Help verifying card's authenticity

[Pat R]

Joe, the most obvious is the apparent lack of print dots on your Merkle you can see them clearly on the example that Darren posted in the side by side with your card.
The image you posted seems a little blurry to me take a look at your card under magnification and see if it is actually missing the print dots as it appears to be.

[Northviewcats]

Originally Posted by Pat R

Joe, the most obvious is the apparent lack of print dots on your Merkle you can see them clearly on the example that Darren posted in the side by side with your card.
The image you posted seems a little blurry to me take a look at your card under magnification and see if it is actually missing the print dots as it appears to be.

Thanks everyone for the input.

I know that it is difficult to authenticate a card based on a picture. In this case, it may be even more difficult because I think the card may have been coated with a substance to protect it. I do have loupe and there are hundreds of black dots on the surface of the card that show up under 16x magnification. Originally, that is why I thought that the card might be real. Perhaps, if the card has been coated with something it maybe more difficult to see the dots on my card, when placed next to the card in Darren's picture. (Thanks, Darren for taking the time to do the side-by-side.)

Thanks, Frank for the black light suggestion. I will purchase a black light flashlight from Amazon and check to see if the card fluoresces, and report back. Can you explain why a reprint will light up while an original will not under black light? I am sure that it has been discussed before, but it may be of help to someone else (like me) that may be reading this thread.

Again, I appreciate all of the comments.

Best regards,

Joe

[rjackson44]

awful

[Pat R]

There shouldn't just be black dots there should be other colors the most noticeable on the Merkle are the Red.

01d.jpg

[NiceDocter]

Haha now since initially said it looked good all the scammers will be contacting me to buy their fake cards LOL . I agree with all the comments and it’s almost certainly a fake based on all that’s been said. I guess I was swayed by the OP saying he’d had it for a long time. Thanks to all for reminding me to “look before you leap” and often DONT LEAP AT ALL lol.

[FrankWakefield]

black light.........


I like to think about a commercial I recall years ago. BASF. It was and is a German company. The ad had a line in it, "we don't make the products you use, we make the products you use better"

One group of such is brighteners. After WW II, paper manufactures started making paper with brighteners. Laundry detergents have them, nowadays. If you illuminate modern paper (after about 1947-48) it most likely has brighteners in it, and it will fluoresce. If you illuminate a page from a magazine from the 1920's, it won't fluoresce.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_brightener

[GasHouseGang]

Originally Posted by NiceDocter

Haha now since initially said it looked good all the scammers will be contacting me to buy their fake cards LOL . I agree with all the comments and it’s almost certainly a fake based on all that’s been said. I guess I was swayed by the OP saying he’d had it for a long time. Thanks to all for reminding me to “look before you leap” and often DONT LEAP AT ALL lol.

My initial impression was that it wasn't good. But when you answered so quickly that it looked good, and since I don't collect that issue, I just figured I was wrong. I chose not to leap.

[Zach Wheat]

The "N" in Nat'l does not align with the shadow in the pants leg when comparing both cards. Ever since studying 1991 Topps Desert Shield cards ad nauseum, this is one item that sticks out.

[FrankWakefield]

uv light... brighteners...


Here's a BASF commercial. That's the voice I recall, but I think the language I recall may have been from an earlier commercial.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NQuMr45xd4

If you're gonna be spending REAL money on old cards, spend the money on old cards that are REAL. You gotta have a black light.

[Leon]

Lack of dot patterns and/or color in the white borders are both telltale signs of lithographic cards which aren't authentic.

Originally Posted by Pat R

There shouldn't just be black dots there should be other colors the most noticeable on the Merkle are the Red.

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