[bjho1983]

Hi all, I am pretty new to here and hadn't collected autographs for over 10 years until these recent months. Hopefully you don't mind if I ask anything stupid.

Anyway, yesterday I came across with the following two 1996-97 SkyBox Autographics card. They are both of the same player and both have the stamp.

a) http://www.ebay.com/itm/380368084721#ht_2631wt_1110

b) http://www.ebay.com/itm/380415881099#ht_515wt_1344

If you look closely on the stamps on both cards, you should be able to notice that the way that they are put on these two cards are different. One of the stamps seems to "bulge" on the front of the card, and the other stamp goes the opposite.
That makes me wonder: is one of these two cards fake? Or are both cards legit/real?

Your input will be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much for reading this.

[folkertino]

not sure, although one is positioned higher than the other, they look pretty good to me

[bjho1983]

not sure, although one is positioned higher than the other, they look pretty good to me

Thank you for your reply, but no, I am not referring to the location/position of the stamp. What I mean is how the stamps are put on these two cards are different.
I don't know how to describe it because my English isn't really good, but if you look at both stamps closely, you will notice the difference.
One of the stamps seems to "bulge" on the front of the card, and the other stamp goes the opposite.

[jchavestx]

Ive never noticed that before, but yeah I do see the differences in the stamps. Although I think both are definitely real, I dont think anyone would go out of their way to counterfeit a Theo Ratliff autograph.

The fakes you need to look out for are the Pippen and Garnett, both high dollar cards in the set.

[bjho1983]

To put it more clearly regarding my question/doubt, the links that I post are possibly just some of the examples - there might be other cards (possibly including high-value ones) from this set having this difference.
So I was wondering which one of these two stamping methods is used for real cards, or both methods are used for real cards.

[Vols-1]

One was embossed from the front, and the other was embossed from the back. I don't think it matters from what side they were embossed from as long as the seal is real.

[jpleazme805]

I read somewhere that there are a bunch of unsigned cards that came out of the vault, including the stamps... can't remember where I read about it.. I think it was mentioned on Beckett in the past too... an overseas seller wanted a US seller to sale some auto cards from this set.. sounded too fishy, so the US seller, which is a member of Beckett said no..

I do not understand why Skybox would emboss the same card or any of their cards a different way than the majority of them were embossed.. they should of all been embossed the same way.. from the front of the card.. I do not know how skybox would emboss 10's of thousands of cards in a timely manner, but I would think that the cards were signed when still attached to card sheets & then embossed... then cut down to correct size & packaged for us box breakers...

I have seen a few cards with the embossed logo was done on the back of the card.. I didn't think much of it.. cards were over my spending limit, so I passed them up & overlooked them..

Embossed stamps are very easy to recreate. I had a local company in San Diego, Ca recreate embossed stamps for the military by looking at a sheet of paper that was embossed with the logo. they recreated it to the exact characteristics & font for under $100.. these were embossing stamps that were not supposed to be recreated.. somebody could of done the same think with the skybox embossed stamps.. or they could of bought originals from skybox that somebody let slip out of the vault..

I wish skybox was back!!

[bjho1983]

Thank you. The first few lines of the second autograph in your reply is exactly what I am concerned too.

I read somewhere that there are a bunch of unsigned cards that came out of the vault, including the stamps... can't remember where I read about it.. I think it was mentioned on Beckett in the past too... an overseas seller wanted a US seller to sale some auto cards from this set.. sounded too fishy, so the US seller, which is a member of Beckett said no..

I do not understand why Skybox would emboss the same card or any of their cards a different way than the majority of them were embossed.. they should of all been embossed the same way.. from the front of the card.. I do not know how skybox would emboss 10's of thousands of cards in a timely manner, but I would think that the cards were signed when still attached to card sheets & then embossed... then cut down to correct size & packaged for us box breakers...

I have seen a few cards with the embossed logo was done on the back of the card.. I didn't think much of it.. cards were over my spending limit, so I passed them up & overlooked them..

Embossed stamps are very easy to recreate. I had a local company in San Diego, Ca recreate embossed stamps for the military by looking at a sheet of paper that was embossed with the logo. they recreated it to the exact characteristics & font for under $100.. these were embossing stamps that were not supposed to be recreated.. somebody could of done the same think with the skybox embossed stamps.. or they could of bought originals from skybox that somebody let slip out of the vault..

I wish skybox was back!!

---

Okay, if a low-value card doesn't bring you to the attention, here is a high-value one.
Both cards are from the same eBay seller.

(a) http://www.ebay.com/itm/290739289283

(b) http://www.ebay.com/itm/290739290612

I cannot comment on the autographs themselves, but look at the stamps - the seller even put on a closer scan of both - they are embossed differently.

What do you think? Do you think that both cards are real or fake? If only one of them is (potentially) real, which one? (a) or (b)?

[Inzamam75]

I read somewhere that there are a bunch of unsigned cards that came out of the vault, including the stamps... can't remember where I read about it.. I think it was mentioned on Beckett in the past too... an overseas seller wanted a US seller to sale some auto cards from this set.. sounded too fishy, so the US seller, which is a member of Beckett said no..

I do not understand why Skybox would emboss the same card or any of their cards a different way than the majority of them were embossed.. they should of all been embossed the same way.. from the front of the card.. I do not know how skybox would emboss 10's of thousands of cards in a timely manner, but I would think that the cards were signed when still attached to card sheets & then embossed... then cut down to correct size & packaged for us box breakers...

I have seen a few cards with the embossed logo was done on the back of the card.. I didn't think much of it.. cards were over my spending limit, so I passed them up & overlooked them..

Embossed stamps are very easy to recreate. I had a local company in San Diego, Ca recreate embossed stamps for the military by looking at a sheet of paper that was embossed with the logo. they recreated it to the exact characteristics & font for under $100.. these were embossing stamps that were not supposed to be recreated.. somebody could of done the same think with the skybox embossed stamps.. or they could of bought originals from skybox that somebody let slip out of the vault..

I wish skybox was back!!

Although not 100% sure, I have an old Beckett somewhere that indicated that all cards were cut before signing then embossed by hand straight after they were signed.

As this was the early days of autographed cards, all signing sessions were filmed and attended in person by a Fleer Skybox representative to gurantee authenticity.

[Vols-1]

Although not 100% sure, I have an old Beckett somewhere that indicated that all cards were cut before signing then embossed by hand straight after they were signed.

As this was the early days of autographed cards, all signing sessions were filmed and attended in person by a Fleer Skybox representative to gurantee authenticity.

I have had legal papers sealed before and it's the same process. There are going to be some variations since each item has to be embossed individually. Some employees may be left handed or right handed or dyslexic...