Quote:
Originally Posted by ajw9356
Thanks for the info, it's been two years since the guy has removed the card from a safe deposit box. Known him for 6 years, only knew about it after 4 years.
The one and only time I saw the card he had it in one of those super thick acetate slabs and refused to take it out, so I'm going to talk to him about looking it over again. I was able to look at it for about a half hour and I've seen some of the T206 before, I was pretty sure the back was consistent with a real card, so when you say the Piedmont backs weren't regular issue I'm assuming that the printed ones were all supposedly or supposed to be destroyed, if you could elaborate open the issues with them that would be great. Any idea if it would smell like tobacco? I know it was a fairly worn card, so the corners were well rounded, but I can't recall all the damage it had sustained. The biggest thing I could see was that there was definitely a coating but the part that had chipped off revealed what appeared to be fairly consistent with a real issue as well. I just didn't think that real good quality fakes were made more than 30-35 years ago. If it's a fake, it's top quality other than what ever was put on the surface, that was the other thing I didn't understand was if someone took the time to protect the surface why find it in a box of tools. I believe there were a small number of other vintage in the same box, but that doesn't mean whichever auction house didn't put them there. Ever heard of anyone using a shellac or varnish to protect cards? I've seen those reprints, was nothing like that, wasn't modern cardboard. Was there ever a reprint with rounded/cropped corners, I recall the card looked like the old bicycle spokes got ahold of them like so many other vintage cards, though there were no creases if I recall. I had dismissed the card as a fake because of the surface issue, but would really like to see it again.
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I've seen a few shellacked cards, as well as a few that were laminated in the 70's to "protect" them. It was more common on signed baseballs.
I've also seen cards coated in wax - but late 40's early 50's cards. The wax made them heavier for one of the card flipping games.
The reprints vary in quality, most have obvious flaws, but were also sold as reprints so they didn't try very hard to get them exact. Here's one of the early 80's ones. Obvious things different, but if someone hasn't seen more than a couple T206s it might pass if the front was pasted to a common.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/HONUS-HANS-W...item51b0e7debb
There are very few real ones with Piedmont backs. I can only be sure of two, one is handcut and has some printing issues, so it's probably printer scrap. The other is very famous, but is now known for sure to be trimmed, and is rumored to have been cut from a sheet at some time. There's probably one or two others but I can't find scans.
Another reprint was sold in a common book from Dover press. Thinner paper, and perforated so you could remove it from the page. But I have seen dover reprints with machine rounded corners and trimmed off edges being sold as real. (In 1979 -) Those would also appear decent if glued to a real card. and they were glossy.
A lot of edge wear, no creases, maybe coated with something, all points to a fake.
It's not entirely unusual for an auction, -especially a not so well lit country auction- to include an item like that in a lot that might need a bit of "help" in order to sell. Maybe a box of tools that's not going to bring much and hasn't sold in an earlier auction. It's crooked, but it's done. And not always by the auction, since some just auction whatever comes through the door that morning. I've bought items at auctions like that, and stuff needs a very good looking at to be sure what you're getting. The one time I didn't check an item out closely worked out well, but could easily have gone the other way. (40's Braves warmup jacket that I didn't even see in the preview. They had it on a chair behind one of the tables and I just figured it was one of the workers jackets. Nobody else looked at it either, and there were only two bidders)
Steve B