1954 Bowman counterfeit method?

[G1911]

Originally Posted by ElJayel

Well that is quite unexpected. Thanks for your insight! A few questions if you don't mind.

I don't know anything about how cards were printed in the 50s. How would a sheet accidentally get flipped? And would that mean that all the cards on that one sheet would be misprinted? If this happened more than once would it mean all the Larsen misprints would have the same Seminick back? How rare are 1954 Bowman wrong backs like this?

Thanks!

Yes, if a sheet was flipped then all the cards on that exact sheet would be printed together with an upside down wrong back. The 1954 Bowman sheet layouts are not fully known, but for example let's say that Don Larsen is the top left corner card of the sheet, row 1 column 1. To create a wrong back, if that sheet is then run through to print the reverses, the bottom right corner card will be the top of the sheet printed in that slot.

I am not quite sure of the press details in 1954, if a feeder machine automated flipping the sheet over or if a human worker sat there and did it over and over all day. Dave might know better and chime in. This happens throughout the entirety of cardboard history - I have an ~1860's CDV that has the front text printed upside down from the lithographers back, and you can still on rare occasion find them today in a fresh pack of Topps. It was even a somewhat frequently recurring issue with 2021 Topps Heritage High Number, as I recall.

All the Larsen wrong backs created like this would have a Seminick back, as the wrong back is dictated by being of whatever card is in the exact opposite position on the sheet. Wrong backs are, much less often, created in other ways. For example, a front sheet from a second series paired with a first series back sheet that was laying around the factory, often happening during pre-production testing.

1954 Bowman is not especially prone to this problem, but I have seen others. An exact card found this way, like a 1954 Larsen wrong back, is quite rare. You might look for an exact card with a wrong back and never find it in decades of searching.



Please forgive my example of a boxing card, but as this is what I have handy on my hard drive and the 1954 Bowman sheet layout is not fully known, here's an example of how it happens.

This Coburn has Gans printed upside down on the back. This happened because the sheet was run upside down. As we know the layout here, we can see that Coburn is in rows 5 and 6 on the left edge of the sheet, so if it was run upside down for the back printing it would be rows 5 and 6 from the opposite right end of the sheet that would be printed on his reverse. Sure enough, that's what happened here. It also illustrates why these are pretty rare - this card is clearly handcut, from a scrapped sheet that wasn't issued because it was caught in quality control. Two mistakes have to be made - a machine or worker has to flip the sheet incorrectly, and then the mistake has to be unnoticed for the card to slip into a pack and be issued.

[Zach Wheat]

Agree with Greg 100%. Maybe ToppCat will chime in. Nice card. A number of people collect wrong back cards.

[swarmee]

In case anyone asks, PSA will not grade or authenticate wrong backs unless they are commonly known and are part of an official checklist. 1990 Donruss and 1989 Fleer have a couple of those.

[philliesfan]

Great thread. Lots of interesting information.
Bob

[ElJayel]

Originally Posted by swarmee

In case anyone asks, PSA will not grade or authenticate wrong backs unless they are commonly known and are part of an official checklist. 1990 Donruss and 1989 Fleer have a couple of those.

Thank you! This was going to be another question. I guess there is no easy way of authenticating the card.

[CardPadre]

SGC will grade and note wrong backs. Super easy.



.

[ElJayel]

Originally Posted by CardPadre

SGC will grade and note wrong backs. Super easy.

Ah cool thank you!

[raulus]

Originally Posted by swarmee

In case anyone asks, PSA will not grade or authenticate wrong backs unless they are commonly known and are part of an official checklist. 1990 Donruss and 1989 Fleer have a couple of those.

If true, then somehow this one slipped through. Maybe they changed their policy, since this one is an older cert. Also from 54 Bowman, coincidentally.

As an added bonus, some enterprising previous owner felt compelled to correct some of the fake news on the back.

[gonefishin]

Nice card, and you are a very lucky individual!

I don't know about PSA, but SGC will for sure. It was very common with the 1987 Topps set. I sent this one to SGC because it was a rookie card of Barry Larkin and had a Conseco back. Heck, SGC even labels it as such.

I know you get a lot of advice on this card, but if you desire to sell it I would have it authenticated. That way, you won't have to deal with a potential buyer having questions regarding the authenticity. Probably well worth the $25 for SGC.

