How many people on Ebay will be duped by these?

[ZenPop]

I just checked out his website and the back of the cards are labeled as "reproduction"...

Some scammer could remove that, but he did a great job w/ quality and also put it in small type at the bottom...

[ALR-bishop]

Fritsch has bee selling reproductions of this set and numerous other old sets for years. What is a "newbie" anyway ?

[itjclarke]

Thanks for posting Bill, I hadn't seen the previous thread.

I don't like these. Like you, I don't think I have a real problem with the seller/maker of them. If there's a market and they can sell these, more power to them (I guess). I just don't like that they exist at all, whether they say reprint on the back or not. Some people may want these as display pieces, but I'm sure there are as many, or more licking their chops at the prospect of rebacking these with real Sweet Cap/Piedmont/PB/EPDG/etc backs and then slipping them it into cracked SGC or PSA cases.

It's great PSA is re-designing their holders.. but I view that with the same opinion I've had about the countermeasures (watermarks/etc) for counterfeit money... why fake the new money (or crack the new PSA holder) when you can just print off a bunch of the old bills (or swap cards into old cases).

[sbfinley]

I have this set. Picked it up several years ago and put it in a binder out on the coffee table. Been in a box, however, since I moved.

I don't really think this true "threat" to unknowledgeable collectors. You can't post post a Wagner, Plank, or Cobb listed as authentic on eBay that hasn't been authenticated and enough collectors follow the market that if a Young, WoJo, Matty, or other top Hall of Fame star is listed it would be reported almost instantly. Thus you are left with the semi-star/common market and honestly if you can make a living passing off fake Joe Lake cards more power to you.

[gnaz01]

I bought this set from Mike last year, as I will NEVER be able to collect the whole set, and what I can tell you about them is, in hand, they feel and look incredible. I only imagine this is what they felt like 100+ years ago pulling them from packs of Piedmont, SC, etc.

This is, IMHO, the definitive reproduction set out there today. No glossy fronts, no bad printing on the back, etc. they are beautiful!!

Greg

[drcy]

Newbie is slang for a beginner, someone new to an area. "This is your first day on the job? Welcome, newbie."

My opinion has long been that reprints should be significantly and obviously different than the originals. If someone complains that a reprint is too close-looking to the originals, I will most likely agree with them.

[the 'stache]

Originally Posted by ZenPop

I just checked out his website and the back of the cards are labeled as "reproduction"...

Some scammer could remove that, but he did a great job w/ quality and also put it in small type at the bottom...

Yup, I saw in the older thread that "reprint" was placed on the back of the card. I was concerned initially because we could not see the backs of the cards in the auction, and it was not mentioned.

Originally Posted by ALR-bishop

What is a "newbie" anyway ?

Somebody like me, Al, who has collected baseball cards, but does not have a lot of experience with buying vintage cards. I'm a "newbie" to this niche.

Originally Posted by sbfinley

I don't really think this true "threat" to unknowledgeable collectors. You can't post post a Wagner, Plank, or Cobb listed as authentic on eBay that hasn't been authenticated and enough collectors follow the market that if a Young, WoJo, Matty, or other top Hall of Fame star is listed it would be reported almost instantly. Thus you are left with the semi-star/common market and honestly if you can make a living passing off fake Joe Lake cards more power to you.

It's true, collectors do a pretty darned good job of policing the vintage and pre-war portion of the hobby, and for that, I am grateful, believe me. And maybe the "crooks" out there know that well enough so they won't even try. I'm just concerned that a few might slip through, and somebody could end up buying a $1,000 Walter Johnson with "reprint" magically removed from the back, only to discover it was a fake years later. If the technology exists to make cards that are so close to the original, it also exists to alter those same cards. I don't know if it would be some form of bleaching, etc, but anything is possible so long as there is money to be made.