The origins of card counterfeiting, 1972-74

[Leon]

Thanks for posting this, David. I especially like the part about the Henry Johnsons. They have been faked for quite a while.

[steve B]

Interesting stuff.

Here's the fake I ended up with at the first show I went to. considering it was 1978, it was a whole lot of work for someone to get $2.

[Chris-Counts]

I recall fakes showing up in the mid 1970s at the Southern California card club shows. Some local guy got busted for making phony 1963 Rose rookies.

[trdcrdkid]

Originally Posted by Chris Counts

I recall fakes showing up in the mid 1970s at the Southern California card club shows. Some local guy got busted for making phony 1963 Rose rookies.

Are you sure that was the mid-1970s? Rookie cards didn't become a thing in the hobby until about 1980, and the 1963 Rose didn't become valuable until the early-to-mid 80s, when fakes of it proliferated.

[barrysloate]

I remember seeing fake Rose rookies in the early 80's, when I first got into the hobby. And I got a sense that they were freshly minted. That's when the real ones started to get very expensive.

[CurtisFlood]

That was some interesting reading.

[oaks1912]

Some of the 1925 Zeenuts that Jim Nowell referred to turned up a few years ago, slabbed, in an auction. The paper stock is now more than 40 years old and can more easily slip by than they did in the 70's. The person that is believed to have produced those cards also did the Sommer & Kaufman cards, which also pop up from time to time...He is still in 'the hobby' and known by longtime collectors, but rarely appears in public any longer... Some of the Remars were printed in black ink, rather than blue, but that was by Sport Hobbyist and they are marked on the back....I seem to recall the Rose card scandal being in the early 80's (82/83), but that too has become a blur....