Real Cobb?

[robw1959]

I actually reported this item to eBay as a counterfeit, hoping they would pull the listing before somebody pulled the trigger on it, but alas.

[cgjackson222]

I messaged the seller and told him to stop selling fake cards. I guess he thought I was the buyer, as his response was "New message from: mysterium009 (161TURQUOISE_STAR Star)
Sorry I’m not familiar with baseball cards, and it was given to me… I will cancel the transaction for you…"

I would strongly recommend taking him up on this offer, in the chance it doesn't go through authentication.

[Cory]

I contacted the seller and they cancelled it immediately. Unfortunately now we don't get to see how it fared through authentication.

[butchie_t]

Please don't take this the wrong way. But why did you not come here first and ask the experts before you dropped the coin on this card?

Maybe you did not want competition, ok, I get that. But you can always PM someone and ask them. I think you would get an honest reply and save you the headaches too.

JMHO.

Regards,

Butch Turner

[Cory]

I 100% would not have done it absent the guarantee. I knew something didn't look right, but couldn't quite place it. No excuse on my part for not knowing that red Cobb's don't come in 150 series (except the backs don't matter much to me). Other issues could have been due to poor photography, weird aging, etc. The exact same version of these cards will present considerably different to me depending on what they were exposed to -lots of stuff can happen over 110+ years. I felt like I had zero risk for the potential of getting a Cobb for less than half of what I anticipated. I guess the real risk was/is how good are the authenticators and how good is Ebay's guarantee?

I have been collecting these cards for 30 years, so I am not a total rube (no offense to Marquard, Waddell or Manning). I fully relied on the authenticity guarantee from Ebay, and the price was too good to pass up, just in case it was real.

For the most part I have collected low grade (A to 2) cards with common backs, so I haven't really had to be real vigilant about fakes(I do hit em with a black light when I get them). Of the higher dollar cards I have bought they have come from auctions or very high quality sellers and are generally graded. My Green cobb is raw but it came from Probstein. All my Mattys and Youngs came from auction houses as did my Cobb bat on and they are all graded. My Demmitt & O'Hara StL came from BST here.

In hand to me a fake is pretty obvious - not so much from pictures, so live and learn.

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Originally Posted by Cory

Other issues could have been due to poor photography, weird aging, etc.

That's what the forger/seller wanted you to think. Funny how so many terrible fakes are sold with terrible photography. If you were selling an expensive item that you actually thought was real, wouldn't you make certain you offered better photos/scans than this, or ask someone for help if you were unable to do it nicely yourself?

Originally Posted by Cory

the potential of getting a Cobb for less than half of what I anticipated.

Again, that's what the seller/forger wants you to think. While deals can be had on the rarest of occasions, poor photography combined with the verbiage in the listing should have been enough to scare you away. Unfortunately, if you can't spot such an elementary fake (let alone the 150 back), please don't roll the dice until you learn a lot more. I don't mean to be harsh in saying this and I don't want you to think any of this is said with an air of condescension. I just want you not to waste your time, even if you felt that your money was secure due to the eBay guarantee. I mean, it's your money and life, but enough occasions like this can tend to dampen even the most enthusiastic collector, and we don't want that to happen to you!

Originally Posted by Cory

I guess the real risk was/is how good are the authenticators and how good is Ebay's guarantee?

This is one of the worst forgeries I have ever seen. Ray Charles would have failed this thing.

[Rhotchkiss]

.

[Rhotchkiss]

Cory, I meant no offense if my post prompted at least some of your last post.

I guess I am just getting so sick of people getting scammed when its clearly a scam and/or they are buying (or asking about) clearly bad cards, sellers, etc. It’s really not hard to spot a rat (using your head or gut) and this site is a massive resource available to help.

General rules:
1. Do not buy raw stuff on ebay unless you are 100% sure
2. Do not buy anything from anyone on BST if they have not contacted you by PM (rather than email) and if they seem off
3. Never buy from anyone, on any media, that has no history -- zero feedback on ebay or zero posts and/or just joined here on net54 (cant speak to Facebook, etc but I expect the same would apply)
4. Go with your gut. If its seems wrong, it is almost certainly wrong. Pass and go for something that seems right