Are their known counterfeits of the 1983 Mickey Mantle 52 Topps reprint?
 

I always loved the allure of the 1952 Mantle but I definitely don't want to pay thousands for it. I had a PSA 8 copy of the 1983 reprint card, and recently I picked up a PSA 9 copy.

When I looked at it next to my PSA 8 copy, something looked fishy. When I flipped them over to look at the back, they were clearly printed on different paper stock and they were printed 180 degrees off of each other.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...e6f1f93c_c.jpg

On the front, the shade of blue is different, the thickness of the black border is different, and the quality of the image is lower.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...b596f409_b.jpg

The signatures on the front look different as well.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...eedd57b9_b.jpg

Are there known variations of this card, or is the PSA 9 a counterfeit?

Your PSA 9 copy is a Fake reprint. Unfortunately PSA slabbed a good number of them. I would send it back to the seller for a refund if you can. If not send it to PSA. I wrote something on this subject 3 or 4 years ago but I can’t recall where.
These were mine at the time...the right one is the fake.

Who would make a fake of a reprint? How much is a 1983 version worth? I've never heard of it. The first Mantle series I can recall is the 1996 Topps.

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Thanks for the feedback. I contacted the seller so hopefully I'll hear back soon.

This wasn't a "Mantle series," Topps reprinted the entire 1952 set (minus 5 cards where they couldn't get the player to sign off on including them in the reprint set). It was released as a complete boxed set. In 1991 Topps did a reprint of the entire 1953 set and those ones were released in packs. A few years after that, they did a reprint of the 1954 set that was also distributed in packs.

The 1996 Topps set was released as a tribute after Mantle died.

The 1953 reprint set was the beginning of what we consider Topps Archives, right?

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Yes. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...ec86b03e_z.jpg

PSA now grades a reprint of a reprint?? Oh my..

Update - the seller approved the return, so I will be getting my money refunded. Sent the Mantle back to the seller. Will be interested to see if it gets re-listed.

did they sell these as inserts in packs or were they just available as a set?

Only as a complete set.

Why do most collectors not seem to consider the 1983 1952 reprint set as part of the Tiffany series?

Tiffany sets were issued 84 to 91 and sort of again in 2001-2002. The 52, 53 and 54 reprint and various Archives issues were a different line of product, right ?

My 52 reprint is a sealed blue box, but my 53 and 54 reprint sets were from packs

https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...unds&crop=fill

IIRC I ordered my '52 Reprint set off of an ad in the PARADE Magazine in the Sunday paper. The sets are notorious for centering issues.

https://i152.photobucket.com/albums/...pslsf07ue5.jpg

The 1983 1952 reprint set is very different than the 1953 & 1954 Archive sets which came later. The blue box that it comes in was sealed with the same gold sticker like the other Tiffany sets; and I believe the boxes are serial numbered similarly, although not positive. The Tiffany line also overlaps with the Gallery of Champions sets and the Bronze/Pewter dealer premiums.

Right. I have the Tiffany sets and updates, 84-91 and the 2001/02. Also have the Immortals and Gallery sets, 84-91 in bronze, silver, and in later years aluminum. They come in nice boxed sets. Also the sealed 52 set and hand collated 53 and 54

The Gallery premiums were only pewter. I have those. There were bronze replicas of Topps cards in these years but were larger than the Galleries. Have those as well

By the way for some weird reason someone produced fake Gallery ingots that are pewter but do not match the premium subjects. I bought a couple as examples and provided them to Bob Lemke who actually listed them as fakes in the SCD Catalog at one time. He also listed another fake/counterfeit Topps product in the Catalog. Anyone know what it is ?

There was also the 1983 Bronze Premium of Steve Carlton though which I assumed had to do with the start of the Tiffany line. Topps still seemed to be figuring it out for the first year or two with the 1983 1952 reprint set and Gallery of Immortals/Champions? Any idea of the production run for the reprint set?

https://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=281357

I do not know the number of 52 Reprint sets produced.

I have a 83 bronze Carlton. It and the subsequent bronze replicas were premiums to dealers for selling a given amount of Traded sets. They like the Immortal and Gallery issues are 1/4 size. Other bronze replicas I have, all listed in the SCD Standard Catalog for 2011, the last to list post 80 issues, are

84 Strawberry
85 Rose
86 Mantle( 52 design)
87 Mays ( 53 design)
88 Snyder ( 55)
89 J Robinson (52)
90 Aaron (54)
91 B Robinson (57)

If I remember correctly, the paper cutouts of Topps cards from the massive book that showed 1/4 size Topps cards from all the Topps sets? Thru 1986 I think?

Got it Randy. :) Pictures were from Topps Surf books, affixed to blank cardboard with a stamp on back that said "Topps Promotional Sample". Lemke listed them in the 1961 Topps section in the 2011 Catalog. I bought one as an example off ebay. It was a 64 Aaron. I always felt listing things, even as fake or counterfeit, in a Catalog gave the item some value it would not otherwise have. On the other hand it might have saved some folks from a bad buy at the time

When there were card shows I used to see the book cut fakes on occasion.

When Topps put out the big hardcover book with all their baseball cards, they used the reprint images for the 52's except for the five that never got reprinted originally. You can seen the difference quite easily.

http://www.thetoppsarchives.com/2012...escapades.html


Also, If memory serves, Topps advertised 35,000 sets were printed of the 1952 reprint. I may be wrong on that and thought I had a scan of the announcement (which I can't find right now) but that figure sticks in my head.

Why would they? It is not glossy.

As well as I can tell from the first post, the PSA 9 being fake because the back is white. The back is off-white/beige/cream/whatever (as seen on the PSA 8). They are not glossy on the front nor back. They are not like the 1991 or 1994 in terms of quality. My best comparison is that the 1983 1952 set is closer to say.. 1983 Fleer or Donruss than 1983 Topps.

Also note that in that comparison of the first post, the PSA 8 front looks kind of blurry or washed out. The whole set is like this and somewhat disappointing.