Things are getting a little scarier for collectors

[steve B]

Originally Posted by Matthew H

I've collected ancient coins for the last 15 years and I can tell you that's a market that has almost been completely ruined by fakes and alteration. People have figured out how to fake a decent looking patina and have scared many many collectors out of collecting. I bought a coin last month, for $50, that I couldn't get for less then 300-400 ten years ago.

Lithographed cards have always scared me the most. Couldn't someone make a great fake using screen printing methods?

Like Quan stated above, it'll be the cardboard that won't be replicated. From issue to issue its too different.

What if a method was developed to remove all ink from a common card, then a more valueable card was printed... Whoa, scary. Hopefully Steve B will chime in and tell us it's impossible.

Not much good news I'm afraid.

Screen printing won't produce a decent copy. Plus the look of each type of printing is different.

Making an exact duplicate of most old cards is possible but would be expensive and require a lot of skill in more than one area. Plus a good original to work from or a very high res scan.

Removing all the ink from a card can be done, it's much tougher on the back than the front. The back is usually the raw cardboard but the front is coated so it will accept the ink in a different way, making the colors brighter.
The problem is finding a solvent that will work well without leaving obvious odors. The only one I know that fits that has been essentially banned since the late 90's to protect the ozone. (111Tricloroethane )

I've seen a couple really amazing fakes. One was a 51 Bowman Mantle. It looked amazing, but everyone that held it had the same reaction - "nice card, too bad it's fake" But nobody that saw it could figure out exactly why they felt it was fake. This was in 1982!
The other is a Joe Wood E121. If it wasn't for the fake overall stain and a back mismatch it would probably get past most people. I bought that one in 1978.

On the good side, modern printing is done from computer direct to the press with the plate made on the press itself. And that will usually look about like the product of a nice computer printer. The skills to do stuff the old way are going to become less common as time goes by.

Steve B