Pre-1900 or Reprint? Help Appreciated...

[Tanman7baseball]

Hi everybody. I am concerned about the authenticity of these cards. I bought them at auction today. I have not seen the cards in person. Yes, I understand that it was dumb to purchase these cards without verifying with all of you and obvious other reasons. I couldn't help myself from the impulse buy...

So I am unsure if they are reprints or not. But also I don't know why someone would go through the hassle of reprinting these players...

With that said, can any of you identify these cards being legitimate or not?

The paper looks of the era due to the chipping of the borders but the printing seems off to me. All these players were playing on the teams depicted on the card during 1888 season. That is the only year where all the teams match up with the player.

Any thoughts or opinions will be appreciated!

Pictures posted below of the following players:
Elmer Foster
Deacon Mcguire
Ed Andrews
Pop Corkhill
Germany Smith
Hub Collins

[Tanman7baseball]

.

[NiceDocter]

Looks like you have a real poor condition Obak there and the rest modern aged photos. I agree with the printing font being not of the era.

[Tanman7baseball]

Originally Posted by NiceDocter

Looks like you have a real poor condition Obak there and the rest modern aged photos. I agree with the printing font being not of the era.

Yah thats what I was worried about... I know there is a random Obak thrown in there but it was nice to see it there for reference of the size of the cards. I am just confused why the cardstock on the first picture is chipping on the bottom right. The cardstock looks good in the pictures but can't get over the print. Thanks for the opinion.

I have to pay by 6pm tomorrow so I guess I will wait for more opinions and see how long I can stretch this out.

[brianp-beme]

Obak probably good, the "1800's" cards are not...the typeface looks way too modern.

Brian

[oldjudge]

These are not 19th century cards. The images are from the Old Judge set, but the typeface used for the names is not what was used on Old Judge cards. Call it a fake or a fantasy item, but it my opinion it is worthless.

[aelefson]

I am probably wrong, but is there a chance these were cut from the 1920s era team posters showing OJ images? The print still looks off to me so maybe they are cutouts of a reprint poster?

Alan

[trdcrdkid]

Originally Posted by aelefson

I am probably wrong, but is there a chance these were cut from the 1920s era team posters showing OJ images? The print still looks off to me so maybe they are cutouts of a reprint poster?

Alan

I don’t think you’re wrong, because I was thinking the same thing. I think those posters were on newsprint or something similar, and it looks from the pictures like somebody cut out the pictures and glued them to cardboard. Thus I don’t think these are modern, but neither are they 19th century. They’re certainly not real Old Judges.

[Tanman7baseball]

Originally Posted by trdcrdkid

I don’t think you’re wrong, because I was thinking the same thing. I think those posters were on newsprint or something similar, and it looks from the pictures like somebody cut out the pictures and glued them to cardboard. Thus I don’t think these are modern, but neither are they 19th century. They’re certainly not real Old Judges.

Interesting. So essentially these Old Judge cut out images don’t have any value correct?

[Hankphenom]

I'd be very surprised if any but the Obak aren't fake. They have all the earmarks of the faked "aging" of Negro League and other memorabilia in the last several years. Guessing they came out of Ohio originally.

[Tanman7baseball]

Originally Posted by Hankphenom

I'd be very surprised if any but the Obak aren't fake. They have all the earmarks of the faked "aging" of Negro League and other memorabilia in the last several years. Guessing they came out of Ohio originally.

So just to finalize this. I am going to retract my winning bid from this auction and tell them that the cards are not of the era. Good idea?

[benjulmag]

The photo quality strongly suggests they are not period issues, i.e., they are fakes.

[trdcrdkid]

Originally Posted by Tanman7baseball

So just to finalize this. I am going to retract my winning bid from this auction and tell them that the cards are not of the era. Good idea?

Sounds good to me. As noted above, my best guess is that they are from the 1920s, cut out from newsprint or poster stock and glued to cardboard. They're certainly not real Old Judges or any other 19th century cards. I doubt that the person who made them (possibly many decades ago) had any intention to deceive anybody; they just had these images that looked like old-time baseball cards, and they made their own "cards" out of the images.