General Forum

A close look at this seems to show pixels that just weren't used back then. The colors seem...smoother...on graded ones. Seems like a fake. Thoughts? 
Thanks. 
v3
https://www.ebay.com/itm/143917599442

I'm no expert, but I'm not sure that the dots that appear when zoomed is definitive proof that it is fake.

This example shows the same dots
https://www.loc.gov/resource/bbc.0802f/

It is curious, but I can't say it's fake FOR SURE. OCH's link helped me some too. I put my own 1910 T206 under the magnifying glass before he replied and mine appears to have a similar "pixelation". The pixelation seems to appear for shadows or gray colors. I wouldn't completely write that card off as a fake for one other reason too. Current technology would pixelate anything when scanned or photographed. It might actually be legit. Another thing I was looking at about this specific card the white line UNDER the black border where it should be red. The card is obviously off-center top to bottom. But an OC shouldn't move the black line around. Interesting card and I hope to read more replies about this one.

All good thoughts and good research so far. I wondered many of the same things, especially about the scanning. But others that have been scanned don't look like that. Could just be different types of scanning. 
Thanks! 
v3

My 2 cents . If it is a fake it's a damn good job getting what looks like 112 years of wear on a "new" printed card

looks like the red plate was off. the red doesn't reach the black line and kinda overlaps the top of the head and ears. I imagine such plate alignment issues were fairly common. Topps still had problems through the 80's with it

Yes but the Red Plate not being perfect isn't enough to say the Merkle is real as it could've been "faked" from one that had the issue 

Oh, you'd be surprised how good they are at that. There are plenty of "aged" cards advertised as such. They look very realistic. It's disturbing. 

Would need to see under a loupe to be sure...but I'm not convinced it's fake based on that photo.  The fact that the print dots bleed together in the dark areas, rather than being evenly spaced just a dark color, leads me to believe it might be from that era.

It's hard to tell for sure, but if it is one it's pretty convincing to me at least.