What do you guys think of this card??
 

I took a chance a few days ago on a Hank Aaron 1954 Topps Rookie card on ebay. It looks immaculate and the seller swears it wasn't trimmed. What do you guys think from the pics. Cost me almost $1300 bucks. Worth the risk? Curious to see if you guys think it was cut or not.

that the owner of that card did not win the spelling bee.

HAHA no he did not.

At this point send it in to PSA quickly and hope for the best. If you bought it on ebay and it doesn't check out you can file a not as described claim and get a refund. If it does check out you hit a homerun.

I do have my doubts though. The spelling error is not a good sign. If it was legit why didn't the seller grade it first? Even a centered 6 is a 3k card.

those were my exact thoughts at first. Then upon looking, he never really sold many cards and everything he sold was ungraded. My thinking was maybe he got into this before grading was a thing and is now selling them as he bought them or collected them. That is my hopes at least. But what scares me is the too good to be true thing. But then I think, HEY someone else was willing to go $1250 haha.

those borders are awfully white.

I might have taken the same gamble. Only one way to find out for sure now. Best of luck. Let us know own how it turns out.

A fool and his money are soon parted. If it looks too good to be true, it usually is. Sure, once in a while these things work out, but if it were me I would not gamble, neer mint or not. PS it looks short but that could be confirmation bias.

What is on the back in the upper right corner? And the dimensions seem off also (too square)

Put me in the "no chance it's real" camp, unfortunately. Also looks like he shilled it pretty good.

http://i1383.photobucket.com/albums/...pseibli7fy.png


http://i1383.photobucket.com/albums/...psyzdsselz.png

Seemingly perfect centering too.

You're probably right but as the decision to buy was already made it seems his options are to try to return it now, or send it in. On the off chance it's real, might as well find out now.

Seen some perfectly good looking 52 Topps for sale last night and on closer inspection, they all looked pale/spotty with the pixels.

Looked further down the link for some info about reprints etc but none was found.
There was a link about collections/cards, money, coins etc so I wrote them via their "contact us" link and low and behold, I received an "Undeliverable" e-mail back.

Not sure if the cards were being shilled, but there sure were a lot of bidders for these pristine looking 52 Topps cards! :eek:

Looks off like I said in the bst section . The name is off and it looks printed over the cardboard . A real card will always look like it's printed into the card . You you collect other just compare it to them .

Thanks for all the help guys. I appreciate all the input. Means a lot.

Doesnt look right, but hope I am wrong for your sake. It may be neer mint and neer authentic.

Definitely agree with the name and borders being off. Flipping through my cards with white names like Aaron's, it looks like the name and borders should be the exact same color (barring stains). The card shown looks like the name is faded, while the borders are still a nice white.

Hopefully the card is real though. Would love to see the grade if it is.

You are very brave man my friend. That's way too big a gamble for this pedestrian collector.:p

Its a reprint. The text is in blue.

Seems the seller listed it as unknown. It seems pretty obvious to me he knew it was a reprint. Here is the description from Ebay.

http://www.collectorfocus.com/images...37571/54-aaron

I'm always a bit leery when sellers don't bother removing high value cards from the sleeve before posting the pic; feel like their trying to hide something.

from ebay


http://www.ebay.com/itm/HANK-AARON-R...IAAOSwKtVWwO8g

http://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/krkAAO...i3/s-l1600.jpg

reprint...
 

Pretty definitive... real ones have black text on the reverse.

Good eye and good luck to the OP with the return. Hopefully this will not end up being an expensive lesson.

deerly beloved, we are gathered heer today...

heer yee heer yee
 

O deer

Neer and deer

can't tell.

of course, i'm neer sighted.

I feer it is not reel.

Fake. Not even a good fake. Sorree.

Couple of observations
 

It looks like the seller has a bunch of other cards for sale. Interestingly, of all the other cards of his (assuming it is a he), they all say "original" under the original/reprint heading.

The fact that this one was marked as unknown feels sketchy to me. Especially as he has it labeled like all of his other cards. I would return the card. Hopefully if paid via paypal you did with a credit card so you can dispute the charge as a last stop backstop.

