[Archive]

Posted By: Gilbert Maines

It currently appears that all action poses in the w517 set have narrower
images, that is wider borders, than all portraits in the set. This is new
information for me, and for many of us. So, we have been paid by Brad for
the help which we are offering him, and our pay is expanded awareness of the
set. So lets figure out whether his card is real or not.


I have stated that I believe that Brad’s card is real, and I do. Leon has
indicated that he was thinking 60/40 that the card was real too. I am not
quite as optimistic as Leon though, I feel 51/49 that the card is real. This
is because if you believe that the card is real you also believe:

- that the seller made a brief appearance just to sell these cards, and he is now gone.
- that the card survived all of this time with poke-your-eyes-out sharp corners.
- that the card’s high gloss surface, although unique, is ok.
- that the card’s cheap cardstock which is rippled on both sides, and never before seen
on this nor any other identified baseball card issue, is ok.
- that a printing technique which includes an undercoat, although to my knowledge never
done before on a regular issue pre-war baseball card, is also ok.
- that there are differences in the lettering between the card in question and other w517 Groves, is ok.
- that the image size of the card in question is smaller in height and width when compared to other w517 Groves, is also ok.
Now, I will freely admit that I was willing to accept much of the
circumstantial evidence shown above and hide behind the fact that the dot
pattern of the card is consistent with an item manufactured before the war.
But there is really too much here to accept on that basis, imho. Well, maybe
not tooo much, but exactly enuff to get a Gil ranking of 51/49 certainty.
Which means that if the wind blows the wrong way, we really have to discuss
how a half tone dot pattern can be faked with modern equipment.


However, it is noted that SGC has graded several w517s in the 90s range this
month. This is a new level of achievement for this card. Reportedly all of
these cards have a common source. It is unknown whether Brad’s card is one
of this group, but his card does have the strongest corners I have seen on a
card of this set.