Tips for Judging the Authenticity of 1920s Exhibits?
 

I tried to search the board for prior threads discussing what to look for when determining the authenticity of Exhibits cards from the 1920s, but came up empty. Are there any telltale signs of fake/reprinted cards, ideally something that should be apparent by looking at a scan of the card?

Thanks!

Look at the quality of the print. Look at the other things in the "picture" besides the card ie.. Check out the seller, the story etc..... I don't recall seeing a ton of fake exhibits but I am sure they are out there.

On old 1920-30's exhibits, there are no mainstream reprints you would see all the time. Most of what you will see are homemade ones where the front looks close but generally you can tell the contrast is not right as well as the back color does not look right (also its usually only Ruth, Gehrig rookie, Cobb that you will see). The other thing you will find are some that have good laser prints on the front and have been rebacked, on the hard to tell if fake ones they used real exhibits cards as the backs so those are tough to tell.

My advise is post a picture here, and let the experts judge. I do know a raw Ruth that looks very questionable is on ebay right now that did not pass grading, the back looks like a newer 47-66 exhibit to me.

Great, thanks guys!

I assume this is an example being discussed. As mentioned, 1920s Exhibits aren't typically counterfeited or reproduced. However, anything for Ruth, you need to be careful with. Some signs: print looks fuzzy rather than clear. cardstock is the wrong color (yellowish rather than white). Some things you really won't know until you have the card in hand such as the thickness and feel of the cardstock and whether it passes the black light test.

Yeah, that Ruth caught my eye, although I was planning to pass on it given the PSA treatment. I'd been hoping to add a Ruth to my collection for sometime, but with decent looking 33 Goudeys now beyond my price range, I'm switching focus to a lower grade Exhibit instead and want to make sure I know what I'm looking at.

Thanks again everyone.

What also looked odd to me on this card was wear on the corners...even though its not the same on all four...the rounded corner wear looks too smooth to me for its age...

Ricky Y

I've always thought that its hard to tell from scans, but if you buy it, after you get it, look at the dot pattern under magnification--I like 16X. A real card, made from the original plate, will show a regular dot pattern.

Best of luck, as I like them too,

Larry