I need some help with a T-206 Card (or "Real or Reprint")"

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Posted By: Scottopotamus

Is this a genuine T206 or a reprint? (I fear I already know as the price was very good. In any case, I've wasted $15.00 on dumber things.)

Hopefully, the links will work and thanks in advance for the help.







Scottoptamus
My T206 Web Site

http://www.freewebs.com/scottopotamus>

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Posted By: Ben

The immediate giveaway is the fact that the printing on the back is the wrong colour. Authentic AB backs have green printing. Also, the lettering in the front caption (lajoie, cleveland) is not the right font - compare it to your other t206s and you'll notice that this lettering is solid black and block-ish......the real t206s have a brown-ish print and the font is noticably different. Also, the card looks artificially aged, on both front & back.

Sorry for the bad news....take it as an inexpensive lesson learned, and you'll know better for next time.

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Posted By: steve k

Sorry - it's a fake. The corner wear doesn't look "normal" to me (looks hand-done) and the staining looks like something that happened recently. Old stains usually have a certain "look" to them and those stains don't have that look.

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Posted By: Scottopotamus

I was 99% sure it was a reprint, but wanted an expert opinion for confirmation. Thanks for your help.

Scottoptamus
My T206 Web Site

http://www.freewebs.com/scottopotamus

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Posted By: Julie

in a perfect crescent?

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Posted By: John

Sorry save your money it's a fake. You would be better served buying a nice printer. Then you could print yourself the whole set.

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Posted By: Art M.

Reprint.
The American beauty 350 series WITH frame line is not possible on the Lajoie batting pose.
The Lajoie batting should be found WITHOUT frame line in the 350 and/or 460 series American beauty.

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Posted By: John

Why? American Beauty 350 subjects can be found both with and without frame lines right? So why can’t Lajoie batting be found with a frame line? Just Curious.

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Posted By: Gary B.

I've seen so many t206 cards that look similar on ebay that all look like they've been baked in an oven at 250 for 20 minutes. do these people have to make them look SO awful trick people into thinking their legit? do real t206's that have extensive wear and tear ever look this bad?

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Posted By: Sean Coe

Real cards never have this uniform staining. This is sort of similar to the way forgers artifically age baseballs when creating fake signatures.

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Posted By: brian p

Besides most of what has already been stated, the American Beauty T206 cards are narrower than the rest of the T206 brand cards, so the extra generous side borders make this card so very wrong.

Brian

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Posted By: BROOKS

BESIDES THE COLOR ON THE BACK BEING WRONG AS PREVIOUSLY MENTIONED THERE IS ALSO MO FACTORY OR DISTRICT NUMBERS AT THE BOTTOM ON THE REVERSE

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Posted By: Brian McQueen

2 big reasons for this that come to mind immediately. One, is that historically, people have been naturally distrustful of cards that are this old being close to mint condition so scammers had to figure out a way of adding wear that's somewhat natural looking to the card. I've never done this and don't know all the techniques but I wouldn't be surprised if baking the card in an oven is actually one of them. I've heard that holding the card up to a candle flame is another.

The second reason is that so many of these reprints come out of the printer or whereever with borders or backs that are noticeably whiter than their legitimate counterparts. If you look closely here, you can see areas on the back of the Lajoie that are much whiter than normal cards this old. The "staining" is added in an attempt to cover the whiteness of the card up and to dull the overall color down to where the "whiteness" doesn't stand out so much.

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Posted By: hankron

A key is to look at the back. The edge around the white back is strikingly dark. This wouldn't exist on a real card. On the real T206, the back is printed directly onto the whitish card stock. The cardstock is one color all the way through, and if you cut into it, the edge won't turn to a different and substantially darker color.

Same theory applies to 1951 Bowman Mantles (and similar). Many Mantle fakes have a tell-tale white edge on the back that wouldn't exist on a real card, as the Bowman stock is dark all the way through.

It's like a hunk of baker's chocolate. No matter how you cut or chip at at it, the hunk's edges won't change color-- because the chocolate is the same color all the way through.

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Posted By: hankron

The fronts had a white coating applied before printing. So the front and backs are different.

They key is to be aware of the cardstock and edges of various cards (Old Judges to 1971 Topps), and notice when the online edge or corner is a strikingly inconsistant color.

For example, if there is an edge ding to a 1971 Topps Nolan Ryan that appears as a bright white spot in an eBay image, you will know that something is amiss. This is because the 71 Topps are printed on a dark stock and a ding to a genuine Ryan wouldn't appear as bright white.

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Posted By: hankron

Collectors should be conscious of dubious wear and similar issues. Often times a fake card will have implausible wear ... For example, the heavily stained and scuffed and coffeepot cooked T206 Honus Wagner that has four razor sharp corners. T206 Wagner corners aren't like cockroaches that survive unscathed an atomic blast .... For this Lajoie, the dark staining to the four front edges is not impossible, but appears strange.

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Posted By: hankron

People tend to not use their brains when looking looking at online auctions. I don't know if it's because most people are dumb or because they choose not to think.

By using their brains, I mean looking at the at the pictures, reading the description, looking over the overall auction and saying, "Does this add up?" ... The grade Poor minus T206 Wagner with razor sharp corners doesn't add up ... Ken Goldin saying, "I could sell this signed bat for $2,000, but you can have it for $400" doesn't add up (If Goldin could sell the bat for $2,000, he'd sell it for $2,000)

Critical thinking on the part of collectors would go a long way.