[swarmee]

Originally Posted by raulus

If true, then somehow this one slipped through. Maybe they changed their policy, since this one is an older cert. Also from 54 Bowman, coincidentally.

Correct: older cert.

[raulus]

Originally Posted by swarmee

Correct: older cert.

Even more exciting, they de-activated the cert at some point. I bought it, and then got them to re-activate it, maybe about 2 years ago.

[ALBB]

Originally Posted by G1911

Yes, if a sheet was flipped then all the cards on that exact sheet would be printed together with an upside down wrong back. The 1954 Bowman sheet layouts are not fully known, but for example let's say that Don Larsen is the top left corner card of the sheet, row 1 column 1. To create a wrong back, if that sheet is then run through to print the reverses, the bottom right corner card will be the top of the sheet printed in that slot.

I am not quite sure of the press details in 1954, if a feeder machine automated flipping the sheet over or if a human worker sat there and did it over and over all day. Dave might know better and chime in. This happens throughout the entirety of cardboard history - I have an ~1860's CDV that has the front text printed upside down from the lithographers back, and you can still on rare occasion find them today in a fresh pack of Topps. It was even a somewhat frequently recurring issue with 2021 Topps Heritage High Number, as I recall.

All the Larsen wrong backs created like this would have a Seminick back, as the wrong back is dictated by being of whatever card is in the exact opposite position on the sheet. Wrong backs are, much less often, created in other ways. For example, a front sheet from a second series paired with a first series back sheet that was laying around the factory, often happening during pre-production testing.

1954 Bowman is not especially prone to this problem, but I have seen others. An exact card found this way, like a 1954 Larsen wrong back, is quite rare. You might look for an exact card with a wrong back and never find it in decades of searching.



Please forgive my example of a boxing card, but as this is what I have handy on my hard drive and the 1954 Bowman sheet layout is not fully known, here's an example of how it happens.

This Coburn has Gans printed upside down on the back. This happened because the sheet was run upside down. As we know the layout here, we can see that Coburn is in rows 5 and 6 on the left edge of the sheet, so if it was run upside down for the back printing it would be rows 5 and 6 from the opposite right end of the sheet that would be printed on his reverse. Sure enough, that's what happened here. It also illustrates why these are pretty rare - this card is clearly handcut, from a scrapped sheet that wasn't issued because it was caught in quality control. Two mistakes have to be made - a machine or worker has to flip the sheet incorrectly, and then the mistake has to be unnoticed for the card to slip into a pack and be issued.

interesting

[ElJayel]

Originally Posted by G1911

Yes, if a sheet was flipped then all the cards on that exact sheet would be printed together with an upside down wrong back. The 1954 Bowman sheet layouts are not fully known, but for example let's say that Don Larsen is the top left corner card of the sheet, row 1 column 1. To create a wrong back, if that sheet is then run through to print the reverses, the bottom right corner card will be the top of the sheet printed in that slot.

I am not quite sure of the press details in 1954, if a feeder machine automated flipping the sheet over or if a human worker sat there and did it over and over all day. Dave might know better and chime in. This happens throughout the entirety of cardboard history - I have an ~1860's CDV that has the front text printed upside down from the lithographers back, and you can still on rare occasion find them today in a fresh pack of Topps. It was even a somewhat frequently recurring issue with 2021 Topps Heritage High Number, as I recall.

All the Larsen wrong backs created like this would have a Seminick back, as the wrong back is dictated by being of whatever card is in the exact opposite position on the sheet. Wrong backs are, much less often, created in other ways. For example, a front sheet from a second series paired with a first series back sheet that was laying around the factory, often happening during pre-production testing.

1954 Bowman is not especially prone to this problem, but I have seen others. An exact card found this way, like a 1954 Larsen wrong back, is quite rare. You might look for an exact card with a wrong back and never find it in decades of searching.

Wow! Thank you so much for this detailed response. This is really interesting and now I'm glad I asked the question instead of just accepting I was duped.

So, I have looked online for any evidence of another 1954 Bowman Larsen wrong back. This basically means Google--which of course is not comprehensive. Would love to know if anyone here has seen or heard about another one of these out in the wild?

Thanks again to this great community!