A card I acquired three years ago.

Good day ladies and gentleman, I aquired this card three years ago from the trash and I saw one that just hit the block and was auctioned for a great deal of money, I never had it graded because I frankly don't trust the P.O. if this card is what i think it is. I want to get other collectors thoughts so here are the pics and thanks.

Your pictures did not get posted. Please try again. If you still have problems the FAQ can help you get the picture posted. We look forward to seeing the card.

sabrjay wrote:Your pictures did not get posted. Please try again. If you still have problems the FAQ can help you get the picture posted. We look forward to seeing the card.

I used the TinyPic website to repost the pics and i hope it worked , thanks again Sabrjay.

rockthejungle,

There are many reprints and reproductions of the T206 Wagner. It is very common for non-collectors to come across a re-print and believe that they have a major find on their hands. It's always worth examining the possibility, even if it often leads to disappointment.

I am far from an expert on judging the authenticity of ungraded cards. Examining the scan, you can see that the typeface is placed closer to the border of the picture than is standard for T206's. That is a clue that the card is not authentic.

Based on those scans there is exceptionally little chance that one is authentic, I'm afraid.

30+ years of handling cards I can positively state that the card is a reprint. Everything about the card is wrong, card stock, color, wear looks unnatural, name on the bottom in the wrong place and the black thin line frame that should be around the picture is almost nonexistent.

We always hold out hope that these things are legit. About 2 years ago we had a gentleman come to the board describing a card that most of thought couldn't possibly exist but once we saw scans, we knew he had the real thing. We can only hope another such find comes this away again.

t207 Red Cross find

The card is a reprint without a doubt. Thanks for posting.

Lee

I rushed the info on this board and didn't add the other part so here goes and I apologize for that , there were six other cards that i found with the Wagner and i did have them looked at by Sports Investments owned by Steve Wolter and they all were from the same cig company and here is the part that stumps me they all were deemed real by that company , one of the cards i have is HOF'er OF ,Al Simmons, St.Louis Cardinals so my question is instead of a reprint could it be a misprint from the early 1900's?

rockthejungle wrote:I rushed the info on this board and didn't add the other part so here goes and I apologize for that... so my question is instead of a reprint could it be a misprint from the early 1900's?

The short answer is "no". The long answer is "Hell, no."

Wish I could tell you that you just stumbled upon a 6 figure card, but that just isn't the case. Many, many forgeries / reprints / tribute cards of the T206 Wagner have been made and aged to try to look old. They are listed on eBay with some regularity. Having seen firsthand and held a number of the authentic ones (in various conditions) and having seen dozens of scans of other authentic ones, I can tell you that your card does not share the features that are common to the real ones. (That doesn't stop many with similar cards from trying to make others believe that theirs is a real one / printer's scrap / proof card / etc.)

A black light and a magnification loupe can provide two other sources of verification that the card is not an authentic T206 if you have the card in hand.

...to answer the follow-up questions before they are asked:
1- Buy a $20 authentic T206 off ebay (in a PSA or SGC holder) and compare the printing dots under magnification. The difference should be quite apparent.
2- Hold a black light behind your card and look "though" it. Papers made since sometime in the middle of the last century have included whitening agents. Many of these agents will fluoresce under black light. A unaltered, period card from 1909 will not fluouresce. Do this one AFTER the magnification examination since the loupe is more reliable.

There are many other ways to tell if a card is authentic too, but these will get you started.

In many ways, spotting fake cards is much like spotting counterfeit money. Those who are trained to spot counterfeit money spend a ton of time studying the real thing - NOT by studying forgeries. I say that to say this... spend a significant amount of time around T206s and you too will be able to spot the difference in no time.

Good luck! Hopefully this doesn't sour you on vintage baseball cards.

I don't even like this card. All the forgers have ruined it for me...