Fake Ass Billiken Mendez on ebay
 

Thought I'd post just in case anyone on the board was the winner of this 100% fake 1923-24 Billiken card of Jose Mendez on ebay:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1923-24-Bil...orig_cvip=true

I contacted the seller to let them know it was fake but never heard back. If someone here won it and hasn't paid, don't pay and contact ebay. If you already paid, contact Paypal and file a claim. I'm happy to help if either one needs further information.

-Ryan

I didn’t know you could still contact a buyer if you aren’t the seller. How do you do that?

You can't contact the buyer.

I saw this and thought it really cannot be a forgery because a forgery is supposed to look like the original. It is clearly not an original billiken but I almost wonder if it’s an uncatologed original something - it looks like a photo of a billiken

My god- I just saw the purchase price. Who knows enough about Cuban cards to know that a real card would be valuable but also not know it’s not an original billiken. It’s not like a bad Honus where everyone in the world knows a real one would be worth a ton

It's a fake that was created over 20 years ago before most people had even seen what a real Billiken looked like. A whole group of them were sold to an American around 2000 or 2001. He tried to sell them to me back then. I told him they were fakes and he should destroy them. He knew they were fakes when he bought them. I think I even have scans of them somewhere. He then leaked them out into the hobby. None have surfaced for years, and I thought by now no one would be duped by them because we all know what an authentic Billiken looks like. But it seems someone is going to learn an expensive lesson on this one. The ebay seller also had several real Billikens for sale, so it's pretty easy to see the difference.

-Ryan

Thanks for the info Ryan. I didn’t bid but did think something was unusual about it. I hadn’t seen Billikens faked before.

I didn't bid either because something looked really off about it. Glad to know I was right, because I would have regretted not buying at that price it I were wrong.

Why don't you educate us on why you think it's fake so that others reading this thread don't make a bad purchase in the future?

Border is too thin and wrong, back is laid out wrong and font is incorrect, etc. There are lots of documented examples to compare it against.

I'm no expert on these, but it's pretty terrible. It looks to me like they just took a photo of one and didn't even bother to flatten it, among other things...

http://www.collectingbrooklyn.com/ne...ikenMendez.jpg

I saw that card too. The back doesn't even look like other original 1923-24 Billikens' backs does it?

It’s the backs. Post pictures of the backs and it will become easy to see. You don’t even need to look at the fronts.

Somehow the Billiken company was able to reach into the future and come up with a stamp made with a cut of the typeface 'Futura' which would not be commercially available (in Germany) until 1927.

Took a bit longer to reach the States and a little longer still until it was used regularly over a tried a true sans-serif like Franklin Gothic. But the Billiken people - they were way ahead of their time!

Seriously, when the fakers learn typographic, printing and design history we'll be in trouble.

From the seller's (very detailed) description:


"Certification services by PSA is offered at additional cost, if is chosen please send a message with that request prior ending auction..."

Not something you normally see ... The whole thing makes me hope that the seller did not knowingly sell a fake and that the seller will let the buyer get out of it without much trouble. ...On the other hand the seller should have responded to Ryan ....

Total fraud, if you ask me. Not an innocent mistake. As Ryan said, just look at the back. That was the first thing I saw that looked stupid. :)

Anytime a seller is aware of PSA but chooses not to have their "$25,000" card authenticated and graded it's a red flag.