Careful with this ebay lot...

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Posted By: Dave

The Piedmonts with the red letters kind of gives it away....too bad this could put a pretty big finanical blow into someone unknowing...

http://cgi.ebay.com/T206-T-206-39-1909-tobacco-baseball-card-lot-w3-ty-cobb_W0QQitemZ290086794252QQihZ019QQcategoryZ86840 QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

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Posted By: barrysloate

The red Piedmonts are of course fake, but what about the Sweet Caps? Are there some real cards mixed in with the fakes, or are they all bad? Hard to tell from the scan. Also note the lot currently stands at one cent, reflecting bidder confidence in it.

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Posted By: T E

I assume you reported the auction. In fact, I assume that anytime anyone posts a fishy auction here, they also report it.

1st thing amongst a gazillion suspect things here is on feedback- no transactions in a long time, and note how many of the feedbacks are from non-registered users, stinking of shill tactics.

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Posted By: Dave

Barry...even from the fronts the cards look bad IMO. Does it not look like they all have big wide borders? Also it looks like the Old Mill's have the red print on the back as well. Seller claims he will refund...but paypal is not an option....how easy is it to get your money back with a money order or personal check after its cleared?

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Posted By: Dave

I did...we shall see what comes of it. I just hate seeing some unsuspecting guy pay a few thousand dollars for a lot with a few Cobbs, Johnson, other HOF'er and a few southern leaguers.

Looks like the bid rigging has already started as well.

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Posted By: barrysloate

Dave- they do look artificially aged, but he took a picture with the cards so far from the lens that it is just tough to tell.

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Posted By: Chris Counts

Check out the glossy surfaces on a couple of the cards reflecting the flash from the camera ...

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Posted By: Kenneth A. Cohen

Gotta love the story. Crooked school superintendent. Court-ordered auction. Went for more money than planned so doesn't have the bucks for grading. Creative new wrinkles, at least to me.

Given the item location, is the "Ohio syndicat" broadening its scamming from fake signs to fake cards?

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Posted By: dennis

"Due to the amount this auction will go for I am not using Paypal because I think there fees are outrageous." what he really means is "i know the cards are fake and my story is outrageous so i can't chance a credit card payment,once you send me a check or a money order your stuck with this junk"

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Posted By: Dave

So far anyway it doesn't look like anybody is falling for it....but I have this one on my watch list for the fun of it. Come on ebay, how long does it take you to react?

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Posted By: Kenneth A. Cohen

I've dropped a dime on it with Ebay, as have others I suppose. It WILL be interesting to see when and if they pull it.

PS - Actually I was going to bid the next increment (6 cents) but I got smoked by " i_buy_fake_cards."

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Posted By: Dave

I'm almost embarrassed to say I'm from Ohio anymore. This is ridiculous. By the way Batavia , Ohio is an eastern suburb of Cincinnati out in the boondocks. I watch the local news just about every night and don't recall hearing about the crooked school superintendent. I live in between Cincy and Dayton, so I can watch all the news at 11:00 each night.
Ebay probably won't pull this auction, as a similar auction from Tennessee went all the way through back in December. The buyer paid several hundred dollars for a few re-printed hall of fame cards with red piedmont backs.

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Posted By: Chris Counts

It's amazing how many collectors will spend a lot of money on a card without researching the color of its back. A local dealer (I live in the Bay Area) once proudly showed me a 1934 Gehrig he paid a couple hundred dollars for and it had black lettering on the back. It wasn't even a decent fake ... the surface was way too glossy and image was blurred ... it was sad to see the look on his face when I pointed this out to him ...

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Posted By: jeffdrum

Removed.

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Posted By: Bob

Thanks for your conscientiousness (sp?) in reporting this to ebay.