With the stakes rising, how worried should we be about high quality counterfeit cards

[Exhibitman]

IMO the bigger threat is someone knocking off the PSA holders and then encapsulating genuine cards, especially modern where the PSA grade blessing means thousands of dollars over minute or imperceptible differences. You can buy a beautiful raw 1996 Fleer Metal Kobe RC for $50-$100. A PSA 10 is a $3,000 card. A raw Ultra LeBron RC is also a $50-$100 raw card; PSA 10 $8,000. I would expect that the counterfeiters, who are likely going to be from China with access to the factories that make the card holders and components are located, will make what they know first. Run a third shift at the plastics factory making PSA holders, spend the $$ duplicating the flip in a high end print shop, get some raw cards and mint money. There are over 4,000 Kobe RCs in the PSA database, including over 900 nines; just take your pick of cert #s and go to work.