General Forum

I had an Elston fron this set from a long while back, then years later I did a trade and had two. That was probably 15 years or so ago. Because it was a double I didn't have them in the same place till recently when I was trying to figure out which to trade away. Then I started comparing the two. The one that is newer to me looks different. The colors are not as true, and the colors on the back seem off. Then I noticed the edge that I always thought had possibly been trimmed was actually a little thicker than standard and it seemed like it was trimmed incorrectly. So here are some front and back pics. I need the opinion of some of the vintage collectors to let me know is this just how some were printed or is this a fake?

To me they both look legit . The only way to tell for sure though is to examine them with a jewelers loupe to see if the print patterns match . The differences in color is easy to explain due to the amount of ink on the plates at a given time and also how they've been stored over time .

Below is a picture of a '64 topps uncut press 264-cards sheet. On the left side his card was on the bottom row, on the right sheet his card was in the middle. This may explain the odd cut you describe.  

A jeweler's loupe would help in comparing the two.

I went through all my 1964 Topps. Not one of them is even close to having a shade of red; all are orange.  But if you look in our 1964 Topps gallery you will see some that look red, but that could be due to scanners.

Orange is the new black ... or something? 

For what's worth, they both look legit to me. 

v3

I think that is a common on the name. Why would anybody make a fake common card.. 

He has his number retired as a Yankee, won an MVP and is a member of several teams that are popular to collect (1956, 1961). Yankee fans would pay premium prices for his cards.

I'd guess both are authentic, though can't weigh in on the trimming.

I have plenty of both 'red' and 'orange' 64s.  Maybe there were inconsistencies in the printing or inking process.

I was able to get a good pic of the back. That rubbing area would be hard to reproduce. I have had both for at least 15 years so back then it would have been even tougher to counterfeit. I took a couple more zoomed and both the red and Orange look smooth like ink roller printing, not desktop printer so I am pretty sure they are real, just print variations and a miscut on one edge. Thanks for all the input!

Miscut edge