Any trimmed card experts - 1948 bowman in particular?

[SMPEP]

Hi all,

I recently bought a lot of 1948 Bowman cards, and am wondering about their authenticity.

To the seller's credit, he disclosed that the cards were all trimmed (they look NM on front and back, and look perfect when compared to real cards I own), but when I put them in a stack with my other bowman cards ... I noticed that the edges are whitish ... not a pure white (there seems to be a bright white layer pasted on top of a gray-er backing layer) but the overall appearance is definitely white - not the gray appearance that all of my other vg-g cards have.

My question is - Is this a normal outcome of printing of pressing and trimming a real card (because you have chopped off all of the edge wear and revealed a pristine edge) or is this a sign that the cards are fake?

My strong feeling is that these are fake ... and can return to the seller for a refund if necessary ... but I would prefer to find out the cards are real and keep them. (I am prepared for folks to tell me they are fake though).

Anyone have any expertise they can share on this topic?

Thanks,
Patrick

[bnorth]

This is the advice I give out about trimmed cards. Buy some cheap commons and trim them using a few different methods, like guillotine paper cutter, scissors, exacto knife, ect.. You can even use one card and trim each side with a different method. Now label these card(s) how you trimmed them and now you have a reference to go to. Also get at least a 40X loupe to examine the edges. I know others will say lesser power will work but in reality it don't work as well. I also use one of those cheap 60-100X top lighted microscopes. Put the card in question in the middle of a stack of good cards and slide the top lighted microscope across the side of them and see if the side of the card in question looks the same as the known good cards. This last thing also works great at detecting reglossed cards as they always get a little gloss on the sides and it sticks out like a sore thumb under 100X. Hope this helps.

EDIT: Almost forgot about fake cards. A cheap fake can be determined by taking a wet paper towel and gently rubbing in on the card front. Water will not hurt most real cards but will smear the holy heck out of a home printer fake. If it is a rescreened fake with real ink made on a printing press it is a little harder but not much once you know what to look for. Most of us have huge TVs now. Take at least a 1200DBI scan of the card and a known real card and hook your laptop up to your TV. Now compare the print patterns on that huge TV screen. At that size even super good counterfeits stick out like a sore thumb.

[steve B]

Sounds like real but trimmed cards.

The 48s were on a layered stock, and the front layer usually doesn't stand out once the years have let some dust etc get absorbed by the edge of the card.

Most of the 48 set I put together years ago were so bad that the front layer was readily visible on the corners of many cards. Usually the really rare 48 Bowman discs.

Just kidding, they were bad enough that I called them "discs" sometimes.

The highlights were the Berra that had been partly colorized - but with a yellow uniform. several "discs", a few that had been soaked in wax to make them better for some card flipping game, and the usual peeled paper, staple holes, and creases. Maybe 5-6 were fairly nice.

Steve B

Steve B

[SMPEP]

Thank you both for your comments!

Patrick