How To Spot A Fake Bird/Magic Rookie Card
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The 1980-81 Topps Bird/Magic rookie card has seen a huge increase in price this year; for most grades, an increase of more than 300%.
Back in June of last year, we posited that the Bird/Magic rookie might actually be undervalued given the hysteria with Michael Jordan’s rookie card.
With the rise in value for the Bird/Magic rookie card, there is certainly the potential for more fakes to hit the market.
In this piece, we review the Bird/Magic rookie card, help identify and fakes, and ultimately try and help collectors avoid buying a counterfeit card.
If you have a Bird/Magic rookie card you think might be suspect, shoot me an email to chris@allvintagecards.com.
The good thing for collectors is that I haven’t seen too many sophisticated Bird/Magic rookie fakes, but that doesn’t mean they won’t hit the market.
Thus, this guide should help you know some of the telltale signs of an authentic card and how to tell the difference if you encounter a fake card.
Let’s get some of the easy stuff out of the way.
Missing Perforations (Usually Means) Fake Bird/Magic Rookie
Many of the reprints sold online have missing perforation marks. So, if you see a Bird/Magic card without the perforations it is usually a fake. Here’s a weird one I came across on eBay; looks like someone maybe tried to hand cut and then maybe glued it back together. Total mess!
One caveat to this! There have been some Bird/Magic rookie cards discovered that were cut from uncut sheets without the perforation marks, but generally these are fairly rare.
Another big think to look out for on fakes—hand marked lines..especially ones that look crooked. See one example below:
Crooked perforation lines on a fake Bird/Magic rookie card
Watch Out For Topps 1996 Bird/Magic Reprint
In 1996, Topps included a reproduction of the Bird/Magic rookie card in its 1996-97 Topps Star Basketball set. Note there is also a Finest version of the card.
This one is super easy to spot just based on the reprint text on the back of the card, where I’ve circled in red – “Reprinted By Topps Company Inc 1996….”
Examining Front of An Authentic Bird/Magic Rookie Card
When authenticating cards, it is always important to get a feel for the real deal.
Here’s a high resolution image of the front of an authentic copy.
An authentic Bird/Magic Rookie Card
There are some clear things that we can observe. First, the images on the card are notorious for the poor quality, so we can expect all of the player images to have some level of blurriness. In addition if we look at the perforation lines on the card, they are fairly consistent in that each vertical column there are two missing ‘dash’ imprints near the top third and bottom third of the line.
The cards are also notorious for different types of print defects and many of these can be a huge help in trying to identify a real card.
Here’s a common one (and I don’t think PSA considers this one a print defect.
This little line below the N in Magic Johnson’s name is quite common
Another on that is very common are these print stains on the front of the card. Notably black print stains between Bird and Erving..and Erving and Magic…and then the white snow in the black background of Magic.
Common print stain/defects on bird/magic rookie
This card was actually awarded a ‘PD’ (or print defect qualifier from PSA).
The good thing with these flaws is that it would be hard to really replicate these on a fake card. Not impossible, but it helps piece together the puzzle.
Vintage Larry Bird 1980-81 RC Topps 34/174/39 Beckett 5 EX BVG Card; Dr. J/Magic
 | $882.99 Buy It on eBay for only: $882.99 Buy It Now on eBay |
1980-81 Topps - Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Julius Erving #139-174-34 RC SGC 3
 | $625.00 Buy It on eBay for only: $625.00 Buy It Now on eBay |
1980-81 TOPPS Larry Bird / Magic Johnson rookie card SGC 5 EX Julius Erving WOW!
 | $899.99 Buy It on eBay for only: $899.99 Buy It Now on eBay |
LARRY BIRD MAGIC JOHNSON JULIUS ERVING PSA 8 1980 TOPPS SCORING LEADER ROOKIE RC
 | $1,802.00 (17 bids) End Date: Monday Apr-28-2025 21:33:00 EDT Bid |
Here are some closeups of the Bird/Magic rookie card:
The basketball and green borders are a good area to get comparison of
Dr J’s face on the rookie card
Larry Bird’s face on the rookie card
Celtics lettering near Larry’s Leg
A closeup of the lettering on the front of the card
Common Reprints and Front Differences
This is a fairly common reprint card that we can easily spot only from an eye test. The colors are incredibly bright (look at the orange in the basketball) and the white is way too bright. It’s hard to see from the photo but the player and team name texts are a bit blurry—under microscope there would be a distinct lack of clarity in the print and look nothing like the images shown above.
A common Bird/Magic reprint card
Examining Back of Authentic Bird/Magic Rookie Card
Back of an authentic Bird Magic rookie card
Here are some closeups of the rear of the card. We can see the bold prints of the ink and the clear concise borders on the lettering. On the last image we can see the clear definition between the letter borders on the blue and black.
Closeup of black text
Closeup of blue box
Lettering closeup of Magics name
Common Reprints and Back Differences
A while back there was one hilarious discovery on a fake that I haven’t seen much of lately, but is certainly worth mentioning.
Some fakes have the name Stupid Upshaw on the back…these are definitely fakes
Here’s a back on other common reprints and you’ll see that’s it not so easy to tell the difference. That’s where you really need to take out the loupe to try and examine the print marks. If the other front indications aren’t helping tell the story you really will need to get a closeup look at the print on the back.
The one key differentiator on this fake however is the use of two stars (asterisks) next to the copyright for 1980 Topps Chewing Gum. The real cards only have one star.
Back of a more common non Stupid Upshaw reprint. Also, note the two stars next to each copyright of 1980 Topps Chewing Gum. The real cards only have one star, if you see two stars this is indicative of a fake.
Vintage Larry Bird 1980-81 RC Topps 34/174/39 Beckett 5 EX BVG Card; Dr. J/Magic
| $882.99 Buy It on eBay for only: $882.99 Buy It Now on eBay |
1980-81 Topps - Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Julius Erving #139-174-34 RC SGC 3
| $625.00 Buy It on eBay for only: $625.00 Buy It Now on eBay |
1980-81 TOPPS Larry Bird / Magic Johnson rookie card SGC 5 EX Julius Erving WOW!
| $899.99 Buy It on eBay for only: $899.99 Buy It Now on eBay |
LARRY BIRD MAGIC JOHNSON JULIUS ERVING PSA 8 1980 TOPPS SCORING LEADER ROOKIE RC
| $1,802.00 (17 bids) End Date: Monday Apr-28-2025 21:33:00 EDT Bid |
I’m working to get some more closeups of the reprints uploaded here to give some closer comparisons. I’m also on the hunt for any other reprints that may be out there. So if you have seen or have a good fake, please send it my way and I can try to include in this resource guide.
I can be reached at chris@allvintagecards.com
Great article!
I believe I was scammed by someone opening up a slab and replacing the real 1980 Topps Scoring Leaders Erving Bird Johnson card with a reprint.
My question for you:
1. Do any 1980 Topps Scoring Leaders Erving Bird Johnson cards have two asterisks on the back near the date and copyright?
Thanks!
Wes, if there are two asterisks it’s a fake. I’ve never seen a real one with two. I saw the card you sent me, and I do think it is a fake. I’m hoping we can share your card to alert others out there. I hope you can somehow get your money back. – Chris