1953 topps mantle with F stamp help
 

So my ? Is I came across a 1953 topps mickey mantle card that is original but it has a little red "F" stamped in the back of the card. I'm kinda new to posting pictures so I'm hoping somebody can't tell me without seeing a picture. It's just a little letter f bottom left hand of the card. Any clue guys?

Photobucket is easy
1. Upload pics there
2. Copy/Paste img code (get links)
or if its on a site..copy/paste url (insert image url)

http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/...2327/image.jpg

Looks like the f is under the letters?

F
 

Do you happen to have a black light ? If so, see what the F versus the numbers look like under it

53 Mantle
 

Yes,
I agree. What the F*** is that !

So I just got home from work and took the card under 10x magnification and to my best knowledge it looks as if the f is under the letters/numbers. The black around/over the red is crisp and clear. Im thinking if the card was stamped over the black that there would be some fading of the black or dis coloring of some sort but the black looks sharp. The card came from a guy that pulled it himself and just started selling his cards.

i found this tad bit info:
http://vbbc.forumotion.com/t1959-car...ng-on-the-back
Re: Cards with interesting stamps/writing on the back
Post by Abravefan11 on Wed May 20, 2009 7:58 am

joejack wrote:
I have only purchased 1 card with a stamp on it and quickly sold it to a collector of that particular stamp. For the life of me I can't remember the exact stamp but as I recall it was a LARGE single letter, old english style font.. argh. Do specific stamps or overprints demand a premium??


If the letter is an "F" it's a stamp I have seen on T206's. Some people believe they could be from the collection of F. Scott Fitzgerald.

and here in the Net54 Archives: http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=89645



***** Of course these were older cards and were BLACK letters in Old English format....just maybe something like this was done elsewhere is all im saying????

Fitzgerald's stamp was a bit more stylized.

From the picture, it definitely looks like the stamp was there first. However, it could just be that it did not adhere to the black letters when placed on there?

So far I haven't come up with anything other than a stamp from a personal collection?? I bought some cards off of a guy who pulled them back in the 1950's and has had them sitting in a cigar box since then. I asked him about it and he has no clue.

Stamp
 

That stamp is going to severely impact the value of this card (in a negative way)

Stamps
 

Here is an example of a stamp's impact on grading

http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1374849615
http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1374763295

Thanks for the input everyone. I'm still stuck on if the stamp was there before the card was printed. For example look at the picture above and u can clearly see the stamp is over the ink on the cards. If you look at the mantle it looks like the card was printed on top of the letter F. Could it possible be a factory error? The gentleman that had the card previously pulled the card from the pack himself. He has many examples of 1953 topps but this is the only card like this. I'm going to the national so maybe PSA will help.

Over vs Under
 

I'm no magnification expert, but I blew up a portion of the scan you made and it appears to me that the red color is overprinted, not underprinted. Looking at just the periodic dots, the one in the red appears to be darker and slightly redish in color, which I would take to mean that the dot is under the red print - no?
Some, not all, of the other numerals give me the same impression under extreme blowup viewing. I could be wrong, but maybe your seller has a less than perfect memory regarding the card and its stamp. By the way, F. Scott Fitzgerald died in 1940, so I doubt that he collected any 1953 Topps cards:rolleyes:.

Steve, you mean...
 

....like Andy Pettitte, the seller may have misremembered ?

Absolutely Patrick!!
it could likely mean it was stamped F for fake.

53 Mantle
 

True enough about fake 53 Mantles being out there

Senility
 

Al - I usually forget what I don't remember anyway.

Just an update. I had the card graded by psa and it came back a 3(MK). I talked to workers at psa and they said they couldn't recall a mantle with that stamp. They also said the "F" is underneath the printing of card and I should talk to topps to get something figured out. I was also told they had to mark it with the "MK" because they didn't have that marking in there grading book, nice people at PSA for helping fill me in. I had it graded at the national btw. Thanks for the help and the read. Now onto topps for some more help...

Printer's marks ?
 

Did you ever get any info from Topps. My guess would be that nobody there now would have a clue

Nothing at the moment. I was gonna wait until the national to talk to topps in person because I'm sure I'll get nowhere over the phone. I've showed a few what I consider knowledgeable people and they are stumped as well..