it safe to assume this lot is legit? I appreciate your time in advance!

Thanks
Craig

olb31

the writing on the front is different on the fake ones. The fake ones are centered and the fonts for Ken griffey are different.

Loyalty32

olb31 - I appreciate the info!



Thanks

Craig

saraceno21

Any interest in trading one of those?

Loyalty32

saraceno21 - If I decide to move any, I'll shoot you a PM. If that's good with you that is. I appreciate your time!



Thanks

Craig

seebelow

Whats the POP report of those? quite a collection
I've never seen those. Any history regarding those?

miwlvrn

The "fakes" are a re-issue reprint, distributed at the stadium during home games in I believe 1990. When side by side, the font difference is obvious. I've seen the reprints slabbed by PSA as 1988 incorrectly. If you find one that is centered, it is a reprint even if it has a 1988 flip, unless you see an OC or MC qualifier.

Loyalty32

seebelow - Good question. I haven't checked that myself. This is the info I found on Beckett.



"This 27-card standard-size set of the 1988 Vermont Mariners, a Class AA Eastern League affiliate of the Seattle Mariners, features silver-bordered posed color player photos on its fronts. The player's name, position, and team name appear at the bottom. The plain white back carries the player's name at the top, followed by biography and statistics. A late issue promotional card of Ken Griffey Jr. was also produced by ProCards in 1988 but is not considered part of this set. The Griffey card has a red border and was printed off center. Perfectly centered counterfeit copies exist."





miwlvrn - I appreciate the info!



Thanks

Craig

olb31

I sent an email to Joe O. about a psa 9 "fake" that sols for like $350. I told him it was fake. To my knowledge they never did anything about it. You have the same issue with the 1986 memphis Bo Jackson card. Psa has slabbed a bunch of the fakes. Thus the pop report on both of these issues is way incorrect.

Loyalty32

olb31 - I remember hearing about the Jackson cards. I never knew much about the Griffey's though. I can see how the Pop Report would be off. I was a player collector only for years, so I missed a lot of this kind of stuff.



Thanks

Craig

miwlvrn

Originally posted by: olb31
I sent an email to Joe O. about a psa 9 "fake" that sols for like $350. I told him it was fake. To my knowledge they never did anything about it. You have the same issue with the 1986 memphis Bo Jackson card. Psa has slabbed a bunch of the fakes. Thus the pop report on both of these issues is way incorrect.

+1. There are plenty of counterfeit items that have made their way into legit holders. There are also a lot of items that were cracked out for resub or sent to other grading companies for crossover where the original flip/cert still resides erroneously on the pop report, and there are lots and lots of mech errors in circulation too. This is why the pop report serves very well as a general guideline but can never be considered to be numerically accurate. It is too bad unsuspecting buyers have purchased so many graded fakes though.