Here's One I Haven't Seen Before.....Fake or Real?

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180181577665

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Posted By: Rhys

If I have any questions about an item and I see it is being sold in Ohio, that is a HUGE red flag. Almost all of the fakes like this being produced are being done in Ohio.

Rhys

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Posted By: Mark

I agree with Rhys... This eminates from Ohio, and look at the painfully low price it sold for.... about 3% of what a real one would be worth.

This seller also currently has a Christy Mathewson Tuxedo Tobacco Poster listed, of equal worth (or lack there of).

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Posted By: Aaron M.

Super-fake. All of his advertising pieces (including the football related ones) are fake.

I like how he describes them as "old" in quotation marks. Hilarious fraud.

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Posted By: barrysloate

I think it's fake too...but what's the deal with Ohio? Is that where all these fakes originate?

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Posted By: Mark Steinberg

Barry... Yes, a huge percentage of these bad pieces seem to eminate from Ohio. Somebody there is producing them and distributing them to dealers, flea markets, etc. in the area.

Many of these turn up on Ebay, and have been for what seems like a couple of years now. I know that the counterfeitors have taken images from the Halper catalogue (and other sources), and have skillfully reproduced them using a laser process.

Then they "age" the piece by leaving it outside, soil it, bend/crease it, etc. Some really look authentic over the computer... probably less so, when you see them live.

A few of the more common fakes are as follows...

* "Fan for a Fans" (esp. Cobb and Matty)
* Babe Ruth/Lou Gehrig Broadsides
* Negro League Broadsides
* Lucky Strike Trolley Signs
* Tuxedo Tobacco Displays with Mathewson
* Babe Ruth Ad Signs/Easel Backs (esp. Kaywoodie Tobacco)
* Ty Cobb Easel Backs like this one that inspired Dan's thread, as well as a more common Stall & Dean Glove Standee.

There are many more examples I can't think of right now, in case anyone else want to post a similar "heads-up" warning. The people producing these are scum, and fortunately seem to be realizing much lower prices than when these initially hit the market.

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Posted By: Rhys

I went to a flea market about 30-40 miles outisde of Columbus in 2005 and there was a guy set up there selling out of an old van with TONS of fake stuff like this. I just walked right on by and didn't say much but noticed he had a Babe Ruth candy wrapper (before these were known fakes), and I asked him where he got such a rare item. His reply was "I dont know man, I get so much stuff".

He had fake postcards of Yankee Stadium with the Ruth ova photo on it, fake photos mounted to old cardboard, fake advertising pieces, fake cards, EVERYTHING that you see on ebay. This was before it became so much of a problem and I so I just walked away. I am not sure if he is the creator or just the seller of the pieces but he had something to do with it. It looked like the guy was selling stuff and living out of his van but with the amount he has been making pretty regularly on ebay over the last 3-4 years, I am sure he could live out of a Bentley now.

Rhys

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Posted By: Mark Steinberg

I sure wish the FBI would go after these criminals the way they did with the autograph forgers, a la "Operation Bullpen". I guess it's not as big a business and not nearly as widespread...

But the image of this fool selling memorabilia out of his truck is giving me nausea. If he operated in that manner, you would think that enough people had contact with him, and that someone could identify him / turn him in.

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Posted By: David Smith

Ebay seller ACOFIND from Muncie, Indiana also sells fake and reproduction crap like this. He currently has on some of the items another poster listed. Last week, he sold some Mickey Mantle reprint cards and received GOOD money for them.

ACOFIND also lists and sells reproduction advertising signs and posters. I REALLY wish somebody would buy one of these fakes and have the FBI investigate.

David

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Posted By: Max Weder

This one just ended on ebay for $153. http://tinyurl.com/2csxs7 1914 John Donaldson broadside which I hadn't seen before

The ending price suggests to me others had doubts as to its authenticity; can anyone give a definite opinion?

Max

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

Interesting Max...low price and newly framed.

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Posted By: Max Weder

Dan

What bothered me more were the low resolution photos. I was tempted to write the vendor and ask him to rip the backing off to see if there was (natural) aging to the piece, but decided I couldn't be bothered.

Max

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

He does give a three day return...and you know the more I look at it I think this might be a real poster. Beach is a real town in North Dakota and would have been about the right size town to host a barnstorming squad like the All-Nations team. Wish I'd seen this before it ended as I probably would have taken a chance.