• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Get Sports Collectors Daily via EMail
    • Advertise with SC Daily
    • Write for Sports Collectors Daily
    • Write About Your Sports Collection
    • Where Can I Sell My Baseball Cards?
  • Hot on eBay
    • Most Watched Graded Rookies
    • Most Watched PSA 10 Cards
    • Most Watched BGS, BVG Cards
    • Most Watched SGC Cards
    • Most Watched CSG,CGC Cards
    • Most Watched Baseball Cards
      • Most Watched 2023 Baseball Cards
      • Most Watched 2022 Baseball Rookie Cards
      • Bowman Chrome Cards
      • Ronald Acuna Jr. Cards
      • Shohei Ohtani Cards
      • Mike Trout Cards
      • Fernando Tatis Jr. Cards
      • Babe Ruth Cards
      • Hank Aaron Cards
      • Jackie Robinson Cards:
      • Mickey Mantle Cards
      • Willie Mays Cards
      • Vintage Baseball Card Sets
      • T206 Cards
    • Most Watched Basketball
      • Top 100 Most Watched Basketball Rookie Cards
      • 100 Hottest 2022-23 NBA Rookie Cards
      • 100 Hottest 2021-22 NBA Rookie Cards
      • 100 Hottest 2020-21 NBA Rookie Cards
      • 100 Hottest 2019-20 NBA Rookie Cards
        • Zion Williamson Rookie Cards
        • Ja Morant Rookie Cards
      • Michael Jordan Cards
      • Kobe Bryant Cards
      • LeBron James Rookie Cards
      • Nikola Jokic Rookie Cards
      • Giannis Antetokounmpo Cards
      • Luka Doncic Rookie Cards
      • Prizm Basketball Cards
      • Panini National Treasures
    • Most Watched Football Cards
      • Most Watched NFL Rookie Cards
      • 2022 NFL Rookie Cards
        • Brock Purdy Rookie Cards
      • 2021 NFL Rookie Cards
      • 2020 NFL Rookie Cards
        • Joe Burrow Rookie Cards
        • Justin Herbert Rookie Cards
        • Jalen Hurts Rookie Cards
      • Josh Allen Rookie Cards
      • Patrick Mahomes Rookie Cards
      • Tom Brady Cards
    • Most Watched Hockey Cards
      • Top 100 Most Watched Hockey Rookie Cards
      • Most Watched 2021-22 NHL Rookie Cards
      • Most Watched 2020-21 Rookie Cards
      • Most Watched 2019-20 Rookie Cards
      • Connor McDavid Cards
      • Wayne Gretzky Cards
      • Bobby Orr Cards
    • Most Watched Soccer Cards
    • Most Watched UFC Cards
    • Most Watched Golf Cards
    • Most Watched 1 of 1 Cards
    • Most Watched Racing Cards
    • Top Sports Card Dealers on eBay
    • Most Watched Memorabilia
      • Vintage Sports Memorabilia
    • Vintage Sports Tickets, Stubs
    • Most Watched Autographs
  • Ending Soon on Ebay
    • Baseball Cards
    • Basketball Cards
    • Football Cards
    • Hockey Cards
    • Soccer Cards
    • Golf Cards
    • UFC Cards
  • Top - Ad

Sports Collectors Daily

Sports Collectors Daily

Sports collecting news - Sports cards and sports memorabilia industry news.

When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network. 

  • Sports Memorabilia News
  • Sports Card News
    • Modern Sports Card News
      • New Sports Card Release Calendar
      • Shop Talk
    • Vintage Sports Card News
      • Affordable Vintage Cards, Collectibles
      • Old Baseball Card Sets
      • Old Basketball Card Sets
      • Old Football Card Sets
      • Old Hockey Card Sets
      • Vintage Pack Facts
  • Business/Industry News
    • Sports Memorabilia Business News
    • Sports Memorabilia Industry News
  • Around The Hobby
    • Editor’s Blog
    • David Cycleback’s Identification and Authentication Advice
  • Popular Stories
  • Sell Your Cards
You are here: Home / David Cycleback's Identification and Authentication Advice / Vintage Sports Memorabilia Q and A

Vintage Sports Memorabilia Q and A

October 26, 2015 By David Cycleback

The following are answers to assorted questions from the proverbial mail bag.

