Hey Mike - I don't think you need to worry too much about fake 70s and 80s stuff. The PM-10 player pins (as shown above and probably more of Yankees than any other team) are faked quite often because some real deal examples are worth a lot of money. The book on the previous page, where I show my Mays, has 9 pages of Yankee pins. If you PM me your email address, I would be happy to send you pictures.

FWIW - I just did an ebay search for "yankees pinbacks." The search yielded 500+ matches with some good 70s-80s stuff. Do your homework....prices are all over the place. I noticed one $4 pin that someone wanted $432 for!

Reprint pins
 

Timely thread...I have a bunch of football pins from the 60's that I can barely give away. Nothing too rare or exceptional, but it got me do some research on Ebay to see what is out there and what things are selling for.

One discovery...I was shocked and disappointed to see how many reprint pins are being produced these days. How can you tell a reprint from the real deal? Aside from the seller telling you. I'm not a pin collector...I just buy things to have for a while then sell them when something else piques my interest...but if I was, I'd be very disappointed about this.

I know this isn't limited to pins...I was looking for a Gale Sayers rookie card over the weekend and the number of reprints I saw being offered for sale made me lose interest in the idea completely.

More of a rant than a question or productive contribution to the thread...Sorry. :D

I'd consider this a productive contribution :p

Can you give an example of a faked pin(s)? I don't think forgery pins are a huge problem in baseball. There IS one guy on ebay (pinzplus) who sells reproductions but he is up front about it. Now, if one of his repros then gets pawned off as authentic to someone else, that's another story...

That's exactly what I was thinking...They all do seem to come from that one seller. He does state they are reprints...well to be honest he puts an innocuous "RP" in the subject line as opposed to the more offensive "Reprint" or "Repro". Then in the description he clarifies for those that may have overlooked the "RP" initially.

Example: Willie MAYS 1952 PM 10 RP *PIN* w/ Attach 1-3/4" N.Y. Giants Baseball Polo Var#1

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b5...pswgxpi8ig.jpg

What happens to all these reprints he's littering the market with? Is every buyer going to acknowledge they are reproductions when they go to sell? A seasoned pin collector may be able to immediately tell the difference between an original and reproduction...but a less seasoned pro may not be able to. And I doubt this guy has cornered the market on repro pins. Are there others out there who don't declare even an "RP"?

Also...Notice the frayed edges of the ribbon in that example. Honest attempt to create a vintage looking reproduction? Or an enticement to the next owner to flip as original?

Rob

fakes
 

If someone wants to put these up for me that would be great ebay # 112401809845. A pinzplus repro and an oldie but goodie I actually bought this pin about a year ago to check it out 192177933913 Rob and I had a discussion about it. Still has the same fake age spots put on the front. Size is wrong and the back is a dead give away... When I had it in my hand I could tell right away it was fake. Very light, new shiny collet, and painted black in the back...

I happen to have that repro and the real deal. Even if the repro were artificially aged, it still wouldn't be "right" due to the size of the image and lettering. I don't know pinzplus's motivation for making these. I don't believe it's nefarious. I think he's just a guy with a button maker, trying to make a few bucks. The majority of his pins are "fantasy" items, using an image from, for example, an old Mays ad for Chesterfield cigarettes.

Another characteristic of a real PM-10 is the "union bug" stamped on the back. Unfortunately not every real example got the stamp. Maybe about 50%, Al?

Al mentioned these two. I don't collect Mantle but I'm pretty sure the "real deal" is a different size than the one being sold. The real Deal Mays is definitely a different size (2.125"). We discussed this Mays before...Al bought this exact pin just to make sure, determined it to be a repro and got his money back. My question is: is this the same seller or did it somehow change hands? If it is the same seller, he's not stating what he knows. That said, I've bought from this guy and he has always been fine.

I guess it comes down to homework, Rob. I can't say whether or not these secondary sellers know what they have. If that Mays was the right size and real, I'm hoping Al would let me win it since he already has the %$@*& thing! :p