Ignore The Uncirculated Holders

Just because you come across an item in a Topps uncirculated holder, doesnt mean its real. Ever since Topps started using them back in the earlier part of the decade, scammers have used them as a way to legitimize a fake card.

These holders are no longer used, obviously for football, but also for Baseball. In football, they werent even used for the entire 2009 season. That didnt stop this guy from trying to pass this off as real. See, the sticker is so easily peeled off and reapplied, that anyone can take out the crap uncirculated card and replace it with a different one. Not sure why he chose that Moreno, but scammers usually arent the smartest people.
Then there is the buybacks, as I posted about last week. For the buybacks in 2005 and 2006, many of them came in these holders. Usually, that meant that every fake buyback from Topps came in one. There were also a few Upper Deck ones that came in topps holders too, and as soon as I see one, ill laugh and post it here. This Mauer is one of my new favorites, as the guy doesnt even have the confidence to show the actual auto in his scan. Nice pic dude.
Either way, dont be fooled by an uncirculated holder. They rarely prove anything and have actually become more of a red flag than an authenticator.

Topps is About To Have MAJOR Trouble on Their Hands

Ever since the sell sheet was released for 2009 Triple Threads baseball, I have posted on here how much of a horrid abomination the set looked like. From what I have been reading on the net, this card is a little bit more than just a bright blue booklet eyesore from one of the least visually appealing sets ever made. Its fake.

Here is the article posted about it when it was pulled a while ago. Since that timeframe, there has been nothing but skepticism over the authenticity of the Babe Ruth signature used for that card. I posted about it at that time, but now it looks like things are getting a little more hairy.
The person who pulled it, after reading about said skepticism, advised that he was going to send it for authentication with PSA. Not the best way to do it, but its better than nothing. After some time passed, the card was put up on eBay with no authenticating statement from PSA. The seller claims that he could not afford it. Whatever. Within a few days, the auction had been pulled under questionable authenticity from eBay, and no updates from Topps or anyone related to the production of the card or the pulling of the auction has been issued.
If you remember what happened when a similar thing happened to Upper Deck with a quad cut pulled out of EPIC, they had a lot of ‘splainin to do. They also made up for it with three (or possibly more) uncirculated 1/1s of the original HOF class, a Jordan/Lebron and a Tiger Woods. I think Topps may be on the same path if they do not own up to what happened with that Ruth signature that has been deemed fake by just about everyone.

Do Your Best To Avoid Buyback Headaches


Buybacks suck when it comes to the real/fake debate. Don’t let yourself think any differently, no matter how legit they seem. Its one thing if they are the 20th anniversary Ken Griffey Jr buybacks from Upper Deck with a matching COA, but its another thing if it’s a random Pujols card. Topps and Upper Deck spent a lot of time coming out with buyback auto cards over the last decade, and it has led to people trying to take advantage of those cards more than anything. It is too easy to fake them because the cards werent autoed when they were first released. Scammers pull any card they can find out of their common box, sign the front, put a peeled sticker from another card on the back, and call it a day. If they have honed their trade, they get one of the topps uncirculated holders and use that to give it more “legitimacy.” Don’t fall for it.

The main target of many of the fake buyback sellers is 2006 Bowman Originals, a product based solely on thee cards. In this high end product, Topps bought some good cards and some really crappy cards and had them resigned by players like David Wright, Pujols, and others. They put out boxes with one buyback auto per pack, and sold them at a ridiculous price for people who wanted to own the “original” cards signed by those players. There were two main problems with this set, primarily stemming from the way it was produced. First, for every one of the great players that graced this product, there were 20 that werent so great. In fact, the Wrights and Pujolses were numbered low enough that they became very valuable to player collectors who wanted a shot at them. This led to the second problem, stemming from the hand numbering of the cards. Because Topps hand numbered each of the cards in this set instead of serially numbering them, it was easy to see where scammers would have a field day. Topps also failed to provide a COA or foil stamp on the cards, which means that the uncirculated holder was the only thing standing between a scammer and the buyback gold.

Now that you have the background, it should be clear why you SHOULD NOT buy a buyback auto unless you are 100% sure it is real. That means a correct price, a well regarded seller, and a history check on the auto/card/seller itself. Compare and contrast with similar cards, study the makeup of the set, and try to determine a reason why it would be real. Approach guilty until proven innocent, because I have yet to see anything convincing to show me that buybacks are actually worth my time.

Here are some obvious fakes and the way scammers get you. I even saw a topps holder on a UD card once. Yes, they are that dumb sometimes.

Bowman Heritage Albert Pujols – Umm no. This card has a sig that isnt even close, and the fact that it’s a jersey card from Hertiage proves its fake status. He also has sold a few fake SPA patches in the last few months as well.

UD Masterpieces Ken Griffey Jr – Fake sticker, fake buyback, everything about this card is wrong. All buybacks feature on card signatures with few exceptions. This is not one of those exceptions. Plus, this card is pretty damning evidence to boot.

Tiger Woods Upper Deck Golf – Same seller, same result. These arent even close. Why even waste your time?

Basically, so many of the buybacks are too close to call, so it may be better to just avoid them. This is especially true if the player is high prestige. Although people have wised up, a lot of others have not. There are a lot of collectors obsessed with cards like this, and it continues to make demand high. My advice, just walk away and buy a nice version of another type of auto you know is real.

We Know PSA Is Bad, But This Bad?


I have commented numerous times on the epic fails that are PSA graded cards. I first showed a number of fake rookie premiere autos slabbed by PSA as real. Now, over on FCB, a user has found this Tim Lincecum rookie chrome auto that is obviously fake, yet it has been graded as authentic by PSA. Wonderful.

Just for further proof, Here is another one that is ungraded and has a worse auto.

The first time I posted about their tendencies for grading fake cards, I emailed PSA about their QC. They responded that they dont authenticate the auto on card unless it is paid for that way. This explains why the fake rookie premieres were graded the way they were. This is a little different. The card itself is a backdoored unsigned version of the Lincecum, very much like the blank Bowman Sterling cards we have seen pop up on eBay every once in a while. The scammer (not necessarily the seller) forged the auto in true faker glory, sent it into PSA, where they didnt even think twice about slabbing it. This is all despite the fact that the card IS NOT numbered like every other refractor auto in existence.
This is further proof as to why no one should trust the graders in any sort of way. It is a completely subjective and arbitrary process that people put way too much stock into.
Search up at the top for more posts I have done on this hobby wide scam.

Its One Thing To Be Bad At Faking


I just dont understand the stupidity of some people. Why anyone even think of spending their hard earned cash on something as expensive as a Mark Sanchez SPA without looking at it first is beyond me. Look at this auction, and you will see exactly why I condemn the people who sell, as well as those who dont think before bidding.

See the problem? Its the image from the fucking sell sheet. The guy has posted an auction with the intent of selling a scan from the sheet UD puts out to promote the set. Some may say he is showing this pic because he cant get his own on eBay, but he even says in the description that the lines are from his scanner.
Hopefully this gets pulled before someone gets screwed out of hundreds of dollars.