1952 Topps Mantle
 

What do you all think of this Mantle? Looks awfully fake to me. Looks to have the reprint gloss, creases look manufactured, and the perfect centering is obviously rare. I contacted the seller though and he is adamant that it's real.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/251600192472...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

my guess is nope. observation based more on the back. That 2nd red line dont look right (too thin) at above the stats. Theres also other issues i dont like either. Some things look too dark and the printed text.
Also add the red block area, looks too large. Thats my guess..maybe others will chime in and conclude what i see.
Here is a link to a very popular site- that i refer to people and i also used: http://home.comcast.net/~52mantle/52toppsmantlereal.htm

Bottom black border way too thick, a telltale sign of recent fakes. I believe we discussed this particular type of fake here one time before, as it is a Frankenstein that exhibits qualities of both variations. If the top left black borders form a T, it should feature the missing pixel in top left blue quadrant and be missing the bottom border of the Yankee box. If it has the yellow under bleed beneath the name box, it should have a right border than ever so slightly slopes inward as it descends. This one is bad in many ways. Here are two legit examples for comparison..

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/x...psffc79b18.jpg

http://www.collectorfocus.com/images...-mickey-mantle

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/x...ps63cb9b2d.jpg

Agree with the analyses above.
Plus, this guy has a whopping feedback score of 1 (for selling an I-tunes card at that).

Stay far away.

Nick A.

'52 Mantle
 

The card looks artificially aged with uneven wear at the bottom - almost like someone took sandpaper to it. The wear pattern shouldn't be that uneven....and then when artificially aging a card with a modern coating the "tea" or whatever is used to age the card makes patterns as on the above card.

Fake Mantle
 

The corner wear is a tell sign of "glued together"..That is not an authentic 52 Mantle..