1951 Bowman Mantle Fakes......

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Posted By: Bill 

First poster here. I am wondering how it is you can tell a fake 1951 Bowman Mantle from a real one. I've pretty much educated myself on the '52 Topps but am curious on the '51 Mantle. (Other than the word "reprint" on the back)

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Posted By: hankron

Buying online, it's best to buy raw 1951B Mantles from reputable dealers. There are a lot of reprints and fakes. However, if you've seen a lot of legitimate Mantles (even if only online) many of the fakes look obviously bad.

For in person, you should buy a number of cheapo 51B commons for comparison. The key with the 51 Bowmans is that they were printed on coarse dark grey cardstock. Many reprints will have white edges or otherwise goofy stock that quickly give them away as fakes. If you have some cheap commons with you when you go to a show or whatever, the fake Mantle will standout like a sore thumb.

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Posted By: steve k

Crazy as this sounds - the backs of 51 Bowmans age/discolor in a certain way that I have never seen counterfeiters able to duplicate. Look at enough scans and real cards and you'll begin to see this. That being said, I still would never buy a 51 Mantle off of ebay unless it was PSA, GAI or SGC graded and from a reputable dealer.

Also note that this forum is for Pre-WW2 cards. Any other questions regarding Post-WW2 cards should be asked in the Collectors Universe Forum which is also a great baseball card forum. You may want to go there and post this question and you should get a good response.

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Posted By: hankron

The collector's eye is a sophisticated tool. For collectors who actively collect a set(s)and enjoy looking at the cards-- from Allen & Ginters to 1975 Topps-- they are are not going to be fooled in person by the reprints-- especially when they have examples for comparison. The reprints will simply look bad. A seven year old who enjoys playing with her grandpa's 1953 Topps will be able to identify a reprint because it doesn't look like grandpa's.

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Posted By: David Vargha

Steve hit the nail on the head in that nobody would fail to get the card slabbed to maximize profit since a "nice" PSA 1 Mantle Bowman rookie card goes for about a grand.

DavidVargha@hotmail.com