[Leon]

+1 Our hobby is caveat emptor.

Originally Posted by thatkidfromjerrymaguire

Hi CrazyJoe!

Based on your join date and number of posts, my guess is that you're new here, and maybe fairly new to vintage collecting. Welcome!

I myself am fairly new as well. After a long time away from the hobby, I sort of fell back in love with vintage baseball cards a couple years ago, and over the last two years have really had fun learning and collecting...mostly post war, but a few pre war cards here and there.

One of the first things you will notice is that there are MANY auction listings that state the authenticity of the card is unknown or "per auction rules, since the card is non authenticated I am listing as as "reprint"". I would say that if you see those phrases, there is pretty much a 100% chance the card is fake.

Unless you know the seller very well, you need to be really cautious about buying ungraded hall of famers and high dollar cards.

And if you do prefer to buy raw cards, definitely start with some cheaper, low grade commons to become familiar how they look, feel, and even smell.

Also, spend some time searching this board...there are many knowledgeable and seasoned collectors here (with some amazing collections) and you can learn a ton just reading about their experiences (and enjoy looking at their cards when they post pictures).

Take care,

John