Here are a few pieces of information that you'll need to come to a conclusion:
1. I purchased this card for $4.00 from what I would describe as a respectable card shop in Topeka. I picked it up quickly at the $4.00 price tag thinking that it was a good deal. A little too good maybe? How do you get rid of a possibly fake vintage card would be to put a great price on it. The book value for this particular card is between $30-40 and this particular copy is in great condition I would say.
2. There are A LOT of fake 1963 Bazooka cards out there...a fact I didn't know at the time of the purchase. It was only when I was searching out the book value that I found message board posts like this about the problem of authenticating copies.
3. I did find a scan of a '63 Bazooka graded by PSA...which although it's not a 100% certain conclusion I think it's certainly more than likely an authentic version of the card. BUT...there are tales of graded versions of the fake card and that is actually how most of the original fake cards were put out into the world.
4. I unfortunately don't have a scan of the reverse side of the card being that the card is in Wisconsin and I'm in Ukraine. At the time I bought the card [back in June] I didn't scan it because it was just a plain brown/tan cardboard back...again, I hadn't known about the faking problem yet. Unfortunately comparing the reverse side quality and color seems to be the best, most fool-proof way to figuring out if the card is real.
5. The fake cards that were produced seemed to have been made of images that are photographs of the original cards. And so the quality of the image can be closely examined to figure out if it is authentic or not. This strategy has proved frustrating as I really need some high quality scans to get a feel for the subtle differences.
6. In the end, I think it is real. What do you think?
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| 1963 Bazooka #16 Carl Yastrzemski |
4. I unfortunately don't have a scan of the reverse side of the card being that the card is in Wisconsin and I'm in Ukraine. At the time I bought the card [back in June] I didn't scan it because it was just a plain brown/tan cardboard back...again, I hadn't known about the faking problem yet. Unfortunately comparing the reverse side quality and color seems to be the best, most fool-proof way to figuring out if the card is real.
5. The fake cards that were produced seemed to have been made of images that are photographs of the original cards. And so the quality of the image can be closely examined to figure out if it is authentic or not. This strategy has proved frustrating as I really need some high quality scans to get a feel for the subtle differences.
6. In the end, I think it is real. What do you think?
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