T206 variations

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Posted By: Bruce Babcock

There was a fairly notorious case in the early 80s regarding a 20-something California dealer who created a lot of fake Pete Rose Topps rookie cards. Rose cards were hot then as he chased and surpassed Cobb's lifetime hits record. He (the forger, not Rose) was arrested, charged & convicted, as I recall, but I don't know what sentence he might have served. I remember being shown one of the fakes along side a real one and I thought it was pretty convincing. I realize that Topps cards are not T206 but I think that the technology to create fake T206s probably existed in the early 80s. Having said that, and further stating that I am in no way a T206 expert, I think that some sort of mishap or mistake in 1910 or thereabouts possibly could have created a real rarity. Or not. It's an interesting story in either case.