While the majority of present-day card scams relate to more modern era cards that are easier to reproduce, there are most certainly counterfeit cards dating back to the Pre-War era.  

We have covered the evaluation of old counterfeit cards before, yet this piece will focus on detecting some of the more common fakes from the infamous T206 White Borders set.  

Hopefully, this guide will arm you with all of the knowledge you need in order to avoid buying any fake T206 cards.

As always if you come across a good fake or if you need any help in authenticating a T206 card, shoot us an email at help@allvintagecards.com

I’ll be honest, I wasn’t even aware of this card a year ago, but I wish I was, as the 1985 Prism Jewel Michael Jordan Sticker has skyrocketed in value.  

Recent sales of PSA 8 graded copies of the card have reached nearly $50,000.  

The cards were inserted into vending machines, likely mostly outside of your local grocery store.   And given that they are stickers, most kids that plopped the quarters into the machine to grab these were peeling them off to use them how a kid might actually use a sticker.  

Hence, they are super rare to find intact and in good condition.  PSA has graded only 87 copies of the card, with only 8 reaching a PSA 9 and only 1 garnering a PSA 10 Gem Mint. 

I started to become more curious about the card when I started to get inquires from people that had one (or two) that they were trying to sell.  Knowing how rare these are, to receive multiple inquiries on this issue, just seemed sort of strange to me.

With Michael Jordan Fleer rookie card sales continuing to break records on a weekly basis, collectors priced out of Jordan rookie card ownership have turned to his more affordable 1987 Fleer second year card. 

And while the 1986 Fleer Jordan is heavily counterfeited, the 1987 Fleer card fakes are not as common.  However they exist, and would expect more sophisticated scammers to start firing up the printing presses again to try and take advantage of novice collectors.

Thus, this guide is here to help you know the ins and outs of detecting a fake 1987 Fleer Jordan second year card.

Please, do let us know if you come across any fake ’87 Fleer Jordan’s, as your assistance can certainly help us in aiding fellow collectors.

Feel free to reach out to me at chris@allvintagecards.com

Michael Jordan’s Fleer Rookie card has been on a mind-bending, stratospheric price increase over the past few years.  A PSA 10 Jordan rookie card just sold for over $200K back in December of last year. 

Like anything else with dollars behind it, the scammers have come out in full force trying to peddle fakes for thousands of dollars to unwitting buyers.  We’ve tried our best to educate collectors (here, here and here), but I keep hearing about swindles all the time.  

While Jordan’s #57 Fleer rookie card has seen a monstrous rise in price, his sticker from the same set (#8 of 11) has also garnered a ton of collector demand, driving up its price by XX over the past year on average.  

While scammers have focused on Jordan’s base card from the Fleer set, there are definitely fake Jordan sticker cards in circulation.  

This guide will helpfully help you avoid buying a fake Jordan Fleer rookie sticker card.

PS – If this guide or any of other articles have helped you in getting scammed, please let us know in the comments below. 

In addition, we could always use more reviews — you can leave us a review on Google here: Leave A Review For All Vintage Cards

I’m slightly late on this one, but another collector alerted me to this lawsuit regarding a Fake PSA 10 Michael Jordan rookie card.

Donald Spence, who is a heavyweight in collecting circles (just take a look at his PSA registry here) is the plaintiff in the suit. 

Back in May 2017, Spence purchased a purported PSA 10 graded Michael Jordan Fleer rookie card from Common Cents Coins in an eBay transaction worth $19,999.99.  

Common print stain/defects on bird/magic rookie which can help us often distinguish real cards from the fakes.

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.  

I’ve had the unfortunate experience of breaking the news to many eBay buyers that the card they spent multiple thousands of dollars on was a fake.

Thankfully eBay has strong buyer protection rules in place along with PayPal guarantees and options to dispute the transaction through your credit card company.  Thus, many of the buyers I’ve spoken to have been able to recover their funds.  

Still, I really hope that eBay can develop a program for sports cards, similar to what they have done with sneakers and watches.  

Despite this, I decided that I should create a guide to help buyers protect themselves from the most unscrupulous of eBay sellers. 

eBay does a good job of shutting down fake listings if enough people complain, but often times many fall through the cracks.  

Note that eBay does require that any cards that have a questionable authenticity be listed as a reprint, yet buyers are still bidding up these cards thinking they’ve found a diamond in the rough.

This guide will help you avoid these mistakes and help you become a better-informed buyer when purchasing sports cards on eBay. 

The 1933 Goudey Babe Ruth cards have been on absolute fire of late, with the Lou Gehrig cards (there are two) from the same set not too far behind.  

I often get inspiration for new counterfeit resource guides from the questions coming in to me.  And I’ve had a lot of requests for help of late in authenticating Goudey Ruth cards, with many of them ending up being outright fakes. 

So, in yet another attempt to help fellow collectors avoid getting scammed, this guide is all you need to know in distinguishing a fake Goudey Ruth or Gehrig from the real deal.   To note, the Goudeys can be among the toughest to distinguish in the hobby due to some better than average reprints. 

Also, one quick point too.  I’m not going to get every authentication question right.  Especially when dealing with only photos.  Sometimes, just the wrong angle or the wrong light can make a card look questionable from a photo.  So, all of this to say, buy a loupe and read this article!  

And…one last thing I need to get off my chest.  Often times the game of authentication (especially when not done in person) is a game of weighing the red flags.  For example, if a raw card is selling for only a small discount versus a graded copy, and there is even one small concern, forget about it.  Why take the risk?  And if you are dealing with the same question from a seller on eBay with questionable feedback…move on! 

Of course, once again, if you have any questions on a Goudey Ruth or Gehrig you might have, feel free to email me at chris@allvintagecards.com.

An authentic Michael Jordan 1984 Star XRC #101 Card

Ever since we published our interview with Star cards expert Steve Taft, we’ve had an increasing number of inquiries on Star basketball cards.

And the focus of the questions we receive typically are regarding the 1984 Michael Jordan Star XRC (or extended rookie card) #101.  

Jordan’s 1986 Fleer rookie card has become the essential card to own for nearly all vintage basketball collectors, yet Jordan’s Star XRC card still remains a bit of an afterthought in comparison.

In this piece, we examine the 1984 Star Jordan #101 XRC a bit closer and more importantly help collectors determine how to identify a fake copy.  

We’ve written extensively about how to identify a fake Michael Jordan rookie card here and here

As I’ve mentioned many times, we get a lot of inquiries asking to help authenticate Jordan rookie cards. 

We’ve also written about the history of PSA flips and how to altered slabs. 

First, let’s just say that the Jordan fakes are getting better.  Often I find myself telling a reader that it’s not possible with me to authenticate via images and would need to examine the card in person.  So, long story short, the scammers are getting better at their job.

Now, something that the scammers have been doing for a while, and not just with Jordan rookies, is busting cards from authentic flips and replacing with a fake card.