Decoy Ducky?

[Archive]

Posted By: Tom Kovacs

Hi my name is Tom (first time poster long time lurker), I’ve been collecting vintage cards for the past 15 years, with a focus on my favorite player Joe Medwick.

I found this card tonight which is currently in an online auction, being advertised as “the one and only 9”. From past experience with 38 Goudey’s, I’ve always considered the border patina verses overall patina as an indicator of authenticity. If not for the nifty holder this one is in, I would have passed this off as some sort of Dover reprint. I’m not sure what to make of these bright borders, has anyone seen another like this?

[Archive]

Posted By: MW

The card checks out OK in PSA's certification database. If anything, the seller might have photoshopped the borders to make them appear cleaner...just a guess on my part.

[Archive]

Posted By: Dan Koteles

wow is all I can say ! Over the years I have owned about 20 or so of those and I must say that it is the brightest of any I have seen. Iam not an expert w/ those
but do see your point. I too would have guessed a reprint regardless of holder.

If that is a real 9, all I can say is WOW !!!


Good evening
Dan Koteles

p.s if you are a true Hungarian (first time disclosing this)you would know that it was another fellow Hungarian that used this closing in his Dracula movies..
...Bela Lugosi !

[Archive]

Posted By: David Vargha

Andy Madec's Photoshopped wonder by any chance?

DavidVargha@hotmail.com

[Archive]

Posted By: Al Crisafulli

Photoshop is a wonderful program, really. But with baseball cards, not so much. The trend of photoshopping scans for auction catalogs is a trend I don't like.

That said, I saw this card close up at the Fort. It is a magnificent card that doesn't look anything like the image in the catalog and on the website. The card is evenly toned on both sides of the border. It really is a great card - easily the nicest I've seen - and is most certainly the real McCoy.

Don't bid on it, though. I want it.

-Al

[Archive]

Posted By: Julie Vognar

LOUSY SCAN! And, like original poster, I wouldn't have bid on it.

[Archive]

Posted By: Tom Kovacs

You guys are good, I never considered the image was altered. I will keep this in mind when watching future Andy Madec auctions. I learn something every time I visit this board, thank you for the information!

Thanks Dan, my family came from Hungry about a century ago along with the Medwick family (and several other Hungarian families) and settled in the town of Carteret NJ. My grandfather knew Joe growing up and went to school with him.

Tom

[Archive]

Posted By: warshawlaw

I've dealt with Andy for years and never found his in-person, online (ebay) or auction catalog dealings to be anything other than 100% legit. He was always ID'd as one of the "good guys" in the old VCBC (sigh) listings of dealers. Before you accuse the guy of doing something unscrupulous like altering scans to sell his cards, let's hear the proof. If it is just a suspicion, don't make unqualified statements.

[Archive]

Posted By: Al Crisafulli

If I'm not mistaken, my post made it very clear that the card was 100% legit. The reason why I posted it, is because this is not the first time this week that I have heard someone questioning that card. If you look at the scan, which is right there in the first post on this thread, you will see that the color of the borders on the card are white, and the color of the inside of the border is off-white. This is a common problem with reprints from this set, thus the nature of this post. Scans of legitimate 1938 Goudey baseball cards do not look the way this one looks, unless something was done to the image.

By using phrases like "I saw this card close up," "it is a magnificent card", "it really is a great card," "easily the nicest I've seen," and "most certainly the real McCoy," I think my objective would be plain as day - to advise the person who asked if it was a legitimate card that IT IS ABSOLUTELY REAL, regardless of what the scan looks like.

This, I would think, would cause readers of this thread to feel more confident in bidding on the card, where perhaps they may not have been before. Hence my addition to this thread. The image in question has certainly been sweetened, but I'm not accusing Andy of doing anything untoward, nor do I see anywhere in my post where I did so. There can be a million reasons why a sweetened scan doesn't reproduce the way it was intended. Quite the contrary to what you're implying, my post was meant in support of the seller, to advise that this truly is a gorgeous card.

For comparative purposes, here's what the borders on a 1938 Goudey should look like.

PS - I edited this three times for clarity.



-Al

[Archive]

Posted By: jay behrens

I don't think they are talkling about anything as neferous as erasing creases or anthing, but just adjusting the color and brightness settings to to enhance the appearance of the card. If I saw a 38 Goudey that looked like that, my first though would be reprint too. It may look really nice like that, but it also looks very suspect since the real thing just doesn't look like that.



This took me just a few minutes in photoshop and I am a rank amatuer when it comes to using it. I could have easily rebuilt the corners in a few minutes.

Jay

My place is full of valuable, worthless junk.

[Archive]

Posted By: Nick

Madec has replaced the original auction picture with a new one, where the borders and background are the same color.

[Archive]

Posted By: Al Crisafulli

As mentioned previously, it's a gorgeous card.





-Al