Wednesday, December 6, 2017

Unplanned

After the amount of time I spent putting together yesterday's post, today was supposed to be my day off from "writing" anything, but I came across something (or rather multiple something's) while perusing the Sportlots auctions this morning that I just couldn't ignore. Because this is being so hastily thrown together, I will apologize in advance for any typo's or any thoughts that aren't fully formed.

This is the first card that caught my attention this morning. Notice anything odd about this '62 Mantle? If not, check out two more 62's being sold by the same seller, and pay particular attention to the corners:


Notice a pattern yet? If not, here's a few more:



I would hope that everyone has figured out by now that these are all counterfeits/reproductions, as it would be virtually impossible for a genuine '62 to have acquired corners rounded in this fashion without sustaining wear to any of it's other edges.

A couple of years ago I came across a website of a company (I can't remember what the company's name is) that was creating reproductions of pretty much every card of note from every major sport, and of course, there wasn't anything printed on the card to identify them as such. The thing is, all their repro's had these exact rounded corners (although these could've been made by someone else). Ever since seeing those cards on that site, I have been very aware of this style of reproduction, and have encountered them many times on eBay, but never on Sportlots... until today. And from from past experience, I know that eBay doesn't care if their user's get bilked, so it will be interesting to see the route Sportlots takes.

The thing that really bugs me though, is that looking at the prices that the above cards are currently at, there are clearly multiple people that are under the impression that they are real. For example the first Mantle shown, is (as of this writing), sitting at $78... which is insane, especially since you can buy a genuine '62 Mantle in pretty darn good shape for that amount of money, or less.

For s**** and giggles, let's take a look at some of this seller's other "roundies":







Since they are not listed as such, I have no way of knowing if this seller, hock2015, knows that these are fake or not. This is just a sample, as they have quite a few more listings (including tobacco cards, Goudey's and a Pete Maravich rookie) that you can view by clicking here. I am also unsure if all their vintage cards are fake or not, because there does seem to be a few that appear to be the real thing, although those could have just been cooked up by a different counterfeiter. With someone selling this many fakes, I would just assume everything else as well.

I debated whether or not to do this post, but just in case the email that I sent to Sportlots falls on deaf ears, I just wanted it to be known that I didn't just sit by idly and not try to do something. It really irks me to see people that might not know too much about vintage cards getting taken advantage of.

If you use the site, and have any similar feeling about this, I would encourage you to send off a quick missive as well. Multiple voices speak louder than one.


Thanks for taking a moment to look at my page.

18 comments:

  1. They look like they all came from the same cookie cutter. I am sure I've accidentally acquired some fakes in my collection, it's very hard to tell sometimes.

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    1. "Cookie cutter counterfeits", I like it! And it can be hard to tell sometimes (although not with these), especially when buying online.

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  2. I've seen quite a few of these on Ebay, and it's probably the biggest reasons I mostly shy away from buying vintage on there (or anywhere online, really).

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    1. You don't need to buy online anyway, all you have to do is think about a card, and then it magically appears for an insanely low price at the very next card show you attend :)

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  3. I am not a vintage card buyer but thank you for the PSA nonetheless.

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    1. You're welcome! And who knows, you might become a vintage buyer at some point in the future.

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  4. Lame. Counterfeits make me serious consider selling off my collection and finding a new hobby.

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    Replies
    1. It can be a frustrating hobby at times that's for sure.

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  5. Makes me sick to my stomach. Ugh.

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    1. It makes me sick thinking of all the people that are unknowingly bidding on these.

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  6. This is a big reason why I don't buy vintage, not that today's cards can't be counterfeited but those are easier

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    1. Even counterfeits are a big problem, they shouldn't keep you from collecting vintage. And yeah, there are a lot of modern fakes out there too, especially of the really high end inserts from the 90's. They are being made primarily in China and Taiwan, with a little bit of searching you can find them fairly regularly on eBay.

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  7. Thank you for posting this. This is TERRIBLE. I sent Sportlots a message. Hopefully they take these auctions down.

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    1. Thanks for taking the time to send off a message, I would imagine the owner of the site might take a little more notice if he receives more than one complaint about these "cards". I just can't help but wonder too about how many people have already bought fakes from this person? I would like to think that if some of these have been sold in recent weeks, that the people who bought them would be able to get their money back, but who know if that's even a possibility.

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    2. I received a response from sportlots:

      I agree, these all look very suspicious. I struggle what
      I
      can do if I don't know for sure and don't want to accuse
      them without better proof.

      Thanks for the info.. maybe I will just put out an fyi to
      them just to let them know I'm keeping an eye out.


      ***** Update from the seller *****

      In 2006 I bought out a closed baseball card store to
      turn it in to a computer shop , these cards were left
      behind due to illness , they became my property due to a
      court order , I then sent many to Heratige Auctions in
      Texas to be pieced and none came back reprints or fake .
      I also a year ago sold many to Dave & Adams Cards on the
      internet , they too bought every one I sent . I will
      refund any payment of which a customer isn't happy with
      for any reason , but I don't think any or many are fake
      and I'm not a card guy and wouldn't know anyway , if
      there are any complaints I will stop selling immediately
      , just let me know . I will send them to the experts like
      you suggested.

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    3. Thank you for sharing this, I plan to use it when I do a follow-up tomorrow.

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  8. I have a Whitey Ford just like this. I think I got it dirt cheap on eBay, but it is definitely not real. Same exact rounded corners.

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    1. These kind of cards are quite plentiful on eBay, hopefully you knew it wasn't real when you bought it.

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