Black swamp Cy Young

[vintagetoppsguy]

Originally Posted by steve B

I don't want to take this too far off the topic of the thread, and waited some time before posting what I did.

For those with no interest in modern stuff the short tale is this.

There's a handful of 89 Fleer Ripken errors that are very different from a normal 89 fleer card. On the site linked there are some good closeup scans and links to two different opinions about the odd card. One that lists a few reasons why it's fake, the other looks at it a bit more technically and reaches the opposite conclusion.

I'm ambivalent about the card. Some of the points that are made concluding it's fake are good ones. But the overall list has some errors of a technical nature that at least to me make it less credible.
There are a few things in the analysis that concludes it's real that I find convincing.

I wouldn't say that either analysis is a home run. I'd also say that at the moment I think the card is probably fake, but not as poor a fake as it's claimed to be. And I can easily see it passing at any grading company.
There are a few things that would convince me either way, but I haven't seen either addressed yet by anyone.

If I was doing the authenticating/grading I'd decline slabbing it pending more information.

I'd be happy to discuss the Ripken in detail over in the postwar section. (Or by email) I don't think it's productive or desirable to continue that discussion here.


Steve B

Steve,

I don't feel that we took the thread of topic, it kind of drifted of topic on its own when others questioned the authenticity of the Black Swamp cards.

One member commented, "I'm not sure a good counterfeit wouldn't get by a tpg" and then another member added to that, "I have a friend that sent in 2 counterfeit cards that both came back as PSA 9's."

That's when Glyn commented, "Sorry I do not believe you about your friend..." basically calling the guy a liar. The member posted a link showing the differences between a real card and a counterfeit along with a picture of the counterfiet in a PSA slab.

Instead of apologizing to the member for calling him a liar, Glyn followed up by saying, "I do not believe they have knowingly put fake cards on holders." Well, nobody ever said they knowingly did it, but regardless, they did it.

The original question (comment) was, would a good counterfeit get by a TPG? It was proven so. That said, the era of the card shouldn't matter to prove or disprove the question. It's either a yes or a no.

Last, I have included a scan of the counterfeit (left) with a scan of a real graded card (right). How can you say there is no difference? All you have to do is look at the left and right borders of the picture. See how the picture is cropped on the counterfeit and you see more of the picture on the real card? I'll ask the question again, "What more 'proof' do you need?"