Real or Fake?

[bobbvc]

Informal poll on this Wagner cigar label. What do you guys think? And Why?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...K%3AMEDWX%3AIT

[bcbgcbrcb]

My guess is fake, looks too clean to be 100 years old

[rhettyeakley]

A back scan would have been nice as that will tell you more than just an image of the front. Cigar bands often survive in almost pristine condition so that doesn't throw up a major red flag to me. Cigar bands were made on extremely thin paper and were made "embossed" which would be very hard to replicate (although not entirely impossible). Thus, a back scan showing the embossing would indicate that the item was/is in fact real. On the flip side if the item is completely "flat" then it is probably fake.

[deadballpaul]

I dont know much about this issue, but my gut says run away. Always trust your gut if you've been staring at pre war stuff for many years......

[Matthew H]

The bottom edge appears poorly hand cut.

[steve B]

I'm not entirely sure it's vintage, but aside from that I like it. Was there a set of these made sometime more recently?
To me it does appear to be embossed. It could be just in the printing, but looks fairly dimensional.
The border also looks like actual metallic ink, again, not impossible to fake, but also not something you can do on a typical laser printer.

Steve B