Is this 1963 Bazooka Spahn authentic?

[Spike]

I just received this 1963 Bazooka Spahn and am concerned about the odd printing quality around the numbers.

Knowing the set was faked (often in FGA slabs) several years ago, I wonder if this is one of them. I purchased it from a reputable dealer and the paper looks OK, but it's not the hardest set to tackle and not every dealer knows fakes well. What do you all think?

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[fkw]

Sorry I dont know the answer to your question.

But I was going through some oddball stuff last night and came across an aluminum printing plate from the 1962 set showing Spahn in middle.

In case you wanted to see what one looks like :)

http://centuryoldcards.com/images/1962bazookaprintplate.jpg

[Spike]

Thanks for posting, that's a cool find! It looks a 1962 Bazooka panel of Earl Battey, Spahn, and Lee Thomas. How did you come by something like that?

[ChiefBenderForever]

I think it looks good, don't think it is fake.

[smtjoy]

I am not sure too hard to tell from scan. I had a Drysdale and it was really hard to tell but the cardboard was slightly different color than orginals and the printing looked a bit off. I really didnt notice the issues till after PSA rejected it as fake.

So beware it is possible thats it's fake.

[Bob Lemke]

from the small scan, but all of the circa 2003 fakes had full corners on the dotted lines.

[Spike]

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. Interesting to hear about the full corners on 2003 fakes--that's fortunately not the case here.

[toppcat]

Can someone post a fake and fill me in a little. I'm planning to collect a panel from each year and am just starting to get up to speed on how to ID legit copies vs. fakes.

[HRBAKER]

Dave,
Hopefully I can help a little as I managed to pick up a few fakes along the way. In the scan below all of the '63s are fake with the exception of the Musial. Please notice the two piece Brooks Robinson. The front was actually a photograph of a real card for lack of better way to explain attached to the backing, that is two pieces of the same card. Please also note the whiteness and the overall lack of contrast (particularly around the lettering) on the fakes. I have never seen a fake panel but they may exist. Most of the fakes were sold in slabs of fake grading companies but many have been broken out and are being sold individually. I won't buy a '63 that I can't physically examine first. Hope this helps.
Jeff

edit: I would also add that not all of the fakes were two piece from what I can tell. I have seen some that are scary close to the originals and have the same almost matte finish as the originals.

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s172/hrbaker/BST/bazookas.jpg

[a761506]

I didn't see this until now, but the 63 Spahn initially in question is definitely authentic.

The 63 Bazooka set was only counterfeited as singles. The counterfeiter put them into slabs identified by FGA, MGS & Capital. They are simple to identify.

The borders on all of the counterfeit examples come to a perfect "L" shape at each corner and all border dashes are of equal length. The Spahn pictured in the post direct above this one is an example of one of those counterfeits. The authentic cards were all issued only in panel form, with dashes of varying lengths along each edge, and only the left-most card on a panel has "L" shaped corners on the upper & lower left corners, and vice versa for the right-most card on the panel.

Then, someone else, in their infinite wisdom, decided that since the set had already been poorly counterfeited, they would attempt to one-up them by essentially making color copies of the cards and pasting them onto cardboard. While the idea seems plausible, it didn't work out so hot, as the cards do not copy well (or a really crappy printer was used) so all of those fakes look like cheap color copies with a blurred image.

1963 Bazooka cards with no borders at all should be avoided, plus the fact that they are pretty much worthless when missing border dashes. However, beyond that, there is no reason to be scared when buying these cards now that you know exactly what to look for.

[Coimbre21]

Great posts here. Adding to this cold but important thread, under magnification fakes are also noted for having print dots in the white borders and the white area around the name. Authentic cards are clean white with no dots. Thanks to Andy Broome over at Beckett grading for providing this key piece of information.