All,
There is a new Mantle forgery on ebay. I've contacted the seller, but if you all can chip in by reporting this auction, it'd be a tremendous help. The sale is going for serious money, and someone will get burned unless we do something.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1952-TOPPS-M...item4d0b7544c2
The disturbing thing is, the forgeries are getting better. Last year I saw 3 or 4 fakes in cracked holders, but all were rather obvious in that the Yankees Team Logo was too good, and had a two tone baseball bat instead of the correct solid black.
But this new forgery corrects for that. However, there are four key diagnostics which can be easily spotted, to save you or people you know from being taken for a ride!
Here is the card in question.
Diagnostic 1: Every forgery I've seen is of the Type A, and all examples are artificially aged, appearing in cracked PSA holders graded 3 to 4. They have well rounded corners. They never come sharp. But the corners are UNIFORMLY rounded, unnaturally so, as if done by hand, when of course real wear comes unevenly based on how the card was handled over the years (such as being repeatedly removed from boxes or sleeves, or being handled by one corner or another)
Diagnostic 2: Despite the rounded corners, the card is ALWAYS perfectly centered with bright white corners. Centered examples are tough to find, centered with original colors...but centered, with original colors, yet heavily worn on the corners? There should be more fading to correspond with the level of wear.
Diagnostic 3: In the lower left corner of the image border, on the fake example there is an extra pixel. This is inconsistent with both authentic types. Type A is missing a pixel and has a rounded corner, while type B is just right with a nicely defined corner. However, this detail may not be apparent for ebay auctions, if the image isn't sufficiently high res. Which leads too...
Diagnostic 4: This is the KEY diagnostic, and has to do with the positioning of the Y in Mickey, in relation to the inner black border of the star box.
Compare the images below, of an authentic Type A & Type B, and the suspect card.
Note the position of the Y in relation to the black border. For type As it practically touches. Even for type Bs, it is very, very close. But the suspect card, indeed for EVERY forgery I've seen, there is a sizeable gap.
This diagnostic is an absolute means of verifying authenticity. Tthe 52 tops were printed in a four color offset method, with the three primary colors (Yellow, Cyan, Magenta) topped by a B/W layer to add contrast. This last layer contained the autograph itself as well as the black portions of the star box....so the spatial relationship between the two is ABSOLUTE (as opposed to some variable shift as each separate layer is applied to the backing). The positioning of the Y in relation to the black border is absolute, and if the card you see does not fit, it cannot be an authentic Mantle.