Help with Authenticity - Ruth, Mantle, Mays

[swarmee]

What city do you live in? If you're in the Florida Panhandle, I can probably meet you and review the cards in person. Others in other parts of the country may be able to as well.
I won't be buying, just verifying authenticity. (I'm mjohnatgt over on Blowout, FWIW)

[redauto5]

Originally Posted by swarmee

What city do you live in? If you're in the Florida Panhandle, I can probably meet you and review the cards in person. Others in other parts of the country may be able to as well.

I won't be buying, just verifying authenticity. (I'm mjohnatgt over on Blowout, FWIW)

Thanks for the offer, very generous! I'm in San Antonio, TX. If anyone is close and willing to help in any way maybe we can work something out.

I decided to start watching Breakout Cards YouTube collection to continue my education. Loving it.

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[irv]

It's hard to tell with your pics and the fact the cards are in cubes, but to me the 52 Topps Mays looks way off.
Same, but not as bad, is the Mathews card.

Curious. Are those cards in recessed cubes or just flat surfaced cubes? If real, and depending on how tight the cubes were screwed down, and assuming they're real, they may only get an "A" if graded due to them being flattened/squished if the cubes are not recessed?

The 56 Mantle also looks suspect to me as well but I can offer no opinion on the others.

Good luck.

[redauto5]

Originally Posted by irv

It's hard to tell with your pics and the fact the cards are in cubes, but to me the 52 Topps Mays looks way off.

Same, but not as bad, is the Mathews card.



Curious. Are those cards in recessed cubes or just flat surfaced cubes? If real, and depending on how tight the cubes were screwed down, and assuming they're real, they may only get an "A" if graded due to them being flattened/squished if the cubes are not recessed?



The 56 Mantle also looks suspect to me as well but I can offer no opinion on the others.



Good luck.

Thanks. I think they are flat surface cubes, and yes I've heard PSA especially gives a lot of these cards out of old screw downs A's because the card has been compressed and is now thinner than originally. Does SGC do this as well?

I'm assuming both Mantles, the Mays and the Ruth are fakes at this point. I'm curious on the Mathews, and will remove both the Mays and the Mathews from the screw downs and compare them. The surface feel, smell, card width. He has a few other low grade '52 commons I can compare the Mathews too as well.

It may be safest to assume all the authentic cards in screw downs will only grade A, but man that's a blow to any offer I give him and I want to be fair. Regardless, I'm having a blast trying to figure all this out!

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[irv]

Originally Posted by redauto5

Thanks. I think they are flat surface cubes, and yes I've heard PSA especially gives a lot of these cards out of old screw downs A's because the card has been compressed and is now thinner than originally. Does SGC do this as well?

I'm assuming both Mantles, the Mays and the Ruth are fakes at this point. I'm curious on the Mathews, and will remove both the Mays and the Mathews from the screw downs and compare them. The surface feel, smell, card width. He has a few other low grade '52 commons I can compare the Mathews too as well.

It may be safest to assume all the authentic cards in screw downs will only grade A, but man that's a blow to any offer I give him and I want to be fair. Regardless, I'm having a blast trying to figure all this out!

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I don't know for sure, but I would assume?

Hopefully Mays and Mathews are real. Both look really nicely centered and that is hard to find, especially with the Mathews. Pricey card, as is Mays.

[JustinD]

Sadly, looks like the person with that collection had more money than skill. Would have been best to stick to graded.

Most of the valuable ungraded looks very fake and bad fakes on some. The 52 Mays is godawful. The Ruth is absolutely fake, as is the 56 Mantle and 52 Mathews. The 53 Mantle is a maybe at best without a better pic as is Payton.

The graded look somewhat good by percentage, but there are a few that need a bit of closer examination. Unfortunately, I have very strong doubts on your Goudey Lou Gehrig not being a reseal, so much looks wrong with it. The graded sport kings look good as does the Gretzky.

It’s a very dangerous mix.

[gonefishin]

Not saying this is the case with your seller, but many times a scam artist will include a couple of authentic, lower valued, cards in the mix to throw you off on the authentication process. Look for all the obvious clues, coloring, format, etc.

If all seems ok, take a bright light and shine it through the back of the card for transparency - no light should come through in the 50s and earlier cards.

Then take a loop, or magnifying device that can magnify up to 100x. Use the loop, or device, and check the print dots on the card. Counterfeit operations, in most cases, cannot duplicate the printing methods of the 40s - 50s. Go on-line and read about modern print dots as compared to print dots in the 50s and earlier.

If it passes all these steps, and they probably won't, you can be about 50-65% sure they are real.

Hope this helps.

P.S. I always walk away from a deal if I find any counterfeits - one bad apple does spoil the bunch for me - unless it is someone that I've known a long time.

[redauto5]

Originally Posted by JustinD

Sadly, looks like the person with that collection had more money than skill. Would have been best to stick to graded.

Most of the valuable ungraded looks very fake and bad fakes on some. The 52 Mays is godawful. The Ruth is absolutely fake, as is the 56 Mantle and 52 Mathews. The 53 Mantle is a maybe at best without a better pic as is Payton.

The graded look somewhat good by percentage, but there are a few that need a bit of closer examination. Unfortunately, I have very strong doubts on your Goudey Lou Gehrig not being a reseal, so much looks wrong with it. The graded sport kings look good as does the Gretzky.

It’s a very dangerous mix.

Thanks for the detailed examination. I'm bummed on the Mathews, guess I need to add that to the fake list. I will get detailed photos of all the presumed fakes just to put it to bed, and with all the other big ungraded cards looking like fakes I'm assuming the '53 Mantle is as well. Surprised on the Payton but with the trend on this collection I guess I shouldn't be.

The Gehrig breaks my heart that it's even a question. What in particular about it gives you such misgivings? I'll definitely take better pictures of it and will research the frosting/resealing possibility. The SGC slab was created in 2008 and the cert checks out, but obviously it would with a reseal.

I'm glad about the Gretzky. He's got the set, bought it as such. That may end up being by far the most valuable real card.

I feel like I'm wading through a waist deep swamp with gators all around!

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[swarmee]

Originally Posted by redauto5

Thanks for the offer, very generous! I'm in San Antonio, TX.

I will be going on a business trip to San Antonio this summer to visit the AF bases there, so I might be able to help. Although I'm sure there are a ton of board members that could meet you sooner.
You could also take them into a local trading card shop or show (many people here go to the Dallas show) and would inspect them for you in person for free. Sometimes the card graders will be at that show, and Beckett is headquartered in Dallas and could get your cards back same day.