Card Identification Forum

Hi all!

Quick show of hands that think this is a reprint.

I bought this in St. Louis at the team store at the stadium in a big pack of Cardinals cards. It has a semi-greenish back with what feels more like a modern card than a 1961 paper card. However, it doesn't say reprint anywhere. I'm not convinced I've found a hidden gem but I would like to know if there was a set of reprints that included this card.

Thanks for looking!

---Ford

Without feeling it, I'd say fake.  My biggest question is around the borders being that white.  Even new my guess is they were not that bright.

Without the card in hand I can't say for certain, but I too think it unlikely to find an original 1961 card in top condition in a random pack of assorted cards sold in the team shop.  Those packs tend to be commons and over-produced 1990's era cards.  To find an authentic 1961 card in one of those packs seems very unlikely to me, and for that card to be a legitimate star on top of it?  Probably not gonna happen.  

There were reprints of that card made in 2011 (https://www.tcdb.com/ViewCard.cfm/sid/56686/cid/1898667/2011-Topps---60-Years-of-Topps-Original-Back-290-Stan-Musial) as well as some buybacks in 2003/4.  

If the card isn't an original, I would tend to label it a forgery rather than a reprint though.  True reprints are labeled as such or at least have updated copyright information clearly indicating it was produced later than the original card (the 2011 reprint, for example, is clearly labeled "Topps Reprint" with a 2011 copyright date on the back of the card).  Simply printing a scanned/photographed copy of the original card without clearly marking it as non-original seems, to me, to be unethical.

Hey, hopefully you got really lucky and pulled a great card (even with grades of 4-5 that card is selling in neighborhood of $50), but if I had to bet, my money would be against it.

If you bought it in the team store, I'm guessing it's a reprint/forgery. Did this card come in a packet of about 50 cards and cost about $10? I bought one of those packets from the Cincinnati Reds team store, and it had a 1969 Johnny Bench that wasn't real. I did the same in the Yankees team store this summer, and it had a 1962 Mickey Mantle/Willie Mays "Manager's Dream" card. That wasn't real, either.

Both of the fake cards had a real slick surface. For the Bench card, I bought it thinking it might actually be real. For the Mantle/Mays card, I had caught onto the game and knew it was fake ... but it's still fun to go through those old cards. And, again, the packet was only $10.

reprint...best way to tell is feel like some others said....get a 61 common somewhere and you can tell the difference..

mark

I agree that the borders coloring is off. If you have a loupe, that would give it away for sure. 

Yes, I agree with mzentko. Probably the best way to tell for certain is to compare it to an actual 1961 card. 

Thanks for the replies everyone. It was about 50 cards in a blister pack that cost $14. It has kind of a glossy feel to it and doesn't feel "rough" like my other '61s. I have a loop and when I look at it, there do seem to be very tiny pixels, so I'm going to say it's a forgery/reprint. Bummer for sure but not a real disaster. Thanks again guys.

I'm with Glenn on this one. Probably an "original back" reprint insert. The feel of the card stock is definitely a dead giveaway.