Posted By:
DennisHi gang. I've just recently began posting here after lurking for many months. I hope I can help others just a fraction as much as this board has helped me. I'm certainly no expert but I do have some knowledge of paper/cardboard characteristics. My passion is for the t205s. They are truly works of art. I, also, think you'll find that I'm pretty outspoken.
Now for the subject at hand. The card is a fake. It's a pretty shoddy fake at that.
First of all look closely at the lower half of the card. Beginning at Wagner's hands and stretching across the card horizontially - the background color is green. This is where I believe the card was cropped from another (unidentified) image using an image editor.
Second, the image of Honus is placed in the lower half of the card leaving 50% of the card blue. Colored ink was not cheap back then (still isn't), why spend money printing a mostly blue card? This holds true for the text as well. The font is off and too large. It's also blue. Most (obviously not all) cards of this era use a different smaller font and black ink (cheaper).
Third, look closely at the corners where they have been artificially aged. You can see the paper fibers look like hair where the corners were pulled off.
Lastly, it's almost perfectly centered. Most fakes are centered near perfect. Off-centered fakes don't bring the $. The borders are too white.
I could go on and on about this "card". Hope this helps.
Dennis
ALWAYS looking for t205 minor leaguers