Jim Thorpe card on ebay

[paul]

Obviously, the consensus was that this card was fake. But why? It didn't have the usual tell tale signs of a fake M101-4/5. What did I miss?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/161291332654...84.m1423.l2649

[Leon]

Several of his recent positive feedback are from refunds he gave for items not passing authentication. I see where he sold a Wagner reprint for $152 too. That being said it looks like a few higher end items he sold might have been good? The coloring on the Thorpe looks off and at least one of the corners looks artificially rounded. From the scan I am not 100% on it being fake but close to it.

[nolemmings]

That card does not exist with that back.

[asoriano]

I don't like the artificial wear around the edges. Does a Gimbel's Thorpe even exist?

Edited to add: Todd, you beat me to it.

[ctownboy]

Evenly rounded corners but no damage to the rest of the card?

David

[Brian Van Horn]

I was thinking about bidding on the card, but the frame around the picture was the tipoff.

[nolemmings]

I don't know Brian, the framing is one of the few things that looks legit to me. The reprint Thorpe, at least the Fritsch version, has a much bigger gap between photo and frame, and the resulting crop leaves very little space between his right hand and the edge--about enough for 1/2 to 3/4 of one of his fingers. This fake or copy allows much more space, like the real deal.

Others have pointed out the problems with this card, which I never looked at closely because again the Thorpe cannot be found with that back. Artificial rounding--very apparent on one corner-- and a lack of edge wear are solid signs. I would also bet the card is thinner than a real m101-5 once you have it in hand. The magnified views also show it to be trimmed if not hand-cut along the right edge. Add to that the fact that seller has auctioned other bogus high-dollar m101s (Altoona Tribunes with wrong font and WaJo with wrong card #) and knows how to sell slabbed cards while leaving these raw and you have yourself most of the usual flags.

My two cents.