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Posted By: davidcycleback

The key to judging if they're genuine in person is to look with strong magnification at the player image. The real Old Judges are real photos and have no dot pattern. A reprint or counterfeit will have a fine dot pattern, probably multi colors- like a modern card. 99.9 percent (or higher) of the reprints/fakes/counterfeits will have the dot pattern.

Far from definitive evidence of authenticity, but the scrap album glue commonly used in the 1800s tended to be thin and brown. Distinctly different than the thick, white Elmer's glue of today. 19th century wood glue on the back of a card or in an album often resembles tobacco juice or a coffee stain, and many collectors don't realize it's old time glue. They think the card back is dirty.