Some rare and expensive bakery goodies......

[Brian Van Horn]

Originally Posted by packs

Just putting this out there but if you bought one of these cards your opinions on the matter could be tainted. It would be best to view this objectively and as though you don't have something at stake.

Thank you.

[ullmandds]

sounds like a job for the forensics team in seattle!

[rhettyeakley]

Originally Posted by Brian Van Horn

Thank you.

Says the guy being completely non-objective and basing his opinion on one guys "honest" (subjective) opinion.

To packs' point I assumed they were not real because by default I am skeptical of new "unknown" sets and purchased none of the cards the first time they were offered on eBay. Only after looking at a handful of the cards in person after the fact and comparing them to known E121-like cards have I come to the conclusion that the cards are original.

Brian, just to be clear there are no "tan" cards... The only reason the two above look different is because one was laying directly on the scanner bed and the other is in a PSA holder.

[Brian Van Horn]

Originally Posted by rhettyeakley

Says the guy being completely non-objective and basing his opinion on one guys "honest" (subjective) opinion.

To packs' point I assumed they were not real because by default I am skeptical of new "unknown" sets and purchased none of the cards the first time they were offered on eBay. Only after looking at a handful of the cards in person after the fact and comparing them to known E121-like cards have I come to the conclusion that the cards are original.

Brian, just to be clear there are no "tan" cards... The only reason the two above look different is because one was laying directly on the scanner bed and the other is in a PSA holder.

Rhett,

Thank you for that clarification. So we have cards that are of the same tone. The number of cards now may have only been on one sheet. I was basing my extrapolation on the way they appeared in your scans. Please note one and all I would not remember two different tones from a conversation from 2001 at the latest.

Again, thank you for the clarification.

[darwinbulldog]

Presumably if people are biased by whatever beliefs would be self-serving then those who have bought them may be subject to some bias of overconfidence in the cards' authenticity and those who have not bought them may be subject to some bias in the opposite direction. Most of us fall in the latter camp. Let's exclude everyone else, though, in the interest of a very conservative sense of the board's opinion. Is there a single person other than Brian here, among the hundreds of us who have not bought them, who believes they are fake? I don't mean that as a rhetorical question; I'm genuinely curious about it.

I too would have assumed it was just trolling, but I've seen Brian posting on here for a long time, and he always seemed like a reasonable person.

[nolemmings]

I own one of these, and am quite confident it is real.

Brian, I don’t doubt you heard what you state and that the man who told you that the cards were not real honestly believed it–I’m just convinced he was wrong. Sure he would have an incentive to investigate and would want to sell them for more if real, but that doesn’t mean he can;t be wrong. As others have said, unless he made them himself, instructed that they be made or witnessed their production, his is really little more than an opinion.

I can easily see a scenario where he did not know what he had, and consulted with known resources-- all the catalogues and his fellow dealers-- to come to his conclusion. Please remember that fake Henry Johnson’s and Kendigs were circulating during this time–cards that use the very same fronts as these Herpolsheimers/W-575s/E121s. It was even a bit of a hot button, BOLO type situation within the hobby-- I remember some bad HJs emanating from a Festberg auction and posting about it here if not the old Full Count board back around 2000-2001. I even called Lew Lipset at the time and he spoke of these cards being faked. It could very well be that the consensus of those dealers at the RM show was to conclude that these were not genuine basically because no one had seen them, they were not catalogued and other fakes with the same fronts were then circulating. Add to that any dealer with cock-suredness or bravado barking authoritatively to your guy that he “knew” these to be fake and there you have it. Fake it is.

I do not believe it would have been insulting to ask this man how he acquired these cards or if he knew anything about their history–anything to give you more information. These questions are asked all the time with no disrespect. Of course I do not fault you for not asking, but to place so much weight on such a terse statement is misplaced, IMO.

[slidekellyslide]

Herpolsheimer's in Lincoln...I always wondered if there was any connection, but I think there was one in Detroit too which is more likely where they originated.

[Brian Van Horn]

Originally Posted by darwinbulldog

Presumably if people are biased by whatever beliefs would be self-serving then those who have bought them may be subject to some bias of overconfidence in the cards' authenticity and those who have not bought them may be subject to some bias in the opposite direction. Most of us fall in the latter camp. Let's exclude everyone else, though, in the interest of a very conservative sense of the board's opinion. Is there a single person other than Brian here, among the hundreds of us who have not bought them, who believes they are fake? I don't mean that as a rhetorical question; I'm genuinely curious about it.

I too would have assumed it was just trolling, but I've seen Brian posting on here for a long time, and he always seemed like a reasonable person.

I think I still am .