This is a part of a broader thing that I am seeing on eBay. People listing cards that the the title seems to indicate the card as an original, but buried in the description you see stuff like: "I'M SELLING THIS CARD AS UNKNOWN TO WHETHER IT'S A REPRINT OR ORIGINAL SINCE IT'S NOT BEEN GRADED OR CERTIFIED. HOWEVER CARD IN PICTURES IS EXACT BEING SOLD."

What is difficult is that I so want it to be real and have it be my version of a "barn find" on ebay. Stay away.

Here are some good examples. One of my personal "whale cards" is a 48-49 Leaf Satchel Paige. I love the look of the card and I would love to own one. If you look on Ebay you see:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1948-1949-LE...AAAOSwSdZWdtYr

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1948-LEAF-LE...wAAOSwUuFWv70B

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1948-1949-LE...AAAOSwSdZWdtYr
(The example above sold for $305!)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1948-1949-LE...AAAOSwSdZWdtYr

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1948-Leaf-8-...wAAOSw3KFWeMv5

etc.

Jim.

Excellent research and post.

Thanks for the info. I've seen fake cards that were artificially aged/stained to give an authentic touch to them.

I remain amazed how much people are willing to pay for ungraded cards. If a card is a $3k card, why wouldn't the seller grade it before selling it? Doesn't make any sense at all. I guess we all want that amazing steal. Problem is, this is not an antique store with inventory that hasn't been seen before, or a shop run by someone who has not internet. eBay IS the internet marketplace, so the sellers could just as easily research the value of a card before posting it.

Some favorites...
Blurry, ungraded $10k card? Really?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1953-TOPPS-8...-/181759773357

Very white T206 Cobb. A bit too white...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1909-11-T-20...-/201514636877

i think we passed as to why a seller would list a legit expensive card ungraded.....we have moved on to why it would be in a sgc holder and not psa when they ask for psa value....it obvious they tried and failed on the cards in the 1000s..

Good God seriously.

Great Condition...Scans are tough as I don't want to take it out of the thick screwdown holder it's in..Card is Centered Great front and back...I have owned this card since 1989 it is my favorite card but every item has a price.

***WOW a PSA 8 sold for $23651 Search Item #351108610779

***WOW another PSA 8 SOLD for $24,550 Search Item #381036921518

***WOW another PSA 8 SOLD 7/9/15 for $42,312 Search Item #400947458984

***The prices are skyrocketing on Mantle cards so don't miss out on this nice ungraded example. I am not saying my card is in graded 8 condition I am just showing how the prices of a graded 8 have exploded in the last year selling in the $13000 range then in the $24000 range and now (3) Graded 8 examples have sold in the $45000 range making all conditions of this 1953 #82 Mantle go up in price. A PSA 7 also Sold for $12775 recently.

Cards
 

Peter-- you are such a sceptic. :) seriously

Do they spell things differently in Texas?

Texas
 

Yes, we do a lot of stuff different in Texas. You should try practicing law down here

It seams based on other responses that my suggestion may have been a bit too optimistic. If there's no chance the card is real I would contact the seller to return or file the not as described claim immediately. Hopefully you'll only be out the return shipping costs.

do not stop payment on credit card first.

let ebay>paypal run it's course first.

if you do the stop payment on credit card, ebay and paypal can no longer help whatsoever and you are stuck w/ whatever your cc company decides.

...but hopefully you used your amex.

in fact, always use amex.

(especially being the gambling man you are)

Were I representing patent trolls, I would be filing in the Eastern District regularly. :D

East Texas
 

I defended a few over there. Darn lawyers :)

Never ever filed a suit, but defended a fair amount of them

Ah, the "I moved into a new office..." trope, not to be confused with the classic "I just went through my father's attic...".

why is amex better than visa/mastercard....i happen to use amex for ebay so was wondering about an extra advantages

visa/mc protect the vendors first.

amex protects the customer first.

It doesn't make a diference if the seller posts "no returns". You will win this with ebay and the seller must return your shipping costs.

Right on...
 

This is spot on! The company I work for takes credit cards and if you look at any disputes on charges, AMEX almost always sides with the customer. Even when we have a signed contract, etc.

Not remotely close
 

absolutely return right away. People need to stick to reputable dealers until they can spot a terrible bad card like this without asking for help. I am not trying to be rude but this is not even close.