Oh, KSA.......
 

Educate those of us that don't know. I have never owned a Cracker Jack card. Ever.

Robert,

Certainly. The color of the background on this card is the telltale sign. Feel free to check out other 1915 Cracker Jack cards on eBay to compare.

The card may be fake, but at least the shipping is cheap! :eek:

It is one of those nasty Dover reprints that many have tried to age, bleach and God knows what else to make it appear old and genuine and pass off to
new collectors. Water boarding for these culprits might be a bit severe but...

Ksa
 

I believe the case has been compromised and the flip appears to be fake.

I don't know a lot, but I am learning more and more everyday about fakes and this card, and the grading company is the reason why, even though they are Canadian, while I'll never use KSA!!

This card is located a couple hrs east of me, I know the area fairly well, but I do not know of a card shop/store currently down there so I assume this is a private seller?

He also has some PSA graded cards, which leads me to believe, he likely uses KSA for his questionable ones?

Has anyone written him yet to tell him his card is a fake?

CJ's didn't use white ink for the uniforms etc. If you see a CJ (like this) where the uniform and borders are drastically different then it's bad. Look where uniforms meet the border, the transition should be fairly seemless other than shading.

KSA is pretty bad. Like USA or MINT bad. I had a friend send me three KSA cards to crossover to PSA. Two were deemed trimmed and the other was two grades lower. 1950's cards. Ford, Berra and someone else...can't remember.

-Jimmy

Being up here in Canada, I was hoping to save some money due to shipping, the exchange rate, duty, fees, etc and send my cards to KSA for grading, but thanks to a member on here who told/warned me about them, I'm glad I didn't!

He did tell me they were better at grading hockey than baseball, and maybe that's true, but they shouldn't be in the business at all if they themselves can't distinguish between real and fake cards.

Don't they do well with Hockey in Canada? I thought I heard that hockey cards in KSA holders do well, but this was more second hand.

I have no idea, I don't pay attention to hockey cards nor have I been to a card show or anything similar in years.

The person who told me about KSA said they were better at grading hockey cards than they were baseball, so that is all I can go by.

As a long time collector in Canada, the same debates exist with KSA hockey as they do with any other TPG comparisons I've read on this board, and others.

Do they grade sheet cut cards? How are they on vending? Whatever. I've seen beautiful KSA 8 and 9's and I've seen awful ones.

Over the years, a general rule of thumb is to subtract 2 grades from the KSA grade to equal a PSA grade, but there are exceptions to every rule with any TPG. I have cards from EVERY TPG in my collection, but mostly raw (as I prefer to look at them in binders).

Like most TPG comparisons, there are no hard and fast rules. There are fakes encased in all of them IMHO.

This is the impression I was under, that they over grade, and to subtract about 2 grades, but the cards were good and likely unaltered. The CJ example certainly changes my impression of KSA and I will most likely just stay away in the future. If they will grade an obvious fake, I have to wonder how many other fakes, or altered cards, have received numerical grades.

Here's the thing! Once in a while KSA does/did get it right. I had some high-quality C55 hockey tobacco cards graded by them about 16 years ago. The grades were very accurate by anyone's standard. Over time though, KSA's reputation has (deservedly) gone south. So, even if you have KSA-graded cards that were done properly, they would still arouse suspicion and apprehension on the part of any potential buyers. I was fortunate to not take that big a hit on my cards when I finally sold them.

I wrote the guy the same day this was posted and 3-4 days later the seller got back to me wondering how I knew it is a fake?

I posted the link to Dover reprints and only stated, as I didn't know him, that his border was a dead give away.

He stated he purchased the card from KSA themselves as it was very close to his son's college?

I see he has now ended the listing. I told him to get his money back if his story was true but then, just checking out his site, he has a lot of high end cards listed for cheap, .99 cents but yet some commons or other less known players listed much higher?

I don't know for sure, but it seems odd that Mantle's, Clemente's etc are listed so low, although he says they are real, and other, lesser known players are much higher?
Can anyone tell if these are fake/reprints as well?
http://www.ebay.com/sch/pkellygod/m....p2047675.l2562

As to your question, some look real, some don't....

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1948-Leaf-1-...QAAOSwZ8ZW7ZyO

My thoughts are, the guy knows exactly what he's doing and what he owns.

I could be wrong but his e-mail reply didn't sound like he was surprised/ticked off that he had purchased a fake but rather that I pointed out to him that it was?

He wanted to know how I knew, what signs (plural) that lead me to my conclusion.
Like I mentioned, I only told him of the border as it was a dead give away and stated, because I didn't know him, that was all I was going to say.

I have received no reply back from him, if that means anything?

His statement speaks for itself of course and you are correct.

I always smile when someone uses the "you can't prove it" defense in a nickel and dime debate about someone doing something and being caught. To me, them saying you can't prove it, proves they did it, most times.