Fro Joy Babe Ruth Cards

[Clutch-Hitter]

Originally Posted by vintagecpa

It is too bad the Fro Joy market is so screwed up with reprints. They are nice cards that I will just never bother to own because I don't trust any of them. Heck, if the original plate is still in existence, somebody is probably printing some out as I type.

If a plate does exist, it would have to be of the sheet, not the factory cut singles. The cards on the sheet are different compared to the factory cut singles, therefore they can be identified as authentic or not. From what I've read, a counterfeiter could not print them today as they did in 1928. It seems the reprint problem originated pre-1980.

Any single card that has characteristics of uncut sheet cards is not authentic; it is a counterfeit. Amid heavy research, I have only found one black and white counterfeit of the machine cut single, and it was horribly done, very obvious. It was artificially aged and brownish.

As I mentioned before, I purchased a single from a counterfeit uncut sheet with limited knowledge of the issue. But even so, I knew it was counterfeit as soon as I received it and held it. Paypal refunded, and I still have it because the seller would not provide his return address. I subsequently purchased a BVG graded Fro Joy crack fielder and immediately noticed the difference. If I knew then what I know now, I would not have purchased it.

Based on what I've read, a lot of which was from old threads here, the problem has always been that we didn't know the cards on the sheet possessed different characteristics compared to the factory cut singles. Knowledgeable collectors have always informed others to watch out for the dotted cut lines, the text box gaps, and lack of photo clarity, but they didn't know why they were saying that (full sheet characteristics). They were saying that because people were purchasing singles that were cut from a counterfeit sheet.

If a printing plate exists, would it have sold by now because of its uselessness? It is ridiculous that authentication companies can't authenticate this issue. Beckett has complete confidence, with the cards that is.

It's as simple as this:

Characteristics of cards on a full sheet, both authentic and counterfeit:

• dotted cut line on front
• gaps in the corners of the text box on the back
• lack of clarity in the photo, lesser quality than the machine cut singles

Characteristics of cards on an authentic full sheet:

• cardboard color back (like the Fro Joy premium)

Characteristics of cards on a counterfeit full sheet:

• whitish back like the machine cut singles

Characteristics of an authentic machine cut single:

• Solid text box on the back
• Photo clarity on front compared to the sheet, better quality
• No dotted cut lines

Characteristics of a counterfeit machine cut card single:

• Color photo
• Blue Photo
• Cards that are brownish from manufactured aging

Here's one of those repli-cards, which is a black and white counterfeit of the factory cut single. It also has the connected text box on the back. It's next to an authentic:

[IMG][/IMG][IMG][/IMG]

If a single card matches the description of a card on the full sheet, it's a counterfeit, period.

It's not as difficult as it seemed.