Complete set of 1972 Venezuelan stamps/stickers

[a761506]

I've got a bunch of these fake 72's all in PSA holders... I was initially duped by the fakes, greedy really- often the case when a man is stolen from with him willingly handing over his own money...

The story began with a Yastrzemski, whose condition seemed exceptional, unlike any other card I had ever seen from that set. I submitted it, it was graded PSA 5. The seller now had more listed, and I honestly believed a find of pack fresh 72 stamps had been discovered, which seemed plausible considering other finds I have made over the years. Thinking I had a nice find on my hands, I proceeded to buy up several more of them from a seller in Venezuela, Gilberto Gil (to this day, I do not know whether he was in on it or just an unwitting shill). PSA graded them all - Ryan 3, Kaline 6, Carew 8, Carew IA 5, B. Robinson 5, F. Robinson 5, Killebrew 3, Marichal 3, Concepcion 1, Concepcion IA 2... that's 11 total.

Some time later, a thread surfaced on CU (I believe) claiming the cards were all fakes. My first reaction, in my youth, was to ignorantly talk out my behind. I initially defended the legitimacy of the cards, honestly believing they were real, PSA had graded them, while also thinking, who in their right mind would counterfeit this set, and where would they even find the originals to copy them from? Respectfully, whoever did it, all considering, did a really impressive job and choosing this particular set was a pretty smart decision (based on their criminal intentions). I'm guessing I was one of the leading suckers who paid them off, as I sent them over $3,000 for the 11 cards mentioned, a monster payday for someone in Venezuela who probably invested 40-100 hours into creating the counterfeits (I believe they may have counterfeited every single card in the set, certainly most of them if not all, a smart move for the added credibility it gave when selling off the stars).

I took the cards with me to a National (I don't recall the year), showed them to PSA along with documented prices I paid and requested they buy them back and compensate me for the grading and shipping fees as well. Instead, the cards were returned to me in the holders, PSA claimed they cannot prove or disprove their authenticity (even though I also gave them a couple exemplars of 72 stamps which were clearly authentic and a complete description of exactly every aspect of the cards which proved they were not from the original 72 issue), and I've been stuck with them ever since, as I would never attempt to sell off cards I know to be counterfeits.

Now, I don't know what to do with them, and I do think PSA should be on the hook, for if they wouldn't have graded that first one, I'd certainly not have purchased any of the others.

[ALBB]

Wow !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Cliff Bowman]

The counterfeiter didn’t do the whole set, I’m guessing he did fakes of authentic stickers that he had scans or photos of. I have never seen a counterfeit Tom Seaver and quite a few of the commons. He also messed up on several cards, from memory the fake Santo and Marichal in action have wrong numbers, the fake Alston is missing the team name, there was a common (Sudakis?) that was missing something (number?) on the counterfeit, and the authentic McLain has no team name but the counterfeit McLain has a team name, if I remember correctly. I do have to commend the counterfeiter for taking the time and effort to make fake commons when they wouldn’t be profitable, it would have looked fishy if he only made copies of Rose, Ryan, B. Robinson, Killebrew, Yastrzemski, Kaline, Carlton, Garvey, and Carew.

[martingale]

Originally Posted by Cliff Bowman

The counterfeiter didn’t do the whole set, I’m guessing he did fakes of authentic stickers that he had scans or photos of. I have never seen a counterfeit Tom Seaver and quite a few commons. He also messed up on several cards, from memory the fake Santo, Marichal, and Alston all have wrong numbers, there was a common (Sudakis?) that was missing something (number?) on the counterfeit, and the authentic McLain has no team name but the counterfeit McLain has a team name, if I remember correctly. I do have to commend the counterfeiter for taking the time and effort to make fake commons when they wouldn’t be profitable, it would have looked fishy if he only made copies of Rose, Ryan, Kaline, Carlton, and Carew.

Thanks for the info. What about the 1972 Puerto Rican League stickers - are you aware of any fakes in circulation?

[Cliff Bowman]

It would certainly be very profitable to make counterfeits of the 1972 Puero Rican Mike Schmidt but I am not aware of that ever being suspected or discussed.

[Krasman]

Opening up this older thread.
In search of the 1972 Al Kaline sticker for my set if anyone can assist.
Greatly appreciate it....thank you.

[Cliff Bowman]

Originally Posted by Krasman

Opening up this older thread.
In search of the 1972 Al Kaline sticker for my set if anyone can assist.
Greatly appreciate it....thank you.

When you find one make sure it has evidence of being placed in the album and removed, if it has no evidence of being placed in the album it’s almost certainly an early 2000’s counterfeit.