1952 Wheaties Need Help Verifying Authenticity

[Volod]

I just looked through my incomplete set and the Musial portrait fits the warning-flag criteria provided by that site - it has snow-white borders and doesn't smell like old cardboard. Hmmm, now I'm wondering - paid around twenty bucks for it some time ago. If that card is a fake, it was very artfully executed, as it appears in all other aspects to be genuine.

[Volod]

Ok, scanned the Musial, along with a definitely genuine Williams for comparison. The scan doesn't really reflect the difference. The Musial has brilliant white borders, while Ted shows the typical off-white, slightly grayish tone of 60-year-old cardboard. Scanned the backs, but the images reveal no contrast. To the naked eye, the Musial back is about the same gray tone as the Ted. Thickness is indistinguishable. My smeller isn't what it used to be, but the Ted seems to have that funky ancient paper aroma that we all know, while the Musial is almost sterile - maybe somewhat new smelling. Like I said, however, if this Musial is a counterfeit, it sure fooled me. The real concern for me now is that it just looks like it was cut out of a Wheaties box yesterday.

[Chesapeake]

Hmmm... I am taking mine off auction until this gets figured out. Steve, look to the right of Stan's cap. The white area in between the background and the cap. Is that suppose to be there?

[steve B]

The white area is just the edge of the orange showing since it's a bit off register to the right.

Pretty interesting topic.

I think the more white backgrounds are probably from boxes with a white layer printed before the orange and blue. Or printed on a white rather than cream surfaced stock.

Here's a complete box from Legendary that looks very light.
http://legendaryauctions.com/LotDeta...and-Campanella

Maybe a late year change? I found pics of a couple 53 boxes that had the license plates and both of those looked white.

The white would add a bit of cost, but would also make the boxes look better on the shelf- brighter, cleaner, more modern.

I also comared it to my Musial, and while most fakes or reprints have a lack of detail and crispness, yours is printed a bit better than mine, with a bit more detail.

Steve B

[Volod]

Steve B: Thanks for your observations. I'm beginning to wonder about the website that Alex provided a link to. That is, I can't find an actual article that details a case of 1952 Wheaties counterfeiting. A poster on the website, Ross Chrissman, whoever that is, merely states that "there was a case a few years ago." And then someone commenting on his claim states that pure white borders and lack of old paper smell is a sure-fire tip-off. This is hardly conclusive evidence of anything in my opinion. As you noted, my Musial has dpi definition that seems to gainsay any likelihood of counterfeiting on a set as generally low-priced as this one. And I think you're right that the difference in toning probably dates back to 1952. You can see the same difference in cardboard stock quality in the Topps 1951 cards: pure white stock vs cream stock.

[Chesapeake]

Steve, Here is one from my batch scanned by itself.

[brett 75]

According to the Standard Catalog the set was extensively counterfeited around 2002. All of the ones I have ever seen look toned in color. The pure white looks to good to be true. Brett