Every day, I get emails from eBay with the new auctions listed in certain categories that I have interest in seeing. Most of them are Vikings autograph searches for Adrian Peterson and Chrisitan Ponder, just so I can stay on top of any cards that I may not have.

One alarming trend that I have seen lately is the presence of fake sticker autographs placed onto non-autographed Panini cards from the last few years, specifically with Adrian Peterson as a target. Because of the massive infection of the 2007 Topps Rookie premiere autos, I have become incredibly familiar with two styles that are very prominent.

Here is the first.

Here is the second.

Because Peterson’s autograph is so erratic during these periods, its become easy to identify fakes due to slant of the letters, cleanliness of the signature, and addition of parts to the auto that were not present at that time. For instance, from 2008-2009, Peterson did not sign “28” with any of his FULL autographs. He only signed the number on the shortened “AD28” signature. On top of that, because these examples below directly match one of the styles of fake 2007 RP Topps autos, I know they arent real.

2008 National Treasures Adrian Peterson Fake Auto Jersey – Autos were numbered to 50, not 99.

2008 Gridiron Gear Adrian Peterson Fake Auto Patch – These were numbered to 5.

2008 Donruss Classics Adrian Peterson Fake Auto Patch – Again, numbered to 5

The reason these are so easy to make has to do with the fact that Panini didnt make the jersey cards any different from the autographs. The only difference is the numbering on the back (not visible) and the wording on the back (not visible). If Panini had taken the time to adjust designs between the two paralells of jersey and auto jersey, this would not have been possible. Alas, the floating swatches they are famous for have led to fakes.

The guy responsible (not the sellers of the cards) has also put fake stickers on printing plates and other cards to simulate more value on cards that dont have as much secondary market potential. Basically, if you see this style of autograph on any card, its not real.

Just wanted to give everyone a head’s up.