Posted By:
Jay Miller In six years of buying Old Judge on ebay I had never run across a counterfeit, that is until recently. The last two Old Judge I have gotten on ebay have been counterfeits, and crude ones at that. The sellers seemed honest so I think they were just hoodwinked by the people they got the cards from. The bottom line of the post is be careful when you get Old Judge cards. Both the counterfeits I got were dot matrix printed and then aged to look vintage. The last one was a Fritsch reprint that was roughed up to look well handled and then dipped in tea or a similar substance to give it a used, yellowed color. Remember, when you look at an Old Judge photo under a loop you will see continuous color, not a dot pattern. Also, look at the side of the card. The cross section of cardboard under a 10X loop should look rough and cratered, not smooth and continuous. Also, I have seen some card backs that almost look like someone has lightly rubbed a pencil lead across the whole surface. All the ones I have seen like this have been rebacked cards.