Kudos to LOTG - discovered counterfeit #311 1952 Mantle PSA 1 in latest auction

[Madi$on18joshua]

I have been after a 52 Mantle PSA 1 as that is the best my budget can do right now. It is very popular card and there are a ton of them but it is difficult to uncover a good priced one as everyone on ebay wants more than even VCP. I thought I finally landed one from most recent LOTG auction at what I thought was a fair price. $5,800 for a rough PSA 1 cert#19886752. Which I checked out on PSA site and it said it was a #311 PSA 1 Mantle. It was item #23 in some unique display with an autographed picture as well. I thought people had simply overlooked it, which is why I got it for such a low price. After winning the auction Al Crisafulli reached out saying he had questions of its authenticity and wanted to get PSA's opinion. It was confirmed by Jackie Curiel of PSA that the alleged PSA graded card was in fact a counterfeit. So bummed but at least I didnt pay $5k for a fake and Al was nice enough to credit me $100 for a future auction for my troubles.

As I think more about this it makes me wonder if any of my cards in holders could be fakes too.

What are your thoughts on the subject?

Has something like this happened to anyone here before?

Best,
Micah


http://loveofthegameauctions.com/Att...-LOT16655.aspx

[hcv123]

Dark side of the hobby seems to be rearing it's ugly head quite a bit lately. Nice silver lining to this one - Al preemptively doing the right thing here - Go Al!

[oldjudge]

Al is one of the good guys in the hobby. You can bid with confidence in LOTG.

[the-illini]

Kind of a misleading title given the outcome no?

[cardinalcollector]

Originally Posted by the-illini

Kind of a misleading title given the outcome no?

Agreed, perhaps a re-wording is in order?

[BLongley]

Originally Posted by cardinalcollector

Agreed, perhaps a re-wording is in order?

+1

Al made everything right and took care of his customer, this title if googled and not read through would make it sound like you got ripped off, which isn't the case.

[Madi$on18joshua]

Originally Posted by the-illini

Kind of a misleading title given the outcome no?

I can see your point but it will only let me edit the body not the title - do you know of a way to edit it?

[BLongley]

Originally Posted by Madi$on18joshua

I can see your point but it will only let me edit the body not the title - do you know of a way to edit it?

When you open the message, click "go to advanced" then it will allow the title to be edited.

[CW]

Originally Posted by oldjudge

Al is one of the good guys in the hobby. You can bid with confidence in LOTG.

One of the few auctions houses with whom I would place a max bid on an item.

Bummer you didn't finally get that Mantle, Micah. Hope you find a nice one down the road! Props also to Al for being proactive.

[Kawika]

Love of the Game is the Mom'n'Pop equivalent for auction houses. None of the big box master-of-the-universe crap that you get from many other AH's. Always a pleasure to deal with Al. When I park my bod in the assisted care home - I'm getting closer every day - on the way to the big cardshow in the sky look for the Kawika collection in LOTG. In a morbid sort of way I'm looking forward to seeing the catalog (if Al sends me one).

[Al C.risafulli]

I figure I'll get out in front of this one.

Indeed, we had in our auction a display piece that included a '52 Mantle in a PSA holder with an authentic certification number.

On auction closing weekend I had a bidder ask a question about the piece, which led me to take a harder look at the card. Ultimately on Monday morning I sent an email to PSA to ask them if they'd kindly take a look at the card for me, and then I sent the entire display piece to them by FedEx.

I sent an email to Micah, advising him of the situation and asking him not to pay his invoice until I received a final word from PSA.

Wednesday night, I received the email from PSA that the card was, indeed, counterfeit. The fraudsters (not my consignor, but the person from whom he bought the display piece years ago) seem to have cracked an authentic Mantle out, inserted a fake, and then put the entire holder into what looked like a very nice framed display. Behind a sheet of glass and then the plastic holder, it was pretty convincing. Thankfully, we caught it before money exchanged hands, but offered Micah an account credit for the inconvenience.

Unfortunate for Micah, who felt he'd gotten a good price on a card, but very fortunate for Micah, who didn't wind up paying nearly $6K for a counterfeit.

-Al

[Madi$on18joshua]

Originally Posted by Al C.risafulli

I figure I'll get out in front of this one.

