1928 George Ruth Candy Cards (Set of 6)

[Clutch-Hitter]

To clarify Howard's picture with the black light for anyone who hasn't used one much, his #6 card appears to be fluoresceing, but that is because it is much cleaner than the batting pose card. That was the reason I thought my grip card was fake last year. Therefore, it would be better to compare it to a cleaner card.

Fakes are modeled after the real cards with the large card number, but fakes are also found with the small card number. So did the reprinters model the small card number after an authentic with a small card number?

FKW's research has been the only source in which I've found the small card number is a reprint, and because the Cleveland back is found on real sepia card, which refuted FKW's claim in that area, it may be possible for the small card number to exist. I only know about the two I have, which were pictured earlier in this thread. And not to discredit FKW at all, he is a card expert.

Howard's #6 card seems to be of high quality and with a back that looks vintage and has the appropriate color. The blank back fakes I've located have dark grey blank back.

The thing to do in addition to the black light is to
1. Black light the backs the same as the fronts (lesson I've learned and will share this evening)
2. Put a known authentic on a scanner very close and in line with the card in question, set the resolution high (I use 1700 mp) and scan only the area in which the cards are located. The high resolution image can be cropped extensively while still maintaining enough quality. I cropped down as low as 600x600 in the close ups, which allow the paper and printing to be seen. But it would help if the known authentic was clean in this case.

And if the card in question were a less important one, such as Babe with wife, that would help. But it does help that it's not the batting pose.

[HBroll]

Greg,
I took a photo of the backs of the 2 Ruth candy cards with card #6 (the better quality one) being on the left. I used two 3 X 5 index cards this time on each side of the cards. As you can see they do not light up. I will send you a PM later. Thanks for all your help.
Howard

[Clutch-Hitter]

Howard, that's interesting for sure. I'm not sure how FKW deemed what is and is not authentic. We all know when you crop into an image, you lessen the quality, which is the case in what we're calling the fakes: cropped into the image resulting in less quality. We lumped the smaller card number in there somehow, so there must be a reason. I don't understand why a counterfeiter would crop into the image of an authentic card...

I bought a cheap Ruth Candy reprint just for this and received it in the mail today. Here's the much less than impressive "engraving" on the batting pose:[/B]









Here's the engraving on a 1970's Fro Joy that was cut from a fake sheet:









Previous Fro Joy reprint next to a real Fro Joy:









Two real Ruth Candy cards and two real Fro Joy's corner to corner (note how similar the paper is):

[Clutch-Hitter]

Several months ago I bought this, got it home, hit the front with a black light, noted no glowing, and tossed it in the closet. While searching the internet a few days ago, I came across the Legendary auction in which a 1/1 of this had been sold. I had been thinking this was nothing but a less than hundred dollar...thing. I e-mailed R. Lifson (very generous with his time even during the then current auction), and he said he wasn't sure but was concerned about the authenticity. When I couldn't find a photo of the back under a black light, realizing I didn't do that, I got the thing out and did that...

1. If the card is too dark under the black light, there may be a problem (I had to over-expose because in the normal way I do it, the thing was not even visible)
2. Check every bit of the card, not just the card as a whole
3. Always use it on the back too.

Had I known how important the real version of this "card" was when I bought this, I would have been very skeptical like with regular cards.

Note the circle where the thing should be hung from a wall and the edges in the front photo with the black light.




And here it is...I've been had!

[Clutch-Hitter]

Howard, I found this #6 card in a PSA holder that looks exactly like yours, non-cropped and all, and next to it a batting pose in a PSA holder (doesn't look like yours but lumped in with the #6 card). I thought these were fakes before based on FKW's observations, but are they? Hopefully he'll see this.

[HBroll]

Greg,
Nice find. I think that card #6 looks like my card. The batting pose card also looks like the better quality type card too. I scanned my card #6 at 1200 DPI and cropped it to get a better look at the printing and here is what I got. This is the "R" in New York. What do you think?

[Clutch-Hitter]

Howard, that card looks photo engraved. On your #6 card, the stitches on the ball and the details in Babe's hand are visible. And it It makes me think these PSA cards were real, which would make sense considering the lesser important cards are included and the images are of good quality.







But having said that, we probably shouldn't go 100% on it yet. If you get a chance, put that card right next to to your batting pose, scan both at the same time with the same resolution or higher if possible, and crop into the top corners of both (so they are included in the same image), go half way down and do the same, then do the bottoms).

Do it in such a way that we know what we're looking at, such as include the small card number in one blown up image with part of the other card as you progressively go from top to bottom with consecutive images. Start with posting the scan of both cards as they laid on your scanner and follow with the progressives. Then do the backs the same. I think doing this with both sides with each card side by side is very important, and it's very important to do it in such a way that we know what we're looking at.

If you have a camera in which the F-stop and shutter speed can be adjusted, I can talk you through getting a clear picture. Put the ISO and F-stop at the lowest setting and use the tripod. Center the meter exactly in the regular picture and then again under the black light, which will require moving the shutter speed way down. When I press the button on mine to take the picture, the shutter stays open 10-20 seconds or so.





I searched google for 1928 Ruth Candy with both city names and found this disturbing image:










Wiped the puke off my computer and found some real SGC cards that look like your batting pose and my standing portrait:










Found the card that has the small card number and the dark grey back and cropped image, which looks fake:








There aren't very many images of these cards. But from what it looks like so far,

1. the small card numbers could be real if the image isn't cropped and the back is the correct color (beige-ish, brown-ish vintage paper)

2. The few San Francisco cards I've seen don't look right, but I haven't seen many.



When it comes to the small card number, it looks like these are going to be our fakes, cropped images and all: