My spidey senses say something is not right with these CJ's

[marvymelvin]

My spidey senses say something is not right with these CJ's. What do you think?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lot-Of-12-Vi...item41872f7ecd

[swarmee]

The Item Specifics section claim they're graded by SGC and have pieces of authentic material (relics) in them. So those descriptors are definitely wrong, unless you count candy stains as authentic material.

[gnaz01]

Fake

[glynparson]

absolutely fake. Or the worst picture in the history of ebay.

[Leon]

Saw them when they first went up. They are really poor fakes.

[iwantitiwinit]

"As is" in this case means "As isn't".

[ajjohnsonsoxfan]

Curious what tips you off to being fakes? What specifically do you look at first? I noticed that the jersey white doesn't match with the borders like authentic cards do. But what's interesting is, he's got some 15's mixed in there too. Wonder if they're all fake?

Originally Posted by iwantitiwinit

"As is" in this case means "As isn't".

[Leon]

Originally Posted by ajjohnsonsoxfan

Curious what tips you off to being fakes? What specifically do you look at first? I noticed that the jersey white doesn't match with the borders like authentic cards do. But what's interesting is, he's got some 15's mixed in there too. Wonder if they're all fake?

For me, first I look and see if they are poor fakes by the lithography or other EASY to see attributes. If it passes those simple and purely aesthetic tests then I dig deeper. Once you see enough real ones you can pick off poor fakes fairly quickly. Also, the quality of the scan and venue/type of scan/picture are always taken into account too. The auction one vs a real one below. Hope this helps!!

[Scott36153]

Interesting...until i know more about the old stuff I will only buy authenticated/graded.

[bcornell]

Do not panic. It's extremely easy to tell a real CJ from a fake once you know what to look for. This is from a Frank Ward post from ~10 years ago:

"Another characteristic of all real Cracker Jack cards is that there is no white ink on the cards. The white or light parts of the uniform is the natural paper color. Most fakes have a white ink for the white parts of uniform, that doesnt match the white border of the card. Real cards will have the uniform blend perfectly into the white border where they meet."

Every fake fails this test, including the ones shown here.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by bcornell

Do not panic. It's extremely easy to tell a real CJ from a fake once you know what to look for. This is from a Frank Ward post from ~10 years ago:

"Another characteristic of all real Cracker Jack cards is that there is no white ink on the cards. The white or light parts of the uniform is the natural paper color. Most fakes have a white ink for the white parts of uniform, that doesnt match the white border of the card. Real cards will have the uniform blend perfectly into the white border where they meet."

Every fake fails this test, including the ones shown here.

On some CJs though the uniform is grayish and it doesn't blend into the border.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

On some CJs though the uniform is grayish and it doesn't blend into the border.

For me, as stated, I look at the overall lithography. Most times the reprints just aren't crisp and clear the way real cards are.