First off I'm not sure if I picked the right forum for this post I chose it as I'm trying to determine the autenticity of a T206 baseball card I have in my possession. So if I chose unwisely please forgive me.
The seller listed this card as a possible reprint and that the texture of the card didn't feel right to him. I have a few questions I would like to pose to the community hoping that a few knowledgable T206 collectors would be willing to weigh in with their opinion and help me judge the authenticity of the card.
I have looked at the card closely using a 16x jewlers loop magnifier and did not see anything that automatically pointed to a reprint. I will say I am very new to the T206 set and in fact am only looking to collect 5 cards from T206 at this point. So just know that this card of Hayden is the first card from T206 that I've handled personally. I have read up as much as I can on the set in an effort to aid me as I look for the cards I want to own. So here is my questions in order to help me.
1) What is the history of full set reprints of T206? Were there any reprints prior to the 1983 Gallasco set? Im my research I cannot find any information on any wholesale reprinting of the entire set prior to 1983 that would have included the Jack Hayden card. To my untrained eye it appears that the lithography is in line with what I would expect. I am trying to obtain stronger magnification to confirm. The yellow background in particular appears to have very non-uniform blots of ink that I think is indicative of early printing methods. Knowing for sure there were no reprints prior to 1983 would help me move the conversation to authentic vs fake/forgery.
2) There appears to be black ink missing from the chin area of Hayden's image. I did see one other card on ebay with a very similar patch on a different card from mine. The other card is in a PSA grading protector and mine was not. Would an inking "flaw" of this kind be something I would see on a T206? Could this be some sort of clog on the printer at the time this was produced that would cause it?
3) The back side of my card is very uniformly discolored brown. I have seen images online including here were card backs from T206 approach that color. However, most of them are on the T206 Soverign backs. There is one card on TTCDB with a Piedmont back with a similar color. it is card number 3 if anyone cares to compare for yourself. To me it looks like the color of an envelope or sheet of paper that is old. Is this aging on my T206 not uncommon? What would cause this kind of coloration on a Piedmont back that appears to be atypical for the set?
4) My particular card is not centered very well especially on the back. I've seen other examples of this on Ebay and elsewhere for T206. I assume this is somewhat common T206. Would this seem to support the fact that i have an authentic card?
5) I think I've all but ruled out a reprint in my own mind and have focused on possible fake/forgery. My thoughts here are: A fairly ordinary player that is not particularly sought after by collectors except maybe by me. The most common backing for a T206 set card. I understand Piedmont 350 is the singly most common back. Why would anyone go to the trouble to counterfeit this particular card especially on a scale to simulate authentic printing? Are there counterfeits of low end cards like Jack Hayden to be found in circulation? I'm trying to ascertain why a collector would let a a specimine is this good of condition go for the price I got it for if there was a fairly good chance it was authentic.
Thank you for any and all opinions I get on this card. I appologize for the length of this post but I wanted to be as complete as I could with all the details concerning this card at my disposal. I hope some of you T206 collectors made it this far and would be willing to leave your opinion.
Kevin W Garrett (aka Koloth)
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