new to the board, seeking a couple quick opinions please

[northsidebaseball]

Hello, my name is Clint and I am new on the board. I used to collect cards as a kid and am starting to get back into it a little bit on a limited budget conscious basis. As you probably guessed from my name I am a Cubs fan and I am currently looking to acquire a topps ernie banks card in psa 6 or better from 1954-1971. I have been in contact with a guy who has all the remaining banks cards that I need, all in psa 6. The prices he has quoted are similar to what you would expect to pay on ebay. Looking closely at the 1969 card there appears to be a large dark blob of dirt or something near ernie's shoulder. When I brought this up he offered to replace it with a different 1969 banks psa 6. Also the 1961 seems to have odd kinda blotchy print defects around the border. My first question is how could the 1969 card end up in a psa 6 holder? My next question is whether it could be possible that any or all of these cards are fakes? Seems unlikely to me as I would think someone making phonies wouldn't waste their time with psa 6 ernie banks cards. Anyway I have included scans he sent me of the cards below, any opinions/advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Ease]

Welcome Clint! I would seriously doubt any of those are fake. If you are gonna pay ebay prices, why not pick em up one by one over time? That way you can cherry pick each card for attributes you want, and for the price you want. Much more fun that way too imo.

[David W]

Here is a link to completed ebay auctions in PSA 6 for Banks

http://completed.shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=banks+psa+6&_in_kw=1&_ex_kw=&_sacat=See-All-Categories&_okw=banks+psa+6&_oexkw=&_adv=1&LH_Complete=1&_udlo=&_udhi=&_samilow=&_samihi=&_sadis=200&_fpos=Zip+code&_fsct=&LH_SALE_CURRENCY=0&_sop=12&_dmd=1&_ipg=50&_rdc=1

Lots available, the 60's cards are pretty cheap.

[mintacular]

1. Nice cards!
2. Cards look authentic
3. On the '61 those little "snowball" print dots on the border are pretty common on '61s
4. It is possible that PSA misses an issue when it grades a card such as the dirt on Ernie's shoulder--it is very important that you focus on the card inside the holder and not just a # a grading co. comes up with--there are many examples when PSA simply misses a major flaw or overgrades/undergrades cards

[scmavl]

I really like the '63 and '67. Cards look legit to me. Good luck & welcome to the board!

[dstraate]

Clint, they all look good. Especially good to a Cubs fan like me.

Have fun.

[northsidebaseball]

Thanks to everyone who responded, all the help is definitely appreciated. I did end up buying the entire banks lot. I agree with you Eric, it probably would have been more fun to go after the cards individually, but I was able to get a pretty decent discount for buying all of them at once. I do intend however to do the same with the entire topps run of ron santo and billy williams, so that will keep me busy for awhile. I've enjoyed reading a lot of posts on the board, seems like people here know their stuff:)