Genuine T206 Honus Wagner baseball card?

Question

My roommate and I happened to get into a conversation about baseball cards (he has tons he's never even taken out of their packaging) and we decided to look up the most valuable ones on the internet. I came across a picture of the insanely valuable T206 Honus Wagner card. He was oblivious to the card's value and said he had one just like it. I know he's not lying, and he knows the card by heart, but I'm wondering if he has some later printed duplicate or a card using the exact same image. However, I've looked at many sites, and I can't seem to find anything that said this image was used on any cards after the first set of 50 to 200 printings. He got the card in 1995 or just before, and it is still in mint condition within its packaging. Is it slightly possible that his card is genuine or is it much more likely to be counterfeit?

Answer 1

It's possible it's genuine, but it's extremely unlikely. Its rarity was well known well before he acquired it in '95, so one big question would be just how he came into possession of it. Counterfeits outnumber the genuine article by a factor of hundreds if not thousands.



At any rate, if he's personally convinced it's the real deal, he should submit it to SGC (best for pre-WWII cards) or maybe PSA for authentication and grading (links to both are below). There's a fee for their services, but if the card turns out to be real the money spent would be well worth it, several thousand times over.



More cheaply, he (or you) could scan the card and upload the photo of it to the eBay Sports Cards & Memorabilia board (also linked below). Lots of card experts on hand there to give some free evaluations.

Answer 2

Back in the 90's, tons of remakes were made of all kinds of classic cards. I had several Mantles, Babe Ruths and a few of the Honus cards. The cards from the original series (between 1909 and 1911) were released inside tobacco packages, so if he says he has it in the original packaging, then it's gonna be a 100 year old pack of cigarettes.

Answer 3

Its a remake. Topps came out with a T206 in the 2000's, I have one.



http://www.homeruncards.com/rookiecards/honus-wagner-1909-card.shtml

Answer 4

it is a remake. In the glut of the early ninties they remade cards and printed huge numbers of them. My guess would be that it is one of those.



Check the card for a date printed. it should have it on it.

Answer 5

its fake companies made so many reprints