Ty Cobb Card - the Real Thing?

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Posted By: Jim Gagnepain

I won this item on an EBay auction:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320213208358

After reading a lot of the posts here, I'm beginning to wonder if this is the real thing, or if it's one of those "Aged Reprints". The picture is terrible.

I haven't paid yet, but instead asked the seller about the authenticity of the card. Since then, I've received no response, but instead, a second invoice. This makes me more suspicious.

Anybody help here?

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Posted By: Eric B

That might actually be one of those Ty Cobb cards they put in Cracker Jacks about 10 years ago. About 1.5 inches to a side. But nothing in the listing would indicate that it was a 1915 vintage Cracker Jack card. Even the category was "Other". So I think it was a fair sale.

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Posted By: Tom Boblitt

he/she has sold........coupla Mantles.....looks like the Topps cards from the 2001/2/3 sets. I'd go with stiff 'em myself. Just my opinion. The Cracker Jack is clearly not a real cracker jack from 1914/1915.

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Posted By: Jim Gagnepain

I actually thought it was a 1914 when I bid on it. I looked it up in the PSA directory, and it's the "example" card shown under the 1914 Cracker Jacks.

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Posted By: Sean BH

Well I'm going to go out on a limb and say it's fake.

With a picture like that, private auction, not graded and sold for the price of $50...it's fake.

I wouldn't pay.

sdbh

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Posted By: barrysloate

It's a fake, and how can any serious seller use a photo of that poor quality to sell an expensive card.

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Posted By: Rob Scales

At the very least, the shipping cost seems reasonable.

Back to the Penske file....

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Posted By: barrysloate

You're not Penske material!

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Posted By: Jim Gagnepain

I saw this 1993 card listed on EBay. It's the same image, and it shows the 1993 date on the back.

http://tinyurl.com/2d78nm

I've written the seller, and asked for a clear picture of the rear of the card. If I don't get some good answers, I'm going to heed all of your advice, and not pay. Thanks for responding.

The same seller sold a 1956 Mantle yesterday. Last I looked, it was bidding in at over $100. There's a 1963 Mantle currently listed - same bad photo technique.
Jim

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Posted By: Jim Gagnepain

What's the Penske file?

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Posted By: Bruce Babcock

Rules to live by: Bad photo = don't bid.

Penske File = Seinfeld reference.

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Posted By: dennis

i would pay the seller in monopoly money which is as real as that cobb card.

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Posted By: Rob Scales

also, looking at this seller's feedback, most of the items sold are "three day only mystery auction e-envelopes huge prizes"

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Posted By: Eric B

1993. That's it. So everything in the auction listing was likely correct. It was a Ty Cobb card that came in packages of Cracker Jacks in the early 1990's. I remember pulling some out myself.

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Posted By: T206Collector

...it only went for $50? Did all of the hundreds of Ty Cobb cracker collectors and dealers just miss it? Or did they all recognize that it was unquestionably a fake?

Follow the progression of a normal auction for an authentic Ty Cobb cracker jack card. The bidding will get into the hundreds rather quickly. If you do not see the bidding going into the hundreds, then it is fake.

If the price is too good to be true, then it is.

Finally, if you can't differentiate the fake stuff from the real stuff, you ought to stick with graded cards until you learn what to look for.



_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Visit http://www.t206collector.com for my blog, interviews, articles, card galleries and more!

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Posted By: peter ullman

That was right after I graduated from undergrad and was living with my parents...a dismal period in my life. I ate more cracker jacks that year than I ever havejust to get those miniature replica cards. I must have a few hundred of them.

pete in mn

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Posted By: Eric B

So, should he pay? I say yes, the listing was correct.

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Posted By: Dave F

I would say ask the seller about just paying off his seller fees and be done with it.

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Posted By: peter ullman

while I agree that it sucks...I hate to see people ripped off. but i've been there...i have a fake fro-joy sheet, a phony mayo, a bogus t3, a blacked in bordered 71' thurmon munson, another fake fro-joy. It's always a valuable learning experience...and the financial aspect makes it sting enough to never forget it!

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Posted By: fkw

I believe Eric B is right, it is from the 1990s and was actually issued in packages of CJs. the way to tell even with the bad picture is the caption is of a different design compared to the E145-1 and E145-2 cards. These have very little value.

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Posted By: dan mckee

Blatant fake.

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Posted By: Eric B

Dan, it may not be a vintage E145 card but it certainly is not a fake. It's identical to the one I pulled out of a box of Cracker Jacks in the early 1990's.

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Posted By: Jim Gagnepain

Over 24 hours, and the seller still hasn't responded, so it's obviously a misleading ripoff. I wonder if the Mantle cards were the same way. I will offer to pay his/her listing fees (nice suggestion), but I'm not paying for the card - bad feedback or not.