Area Card Show -selling reprints as authentic
 

this past weekend I attended the local card show in Sacramento, CA. There were a couple of dealers that had some vintage material.

There was one vendor that had 3 cards that I know were fake and he was selling as authentic.

a 1953 Topps Mantle for $800. And a 1954 Topps Jackie Robinson, and Eddie Mathews. both in the $100-$200 range each.

I did not say anything to the seller....here is what I thought about.

1. Did the seller purchase these as authentic and trying to sell knowing they are reprints to recoup his money ?

2. Is the seller completely unaware that the cards were reprinted.

Interesting. I probably would have asked him a few questions about them to see where his "head" was at...How was the rest of the show???

the attendance looked to be good. Saw a few people trying to fill some 1950's or 1960's sets.

there were a handful of pre -war items and of course..very overpriced.

What else did the seller have? If the vintage were the minority he may not know.

Just because someone sets up, doesn't mean they are knowledgeable. I was at a show a couple of months back. A gentleman had one t206 among his 50's and 60's cards. I asked the price, when he flipped I saw the back was a Piedmont but didn't fully catch which series. So I asked "and it was a Piedmont 150?" He turned it back over and said "Yes this is number 150 in the set." He apparently thought the number on the back of the card was the same as the number on the back of his Topps cards. :rolleyes: It would have been easy for me to believe that a guy like that could be selling fakes and have no idea.

the same seller had some original/authentic 50's material that was raw and some that were graded.

Why didn't you say anything?

I saw the 1953 Mantle and thought it looked fuzzy.

The only thing I picked up was a couple 1968's (down to needing only 3 cards to complete it)

Thank you.