By Evan Thompson

One of our senior graders at BGS recently discovered a new counterfeit version of Ryne Sandberg's 1983 Topps Rookie Card. The card initially looked nice, but upon pulling it out of its sleeve it became apparent that it never saw the inside of the Topps factory. The following is a breakdown of the areas to note so that you won't end up with one of these fake cards in your collection.

1) The paper stock is almost twice as thick as the regular 1983 Topps cards, and it has an extremely rigid feel.
2) The paper color on the back of the card is almost exactly in between a regular Topps card and an O-Pee-Chee card.
3) The pixelation and dot pattern on the front of the card is very spotty and looks like it was produced on a poor quality laser printer. Many of the better counterfeits are hard to detect due to their detailed coloration, but that isn't the case with these.
4) The edges look like you could shave with them, which is very atypical of the 1983 Topps set.

If you're ever in the market for a Sandberg RC, make sure that you closely examine the card with the criteria mentioned above. Also look at these photos for a visual reference.