Indeed, we had in our auction a display piece that included a '52 Mantle in a PSA holder with an authentic certification number.

On auction closing weekend I had a bidder ask a question about the piece, which led me to take a harder look at the card. Ultimately on Monday morning I sent an email to PSA to ask them if they'd kindly take a look at the card for me, and then I sent the entire display piece to them by FedEx.

I sent an email to Micah, advising him of the situation and asking him not to pay his invoice until I received a final word from PSA.

Wednesday night, I received the email from PSA that the card was, indeed, counterfeit. The fraudsters (not my consignor, but the person from whom he bought the display piece years ago) seem to have cracked an authentic Mantle out, inserted a fake, and then put the entire holder into what looked like a very nice framed display. Behind a sheet of glass and then the plastic holder, it was pretty convincing. Thankfully, we caught it before money exchanged hands, but offered Micah an account credit for the inconvenience.

Unfortunate for Micah, who felt he'd gotten a good price on a card, but very fortunate for Micah, who didn't wind up paying nearly $6K for a counterfeit.

-Al

Thanks again, Al - looking forward to this fall's auction as I here you may have a card I've been trying to pick up.

[bobbyw8469]

Originally Posted by Al C.risafulli

I figure I'll get out in front of this one.

Indeed, we had in our auction a display piece that included a '52 Mantle in a PSA holder with an authentic certification number.

On auction closing weekend I had a bidder ask a question about the piece, which led me to take a harder look at the card. Ultimately on Monday morning I sent an email to PSA to ask them if they'd kindly take a look at the card for me, and then I sent the entire display piece to them by FedEx.

I sent an email to Micah, advising him of the situation and asking him not to pay his invoice until I received a final word from PSA.

Wednesday night, I received the email from PSA that the card was, indeed, counterfeit. The fraudsters (not my consignor, but the person from whom he bought the display piece years ago) seem to have cracked an authentic Mantle out, inserted a fake, and then put the entire holder into what looked like a very nice framed display. Behind a sheet of glass and then the plastic holder, it was pretty convincing. Thankfully, we caught it before money exchanged hands, but offered Micah an account credit for the inconvenience.

Unfortunate for Micah, who felt he'd gotten a good price on a card, but very fortunate for Micah, who didn't wind up paying nearly $6K for a counterfeit.

-Al

Kudos...what gave it away....was the case frosted Al?

[Rookiemonster]

Originally Posted by Al C.risafulli

I figure I'll get out in front of this one.

Indeed, we had in our auction a display piece that included a '52 Mantle in a PSA holder with an authentic certification number.

On auction closing weekend I had a bidder ask a question about the piece, which led me to take a harder look at the card. Ultimately on Monday morning I sent an email to PSA to ask them if they'd kindly take a look at the card for me, and then I sent the entire display piece to them by FedEx.

I sent an email to Micah, advising him of the situation and asking him not to pay his invoice until I received a final word from PSA.

Wednesday night, I received the email from PSA that the card was, indeed, counterfeit. The fraudsters (not my consignor, but the person from whom he bought the display piece years ago) seem to have cracked an authentic Mantle out, inserted a fake, and then put the entire holder into what looked like a very nice framed display. Behind a sheet of glass and then the plastic holder, it was pretty convincing. Thankfully, we caught it before money exchanged hands, but offered Micah an account credit for the inconvenience.

Unfortunate for Micah, who felt he'd gotten a good price on a card, but very fortunate for Micah, who didn't wind up paying nearly $6K for a counterfeit.

-Al

Great business model Al ! Sorry to everyone involved that it was a fake .

[drmondobueno]

Originally Posted by oldjudge

Al is one of the good guys in the hobby. You can bid with confidence in LOTG.

+1

[Sean]

Originally Posted by Madi$on18joshua

Has something like this happened to anyone here before?

Best,
Micah


http://loveofthegameauctions.com/Att...-LOT16655.aspx

Micah, something similar happened a few years ago with a T206 Cobb Green in a PSA holder. I believe that it ended up with an ebay seller called Toppsaholic. What he did with it I don't know.

[1952boyntoncollector]

Originally Posted by Sean

Micah, something similar happened a few years ago with a T206 Cobb Green in a PSA holder. I believe that it ended up with an ebay seller called Toppsaholic. What he did with it I don't know.

that will show up again probably