64 Topps Card: Fake, Miscut or Trimmed?
 

I received this card in the mail after having won it in a recent auction. I thought the bottom edge looked a little funny in the original pic, but in my experience, camera phones have a tendency to make the edges of cards appear rounded at times even though they're perfectly straight.

Well, after it arrived, I could immediately see that there is crescent-shaped curvature on the bottom left of the card. I have compared it to a 64 Killebrew which I know to be legit for comparison. You can see that the AL Bombers card has the same length as the Killer, but is slightly wider except for where that curvature comes in at the bottom. The coloring on the back is lighter on the AL Bombers card as well. But otherwise, the cards have the same thickness, the edges appear to be the same while looking through my magnifying glass, and the cardboard stock looks and feels the same. Even where the cut is weird on the AL Bombers card, it doesn't appear sharp like a razor was taken to it. It has the same consistency there as the other edges.

I'm wondering if the weird cut could have been done at the Topps factory since the card is slightly wider overall and the cut is uneven. Or if this is an outright fake, or if someone cut it themselves. I'm just disappointed about the card, and know very little about this kind of stuff. I didn't pay a lot for the card, but I hope I wasn't completely ripped off with a fake or something.

https://i.imgur.com/aEpfx8z.jpg?1
https://i.imgur.com/BrDOaXF.jpg?1
https://i.imgur.com/fvbOXOI.jpg?1
https://i.imgur.com/tyta8IM.jpg?1

100% real
100% bad factory cut

It happened a lot back then through the late 70's.

Also unlikely to get anything more than "AUTHENTIC" by any grading company. It's still a nice card; usually that one is horribly off-center.

I would be more concerned with the cut along the long edge where the player's names are

That's the one he is talking about.

You've never seen a Topps miscut?

Agreed. I've come across quite a few from the 60s and 70s over the years when buying large lots.

Appreciate the insights, fellas, thanks. I'm a fairly casual collector getting back into the hobby, so it's still a learning experience.

It looks real to me. Even if I were convinced it was a fake, I would have a hard time understanding why someone would bother faking a '64 Killebrew and then roughing it up to mid-grade. I will agree with others that really odd factory cuts back then were somewhat common.

The Killebrew is not the card in question. It was only shown for size comparison to the AL Bombers card. Of all these wavy border cards I've ever seen (and I've seen a lot), all are always oversized.

My best guess is the cards with the wavy borders are usually on the edge of the sheet and the sheet slips during the cutting process. It stands to reason as they cut closer to the edge of the sheet, the sheets would become less stable and be prone to shifting.

4th row, last card on right.

Ah, sorry. I was reading too fast. They all look legit to me. :)

I have a beautiful 1967 Mel Queen 'incomplete stat line' variation card I sent in to be graded and it came back not graded with a "MISCUT" designation sticker. I had no clue what the heck was going on as the card is clearly not trimmed, so I did some research and found out that PSA marks some cards that way that have 'bad' factory cuts. Sure enough, when I put the card on its side on a flat surface, a tiny bit of sunlight poked through. It has the tiniest of wavy cuts on the one side, so in effect, it's actually a hair larger than it should be. Although more obvious, I'm thinking your Mantle suffers from the same problem.