Counterfeit Mantle card being auctioned as PSA 5

[Brianruns10]

If this guy isn't the perpetrator of the scam, I feel he's at least aware the card is bogus. Maybe he got burned, and he's trying to recoup his loss. Because he knows enough to put the card against a white background so you can't otherwise spot what I'm guessing would be some pretty obvious frosting on one edge.

Another big red flag is this joker hasn't dealt in vintage cards...only the new junk. He has no demonstrated expertise with these things. He probably just had someone approach him with a Mantle card, and figured, "Well it's on a PSA holder, and THERE'S NO WAY those can be fake, right?"

[GasHouseGang]

The auction has been shut down. I guess someone finally believed us.

[betafolio2]

Thanks, everyone, for listening to my concerns and helping me to put a stop to this particular auction. I guess we could say the "Neighborhood Watch" took a "bite out of crime" this time!

[SetBuilder]

You can bet he's going to sell that card to someone...somewhere.

[RobertGT]

Originally Posted by SetBuilder

You can bet he's going to sell that card to someone...somewhere.

Coming soon to a Craigslist near you. Beware.

That's probably where he got it, thinking he could flip it for a cool $10K on eBay. Oops.

[Volod]

It's disturbing that there are apparently so many with thousands to spend who have so little concern for authentication of an expensive item that is commonly counterfeited. Are well-heeled neophyte collectors - or dealers - suffering from the delusion that anything in a graded slab must be genuine? If so, it reveals one of the biggest problems with the grading industry. Or, is it just a case of PT Barnum grinning at us from his grave?

[GasHouseGang]

Do you think there is a solution? I'm sure a slab can be made that is nearly impossible to tamper with, but what about something that would be on the slab that would be nearly impossible to counterfeit? A hologram maybe, or something else? The newer slabs have the hologram now. Perhaps a thread could be molded inside the plastic of the slab like the U.S. government is doing for the new currency. The special thread imbedded in the plastic could run down the side of the slab in the clear area and say PSA/SGC/Beckett or whatever over and over. Would that make it harder to fake? We need something, because these fakes are getting tougher to spot all the time.

[thetruthisoutthere]

The seller ended his listing.

Wanna-1.jpg

[Volod]

Originally Posted by GasHouseGang

Do you think there is a solution? I'm sure a slab can be made that is nearly impossible to tamper with, but what about something that would be on the slab that would be nearly impossible to counterfeit? A hologram maybe, or something else?....

I wonder what the cost/benefit analysis of PSA improving the security versus elimination of fraudulent sales profits would show, Dave?

[Brianruns10]

Originally Posted by Volod

It's disturbing that there are apparently so many with thousands to spend who have so little concern for authentication of an expensive item that is commonly counterfeited. Are well-heeled neophyte collectors - or dealers - suffering from the delusion that anything in a graded slab must be genuine? If so, it reveals one of the biggest problems with the grading industry. Or, is it just a case of PT Barnum grinning at us from his grave?

Precisely! I've confronted dealers on ebay in the past about selling fake Mantles, and they all respond the same way, that it's been authenticated and slabbed. It must be real. It doesn't enter into their minds that you can crack a slab and steal a real ID number. It's a classic case of buying the plastic not the card. I mean, these fakes aren't that good. The team logo is totally wrong, and far too good...it resembles a '54 Topps logo really. I've never owned or even seen a real '52 Topps mantle, yet I can spot these fakes in two seconds, because I've bothered to study the real ones online.

[mantlefan2010]

this same guy has the Mantle on the scf boards selling

http://www.sportscardforum.com/threa...-FS-Great-Card!