I reached out to the person I thought might be able to help us with this and I received a lot of information on Star basketball counterfeits. The white set is a legit parallel but was counterfeited.
"Star released two Celtics sets for 85-6, the green border and the white border. Both are legit and are on the same uncut sheet, ie. series two....Here's the kicker.... The type II Counterfeits also come from this 85-6 series two. So, there are original versions of these two Celtics sets, and, counterfeit versions. There is an additional counterfeit of the Bird from these sets, too.
I don't have time to view the scans from that forum, so, here's the quick answer on type II counterfeits. If there's a colored front border, ie. Celtics green border, the original cards will have traces of green ink bleeding onto one (or more) of the back edges. It can be a couple traces of bleed on only one back border, to a color tint on all four back borders. Usually, it's somewhere in the middle of these extremes. So, an ORIGINAL will show bleed onto the back edges. The type II counterfeits do not show bleed.
It gets a little tougher on the white border cards because you can't look for bleed. Type II's tend to be SLIGHTLY glossier than the originals. Sometimes the backs of type II's are slightly brighter, too. Finally, the film negatives were laid down a fraction differently on originals vs. type II counterfeits. This is best seen in the 117 Jordan and the Ewing RC.
It may take a magnifier to see the bleed.... On the white bordered 85-6 Blazers, the original will have RED framing lines between border and picture when viewing with a magnifier. The type II counterfeits will show ORANGE framing lines when viewed under magnification. Key card is the Drexler.
These bleed "rules" also apply to the Best of the NEW and the Jordan 10-Card set, along with 85-6 Star NBA #'s 95-172. DO NOT APPLY THESE BLEED RULES TO ANY OTHER STAR ISSUES EXCEPT THOSE NOTED ABOVE. These rules do not apply to 101's, and other Star Co. sets."
