list of reprinted vintage cards?

[Archive]

Posted By: Brian

Does anyone know of, or have, a list of the pre-war issues that have been reprinted? This could help eliminate questions on eBay items.
Many thanks.

[Archive]

Posted By: jay behrens

Since decent laser copies can be made of almost any card, just assume everything has been reprinted at one time or another, especially, high end cards.

Jay

I love pinatas. You get to beat the crap of something and get rewarded with candy.

[Archive]

Posted By: Gilbert Maines

Scammers can create their own cards and print them from their computer in a quality good enough to fool many novice collectors, in my opinion.

Therefore, it is prudent to employ good judgement in choosing when not to bid on an eBay or other auction. Some factors which should be considered include:

Do not bid on any auction in which the seller has any of the following: feedback less than 99%, feedback less than 100, any private auction, no authenticity guarantee.

There are other good judgement factors relating to sellers, perhaps others may choose to cite them.

Regarding the item: do not bid on any t206 Wagner, nor any card for what you consider the price to be a lot of money, unless it is graded by PSA, SGC, BVG, or GAI only. If you have any uncertainties, come here and ask before you bid + bring a scan.

Good luck, enjoy.

[Archive]

Posted By: barrysloate

I'm not sure a feedback number lower than 100 is a reason to be suspicious of a dealer. Everyone was under 100 at one time. Perhaps there are more accurate criteria such as number of complaints, guarantees, etc.

[Archive]

Posted By: Brian

These are all good pieces of advice (thanks), ones that I usually swear by. Normally, I'd restrict myself to graded cards unless the card looks good and is relatively inexpensive. However, on occasion, I am tempted. Usually, things turn out fine and a good deal comes my way.
By way of example, and there are several out there now:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=001&item=110024068160&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1

Any comments?
I guess the bottom line is, it's just too hard to tell, but some things can be awfully tempting...

Still, if anyone has such a list, I'd be interested.

[Archive]

Posted By: jay behrens

100% feedback is almost impossible to maintain. There are just too many nut jobs out there. Perfect example, we sold some CDs to a guy. He wasn't happy and included a few more. The guy still left us a negative even after we solved the problem.

Jay

I love pinatas. You get to beat the crap of something and get rewarded with candy.

[Archive]

Posted By: Gilbert Maines

I will admit that the chance to buy a legitimate baseball card of Cobb for under $200. is tempting.

The question is,of course, is this a legitimate baseball card.

It is presented as a listing by the seller's daughter for her friend. The seller thereby disassociates himself from knowledge regarding this card. He further identifies his lack of expertise as having difficulty detecting creases, and being unable to identify the set which the card belongs in on his own.

Not very encouraging.

Further, this seller has sold 20 items on eBay in his life, none of which can be identified as baseball cards, in part because he hasn't sold anything at all in six months.

What is the chance that this guy's daughter's friend have of coming up with a legitimate ungraded Ty Cobb baseball card?

Not much, in my estimation.

Now lets look at the card. Is the scan clear enough for you to make assessment regarding its genuineness? No, not unless you really know the issue.

This is not so tempting to me, solely based on a situational assessment. To be safe, an assessment of the situation is the only tool an inexperienced buyer has, since he has not trained himself yet to judge the card.

If you are set on getting a bargain, eBay is a minefield.

[Archive]

Posted By: Brian

Gilbert,
I came to the same conclusion. I guess I just wanted a second opinion. Besides that, I emailed the seller about a guarantee, larger scans, etc., and go not reply, so that pretty much decided it.
Thanks for the input.

[Archive]

Posted By: Gilbert Maines

Good, this approach works. It is what the experts here told me when I arrived, not so very long ago. I do miss out on opportunities, because I have lots of issues to learn yet, but I also do not get burned with phoney cards.

When you get a chance, check out Cycleback's info on detecting fake cards - it is after the fact (of you accepting delivery) but it still is the method to be 100% certain whether the card is real. Sometimes it requires interpertation, magic, or something which I don't fully understand yet; but most of the time it is straight foward.

[Archive]

Posted By: martindl

I've been quite fortunate in treading where others fear to go on Ebay and have picked up some good bargains because of it, but,,,,always do your homework and always avail yourself of the opportunity to ask questions.

I always ask for larger front and back scans. I always ask about creases. I always ask for dimensions. Low feedback doesn't scare me off - everyone had to start somewhere. A person selling a card who has never sold a card before doesn't mean anything either. Go back and look at what they have sold, if they have sold, and then ask yourself if a card fits in. Someone who regularly sells estate items i.e a lot of variety of old stuff, could certainly run into a one off card or a couple here and there. If they've never sold, go look at what they buy - are they just buying consumer goods or are they a collector of something. Collectors routinuely sell something else of value to fund their collection. People know that baseball cards are valuable, so a person selling a one off card who collects other things isn't so strange.

