Fake 52Topps mantle on Ebay

[HOF Yankees]

tough call it being real or not

[jimq]

Before you break it out of the frame and send it to psa, take a close up photo or scan of the lower right area of the holder. It doesn't really look like a psa holder at all. Breaking it out and sending a fake holder to psa might not get you much relief.

Look for the psa logo on other mantles and then look at yours.

You also might want to contact the auction to give them a heads up.

[buymycards]

Andrew - you don't need to send the card to PSA. 30 seconds with a ten dollar loupe will tell you if it is real and you can buy a cheap 1952 common card and compare it to the Mantle. BTW, which auction house was it purchased from?

Rick

[xcgrammer]

upon seeing the better picture I tend to agree with it's authenticity being a very tough call. I face does appear to be very (too) red.

[ATP]

Come on guys, look closely at the card. Forget that it's in a holder. There is nothing about it that says authentic. I see no evidence of half tone printing, none at all. With a picture as clear as the last one you should be able to see the "little targets", I can't think of their technical term so that is what I call them, that make up the printing area of the colored part. The corners are too sharp and white for the amount of creasing, should it even be real creasing...it is however too contrived. The color is way wrong. Out of the case we wouldn't give this more than a second glance. There is no way psa holdered this card. It is a fake, put in a cracked or fake slab and hidden in the framing to distract. Probably just like the other one I posted from eBay that was similar. It's a similar tactic as with autographs, place it in an elaborate frame to try to improve appearance and make it hard to inspect. This is nothing against the board member selling it, I don't think he knows it is fake. Whatever action house this was purchased from needles to investigate it further. If the seller can take a really close macro photo of the printing, we can have our definitive answer instantly as we would be able to see it as it would appear under a loop, and I can assure you it will not be half tone printed. If I am wrong, I will be the first to admit it.

[nolemmings]

I do not collect '52s, but agree with Jeff that this one isn't even close. Almost nothing about that card looks genuine to me. The most tell-tale sign is the supposed creasing. There is no way any 60 year-old card can have those severe "creases" and at the same time display ex-mt or stronger corners and edges with ZERO surface wear. Never mind the saturated colors.

If you took a new modern card today and sat on it, folded it or whatever to create such creasing, you MIGHT be able to pull off a look like that. Now tell me it's 1952 and you would carefully take care of such a damaged card for even 10 years--let's say while Mickey was excelling and you realized your only '52 card of him was creased-- so as to keep the corners/edges nice and the colors looking brand new. Then think that it's 1962, and while good hobby supplies are 15 years or so away, you're not going to handle it and will preserve it even longer, presumably while you've handled your other '52s and all subsequent cards like any other young collector. Fast forward decades more and voila, you've successfully saved this specimen from its early catastrophe and are now ready to offer it up to a loving hobby home. Now tell me that your wife is Morgan Fairchild--yeah, that's the ticket.