52 topps attic find and detecting fakes

[JohnnyKilroy]

Found a guy who is trying to offload a bunch of 50s raw cards including a massive collection of 52 Topps. Literally found in a friends grandparents attic. Obviously the Mantle is commonly faked, but are there really fake commons and high numbers? His story doesn’t have too many holes, but if they are real, he’s sitting on quite a collection.

I purchased 2 cards off him through ebay that are graded and that’s how we got to talking. He didn’t have a huge seller history and doesn’t really have other listings. His story was that he sent 3 cards off to get graded through his local card shop, those are the ones he sold on ebay, and is overwhelmed with the collection and which way to go with it. Joked about the cost to grade cards and said he’d rather just sell them all raw. He’s got a couple 54 Williams and Robinsons that looks super clean and sharp, plus a real nice 55 Koufax. He sent me a bunch of pics and everything looks good to me, but I wouldn’t know the first thing about spotting a fake. What jumped out at me was how white the borders were and some were super centered.

He suggested I buy just a couple cards and he’d throw in a few 52 topps commons and high numbers. Then I could send them all off to PSA expedited, and if they check out, at least it would make me feel a little better about spending thousands on the collection. He said I could come out to Montana and check them all out any time I wanted, but I still need to figure out what I’m looking for.

Any suggestions, tips, tricks? 52 commons faked? What’s a VG common go for these days? VG high number? The one’s in card savers are all high numbers.