Real or Fake Musials?
 

Came across these recently. They are listed as "an estate find". Any idea if they are genuine or reprints/fakes? Wondering if I should take the risk.

Attachment 460443

Attachment 460444

Attachment 460445

Attachment 460446

Fake.

Thanks. Can you tell me how you know? I just want to try to avoid posting questions like this in the future. Is it something obvious?

Yes. Try looking at PSA or SGC graded examples. It becomes clear when you see what the cards are supposed to look like.

Oversaturated colors would be my main tell on these. They both look fake to me. Centering would be second.

I notice fakes often have heavy edge wear. There is often discoloration along the edges, which is particularly visible on the back. Sometimes a thin white line appears along the edges because that's the true color of the paper, and it seems to pop out after the edges have been roughed up a bit. There are some terrible fake Leafs on eBay with lots of bids. Here's one of the worst:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/27480971758...MAAOSwstRgrDIO

On these two

1) Leaf - color is oversaturated, the borders on front appear to be the wrong stock, the texture appears to be that of one of the tea-soaked aged fakes.

2) Bowman - Back stock looks wrong, it's too smooth, the front colors again don't appear quite right, but it's mostly the back that tells me it ain't the real McCoy.

In general, and I'm sure others will disagree, incorrect-appearing stock and color is the easiest way to pick out the fakes in pics for most old cards. When in hand, the edges are usually a great tell. Most reprints (I don't think this will be true for much longer) are not so good that they are difficult to discern if you have in hand with an authentic card from that set alongside it, but photos is another matter. Generally, I think Leaf's are among the easier commonly encountered fakes to pick out once you've been over a bunch.

It's possible to find a bargain even now, but most cards with low-quality pics from an estate sale at a good price are going to be fakes 99% of the time.

When in doubt on a fairly big card, always post it for opinions from experts (I'm not claiming to be one) or listen to the doubt.