Real or Fake Musials?

[G1911]

Originally Posted by Miner30

Thanks. Can you tell me how you know? I just want to try to avoid posting questions like this in the future. Is it something obvious?

On these two

1) Leaf - color is oversaturated, the borders on front appear to be the wrong stock, the texture appears to be that of one of the tea-soaked aged fakes.

2) Bowman - Back stock looks wrong, it's too smooth, the front colors again don't appear quite right, but it's mostly the back that tells me it ain't the real McCoy.

In general, and I'm sure others will disagree, incorrect-appearing stock and color is the easiest way to pick out the fakes in pics for most old cards. When in hand, the edges are usually a great tell. Most reprints (I don't think this will be true for much longer) are not so good that they are difficult to discern if you have in hand with an authentic card from that set alongside it, but photos is another matter. Generally, I think Leaf's are among the easier commonly encountered fakes to pick out once you've been over a bunch.

It's possible to find a bargain even now, but most cards with low-quality pics from an estate sale at a good price are going to be fakes 99% of the time.

When in doubt on a fairly big card, always post it for opinions from experts (I'm not claiming to be one) or listen to the doubt.