Fro-Joy Ruth Uncut Sheet - How to determine real/fake?

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Posted By: Tim

I was shown a Ruth Fro-Joy uncut sheet on Friday and asked my opinion on whether or not it was real. I know from doing a little research that there are more fake sheets than real ones and would like to know what to look for to determine if this one is real or not.

It's black and white (not the color fake) and I don't own it so no scan is available.

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Posted By: leon

One of the best ways to be able to tell would be the toning of the paper. As long as it's black and white there is a chance it's real. I will guess that less than 1% are in fact real. Putting magnification to the printing would be the best way to determine if it's the correct type of mfg'ing process. You can go to our "detecting card alterations" section to see exactly what to look for. David Rudd Cycleback has some good info over there. regards

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Posted By: Red

1% is way too high. The easiest way to tell is to ask the person where they got it from. All answers involving a garage sale, flea market, estate sale, local auction, local card shop, mall show, antique store, inheritance, attic, and similar type finds will be a fake and waste of time.

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Posted By: leon

Good points...and thanks for reiterating what I said, which was:

"less than 1%"

best regards

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Posted By: Paul

Maybe Bush/Cheney were responsible for all those Fro Joy reprints? JUST KIDDING, REALLY. Anyway, Leon & David Rudd are correct about the printing process. The ink needs to display a dark rim as in the image below, & a microscope will be needed. I'm not aware of any reprints that were photoengraved.

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Posted By: leon

"I'm not aware of any reprints that were photoengraved."

If I am not mistaking there is a well known hobby story, maybe folklore, about a printing process machine from back in the 1920's (possibly from the Fro Joy factory) that was printing the cards after many, many years. This particular story, though I am not aware of it being substantiated, might cause some third party graders to not grade them even today....

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Posted By: Paul

I've heard that story before. Not from another source, but here on Net54. If that's true, I suspect only the cards were reprinted. There just are not enough photoengraved full sheets in circulation for me to think that the sheets were reprinted with the original plates. "I'm not aware of any reprints that were photoengraved" was only intended for the sheets, & not the cards.

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Posted By: Paul

Photoengraved individual Fro Joy cards are still quite rare, so that makes me question if they were reprinted with the original plates. They are not as rare as the sheets, but once again I would think there would be many more in circulation if the original plates were used at a later date.

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Posted By: davidcycleback

I'm not sure, but a Fro Joy sheet might fit into the new Beckett big holder-- which, if true, could mean your friend could sent it into Beckett. They already grade Fro Joy singles.