Unbelievable (?) Buy at Athens Flea Market

[D. Bergin]

Taking bets on whether this flea market dealer has another pot-o-gold at the end of the rainbow when he sets up next week, with remarkably similar looking cards.

[TAFKADixie]

Originally Posted by D. Bergin

Taking bets on whether this flea market dealer has another pot-o-gold at the end of the rainbow when he sets up next week, with remarkably similar looking cards.

It was actually a woman and I THINK she brought the box to the guy who has a permanent spot there selling mostly records/comics/magazines.

[TAFKADixie]

I'm obviously not condoning this but it's actually a pretty good TAKE THAT hustle to get someone who knowingly is taking advantage of you (or so they think).

[scottglevy]

My personal fave is the T206 Wagner with Ty Cobb back

[yanks87]

Any time that you see a Leaf card with true white in the name that doesn't match the border, it is the sure sign of a fake. What cracks me up is that we used to "age" reprints when I was a kid, took a lot of pride in it, and I think some of those might be better than the ones in the pictures.

That said, fakes are getting REALLY good now. I took a flyer on a Ramly that I found at an antique shop and it is 100% fake. My spidey-sense was screaming that the T204 and a Sports King were both fake based on the stock and weight, but for $20 a piece I thought I would take a flyer. As soon as I got home and took another look at them I realized that I had burned $40. Bring a loop, go with your gut. If it looks like a duck, and walks like a duck...

[bobbyw8469]

Originally Posted by yanks87

Any time that you see a Leaf card with true white in the name that doesn't match the border, it is the sure sign of a fake. What cracks me up is that we used to "age" reprints when I was a kid, took a lot of pride in it, and I think some of those might be better than the ones in the pictures.

That said, fakes are getting REALLY good now. I took a flyer on a Ramly that I found at an antique shop and it is 100% fake. My spidey-sense was screaming that the T204 and a Sports King were both fake based on the stock and weight, but for $20 a piece I thought I would take a flyer. As soon as I got home and took another look at them I realized that I had burned $40. Bring a loop, go with your gut. If it looks like a duck, and walks like a duck...

I've gotten real good at spotting fake Sports Kings as that was the first set I completed. I got to know what to look for as far as the real ones.

[yanks87]

Originally Posted by bobbyw8469

I've gotten real good at spotting fake Sports Kings as that was the first set I completed. I got to know what to look for as far as the real ones.

I should have phoned the board for a consult. Instead I am out $20 and feel dirty for getting duped on them.

[scottglevy]

My personal fave is the T206 Wagner with Ty Cobb back

I used to know a renowned hobbyist back in the day who would patiently listen to folks’ stories about how they came into a collection and then briefly flipped through the cards - usually (but not always) reaching a conclusion that they were no good. Many of the things he looked at were obscure issues and I asked him point blank how he could be such an expert on so many varied cards - before the days of the internet were mainstream.

His answer was so simple it was brilliant. He knew the major issues well enough to know what to look for - but not the obscure ones. So he went by a few simple rules. If the cards he knew well were fake 1 he assumed the others were too. If he didn’t really have a handle on any of the obscure issues - at least he knew what the stars and rarities were. If a random collection was packed with those and few to no commons - he assumed it was fake … and he was almost always correct.