Best Way of Authenticating

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Posted By: Dustin

Hi all! This is my first post here. I have just recently gotten very interested in collecting cards from the Pre-War Era (I got burned out on the new stuff. No hunt = no fun). I've collected sports memorbilia for nearly all of my life, but this is literally a whole new ball game for me. Someone I actually met on Ebay who lives within a fairly close proximity of me pointed me towards this forum. My main concern is making sure that I am getting authentic cards, and not counterfeits. I recently purchased several cards from someone that are questionable. To make a long story short, he sold them as reprints because he was uncertain of their authenticity, and didn't want to be responsible for selling someone counterfeits with them under the impression that they were real. The story is what made me take the gamble - he purchased a huge vintage lot from an elderly woman whose husband passed away, and the guy was a life-long collector. If they are counterfeit, I won't lose any sleep over it (I didn't spend over a hundred bucks) and I can use them later for comparison purposes. My question to you guys is who would you recommend that I use in order to authenticate them? Paying more to have one graded that I know is authentic doesn't seem like a bad idea, but when the card is questionable, I really don't know my best options. I've purchased graded cards, but never actually had any looked at on my own. Thanks in advance!

Dustin

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Posted By: Dave F

Welcome to the board Dustin,

First...IMO send anything pre-war to SGC...most knowledge and best customer service as well. Also..if your just getting into pre-war, take some time buying graded examples first instead of trying to make it big picking up something raw and not being real sure what your looking at. If you need any help shoot me an email...I'm usually pretty quick to return.

Regards
Dave

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Posted By: Tim

Here's a little reading material for you.

http://www.cycleback.com/baseballcards/

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Posted By: leon

Welcome to our forum. You might start out by reading the "archives" and "detecting counterfeits" sections at the top of this forum. That will give you a good start....of course the usual reference manuals are a must too. Lipset's Encyclopedia VOL 1-3, the Krause Baseball SCD (Big Book) and maybe old hobby publications when you can find them. You will be ramped up in no time. And by all means ask questions if you don't know. If I can ever help let me know too....take care

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Posted By: Joseph Shirley

Not getting into whether you got a good deal or not. Just a quicky on phrases that have been way "overused" and send up red flags.

purchased from a little old lady
lifetime collector
estate sale
I know very little about the item I am selling
etc, etc, etc.

when a seller says anything like the above statements, my first thought is watch out, this seller may not be honest. And do not buy into the statement " I am not sure if these are reprints or not". You can bet your bottom dollar, he knows full well that they are reprints.

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Posted By: Scott Mt Joy

To save money I would post a couple scans here, lots of experts on this boards and most are cool about helping someone out. Also good advice above about buying a couple graded examples by SGC or PSA till you have a feel for what the cards really look like.

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Posted By: Al C.risafulli

Welcome, Dustin.

I think the best way to determine authenticity is to immerse yourself in the cards - both raw and graded - but to purchase them from reliable sources with good feedback in selling vintage cards. Once you've held a few dozen cards in your hand from a particular issue, it gets pretty easy to tell which ones are real and which ones aren't.

As a previous poster mentioned, the story you tell (lifelong collector, estate sale, selling them as reprints, etc.) is a classic story that people use to pawn off reprints by instilling just a tiny bit of hope that they're real. As you state, owning a few reprints is a good way to learn about what the reprints look like.

All is not lost, either. One time I bought a lot of about 30 cards like this, just so I could own the reprints, and when I received them it turned out that some of them were actual, real T206s - a few commons but also a few minor HOFers like Joss and Bresnahan. So maybe you'll luck out the same way.

Good luck!

-Al

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Posted By: Paul S

I'm pretty much with Al. Get you hands on some raw in the issues you are looking for, in a few different grades that you can afford. Look at them, touch 'em, smell 'em, take 'em to bed with you...don't eat them though Re graded, if they are too much to purchase then go to shows and card stores (a dying breed) if you can, and get some good close looks. Soon, you'll get an intuition about the whole thing -- it'll be like being able to pick out your own dog among a group of identical breed.

*edited to use the word "breed" twice.

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Posted By: Bob

Joseph- great list but add "found in an old trunk."

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Posted By: Brad L.

Agreed, 99.9% of those stories are meant to give some hope of authenticity. And if these people can get away with that on even 50% of their auctions, they're making big money.

My favorite was "Ruth cards found in a dumpster after a pawn shop closed." Or something like that. People from the PSA boards will appreciate that one, lol.

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Posted By: Paul S

The only true story of this sort I've heard is when Skydash pulled (most of) his father-in-law's collection out of the city dump.

*edited to add...and didn't put it on ebay!

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Posted By: Dustin

You know, now that I think back over a lot of what I've seen on Ebay - all while hoping to get a lucky find - all of the stories seem to sound just like what you've all mentioned. lol I'm going to post my own scans of the cards when they come in (should be this week), and if they are reprints (which I'm starting to feel more like the odds are leaning in that direction) I want you to show me how you know. I'm going to scan the actual front and back of the cards instead of just taking a picture. I'm halfway through with the Cycleback article... I can't get over the lengths that people will go to in trying to pull one over on somebody else.

Is there a way to get e-mails whenever a reply is posted to a thread that you want to follow?

'Preciate it!! - Dustin