I'm one of those people who assumes everyone is trustworthy, so i approach it that way i.e. that everyone is legit. I don't have the time for paranoia because i try to use that time to reasearch and ask questions. So far its done me alright.

I saw this - would you have bought it?

http://tinyurl.com/s529v

People asked questions. Those people didn't bid.

[Archive]

Posted By: Brian

I saw that Cracker Jack, too. I am much more familiar with this issue, and I judged that one to be a reprint, but I could be wrong. I am still guessing that it is not authentic.

[Archive]

Posted By: edacra

The print on the back of that Cracker Jack would scare me off, as would the uncertainty of the Seller even if he did seem good intentioned. I hope you scored the real deal though.

I think I've said it before, there should be a database online of known fakes with comparisons. It would be good for the hobby and help put the collector dollars back in the hands of legit dealers. If you search google for hints on spotting a fake R. Jackson, or Henderson rookie you can turn up lots of guides. I wish the same kind of thing was available for vintage cards. This forum is full of great examples that could be compiled in one location.

[Archive]

Posted By: martindl

Re. the Cracker Jack, the sellers response to the question of upside down printing wasn't really clear, but his response on the dimensions was - a quick check with Oldcardboard.com would show that the card is totally the wrong size.

[Archive]

Posted By: Bruce Babcock

I don't know if there is an official list but Larry Fritsch sells an awful lot of reprint sets. I don't imagine there are any he would decide not to carry. One of his catalogs would show quite a number of sets available.

[Archive]

Posted By: Brian

Yeah, I saw the Fritsch catalog although it only lists some of them. I do agree with a previous poster that a guide to spotting vintage fakes would be most useful (the ability of anyone nowadays to print good copies by laserprinting notwithstanding).

[Archive]

Posted By: Joann

My feedback is currently < 100. Although I agree there may some good rules of thumb out there, they can also cause you to overlook good sellers. I guess that's where experience comes in as a buyer. Early on, I really did go by feedback, etc.

I BIN'd an N29 Ewing on ebay recently for very cheap. Seller had total feedback of 49, a long period of inactivity with only two recent transactions, mixed bag of buyer/seller contributing to the 49 feedback, and no discernible history in cards of any kind. And the auction did not include a scan.

I emailed the seller asking for a scan email - instead the seller added the scan to the auction and I BIN'd it as soon as I saw it, but paid w/cc via PP just in case. That precaution turned out to be unnecessary. I think there were 16 or 18 viewings of the auction at the time I BIN'd it. The card looks like a good bargain right now, and more than a dozen people passed it up because of the several red flags.

Joann

[Archive]

Posted By: davidcycleback

Two of my general rules are for sellers include: 1) He/she should say what it is for sale, and 2) He/she should guarantee that it is what he/she says it is.

A large percentage of fake cards on eBay fail #1. If you read the sales descriptions for most fake T206 Honus Wagners, there are a lot of words but the seller never actually says the card is original ... The words "This is an original 1909 T206 Ty Cobb" is saying what it is. The words "I'm no expert, but the card is worn," isn't saying what it is.

If the purchase is inexpensive, then there's nothing wrong with taking a chance every once in a while.

[Archive]

Posted By: Gilbert Maines

Certainly this type of situation is common on eBay. It really boils down to a personal risk vs. reward choice which each bidder evaluates based on his or her own criteria and the specifics of the situation. Personally I do not value a bargain highly. I am motivated by getting exactly what I pay for. And because of that orientation, I miss many opportunities.

Although many of us are equipped to make accurate risk vs. reward assessments, newer persons to this hobby are usually ill equipped to do so. My presentation above is intended to provide a guideline which if followed will help to prevent a new buyer from being hurt until he develops the skills to knowledgeably stray from the guideline.

At all times, contact with the seller can clarify the level of risk which you are really facing.

[Archive]

Posted By: Josh K.

for what its worth, I think that the cobb was legit - bad picture, but didnt have any noticable tell tale signs of being a fake e121. I saw little risk in bidding since the seller accepted credit cards. I still lost out on the card anyway.

[Archive]

Posted By: Brian

Josh, I noticed that you and several other experienced bidders were willing to take a chance on the Cobb, and I thought about doing the same until it reached a certain level where it was not worth taking the chance. That's also my point--it's a tricky business, and even experienced buyers such as those on this board are at risk. What killed my interest in the Cobb was that the seller did not respond with a guarantee of authenticity or even a larger scan.

I would be curious to know if the Cobb is authentic (have been after that card for a while), if anyone participating in this forum picked it up......