QUESTION: I’ve heard that collectors sometimes soak old cards in water in order to remove album paper and glue from the backs. Won’t the water dissolve off or smear the printing ink?

ANSWER: I’m not giving advice whether or not you should or shouldn’t soak cards, but I can tell you that old card printing ink doesn’t dissolve in water. It takes specific solvents to dissolve the printing inks on cards.

* * * *

QUESTION: For displaying memorabilia like photos, cards and autographs, what’s the best way to protect them from fading from light?

Autographed Mickey Mantle photo framedANSWER: The first thing to know is that the less light the better. If you are going to display them in your office or den, turn off the lights and close the window shades when aren’t there. No point in exposing them to light when no one’s in the room. Direct sunlight is the worst.

There is UV protectant glass, plastic and films for glass, including glass that protects both UVA and UVB wavelengths. Many ball cubes are UV protectant, but make sure they are when you buy.  There are also LED lights that give off less of the damaging UV light.

Also, for any cards, photos are such you want to display, you can make a digital reprint and display the reprint on the wall. If and when the reprint fades, no problem. You can replace it with another. I’ve made home computer digital reprints just for that purpose and highly recommend this.

* * * *

QUESTION: What’s the rarest type of photo you’ve seen?

ANSWER: A dealer sent me the below photo of a mid 1800s tintype on cloth. Far from attractive, but that’s the only example I’ve seen. Tintypes aren’t rare, but on cloth instead of metal is. I told him he should send it to a photography museum.

1800s cloth tintype
1800s cloth tintype

* * * *

QUESTION: Is there a good way to tell if an old pinback is really old and not a reproduction?

ANSWER: A quick and simple test is to look at the back. Antique pins are usually well corroded and rusted dark. If the back is shiny and new looking, that’s a sign the pin isn’t old, or at least the back isn’t.

The fronts of old pins often also have signs of aging, including crackling and toning, and a black light is always helpful in weeding out cases where a forger would go as far as to put a modern front to an antique back.  But the corroded back is a quick giveaway of an antique pin.

Dark corrosion/rust on the back of an 1800s baseball pin.
Dark corrosion/rust on the back of an 1800s baseball pin.

* * * *

QUESTION: Is altering a baseball card illegal?

ANSWER: No, but it is illegal if you don’t disclose known alterations at sale.

* * * *

QUESTION: How come some old photos have black borders? Can an original photo have a black border?

ANSWER: Though uncommon, original photos, including old ones, can have black borders.

For the common white bordered photos, the edges of the photographic negative was held in a holder during exposure. The holder blocked light, thus leaving the edges of the photopaper unexposed to light and the original white of the paper.

Many negatives have transparent borders and if the photographer didn’t block the borders in the holder during exposure, light would go through the edges and turn the paper dark. That’s what happened with black border photos.

* * * *
T206 Wagner RestoredQUESTION: As computer printing gets better and better, will modern printing methods get so good that a perfect undetectable T206 Wagner would be possible?

ANSWER: No. Modern digital printing looks better and better and is more and more detailed at the naked eye level, but it looks less and less like the original 1909 T206 lithography at the microscopic level.

The paradox with printing technology and duplication is the more closely it looks like the original on the naked eye lvel, the less it looks like the original at the microscopic. Today’s computer printers use a fine maze of tiny dots to make better naked eye reproductions, but this fine maze makes it look very different from the original printing under the microscope.

And that doesn’t even get into that a perfect counterfeit would also have to perfectly duplicate the stock and ink, which would be a hard task in and of itself.

* * * *

QUESTION: Are there are any good movies about forgeries? Do you read or watch movies because they are about forgery?

ANSWER: I don’t seek out movies on the subject, but legendary director Fritz Lang’s 1945 classic  Scarlet Street is a great film noir about art forgery and scamming. Stars Edward G. Robinson and I highly recommend it.

Scarlet Street (1945)
Image from the movie ‘Scarlet Street’ (1945).
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Reddit
  • Facebook Messenger

Related Stories:

Mickey Mantle 1952 Topps8 Collecting Tips To Help You Avoid Being Ripped Off A Guide to Early Mounted Photographs Interesting Notes on Vintage Sports Photos Memorabilia Collecting and Authentication Quick Tips: Part 3 Jimmy Slagle-Helmar-T206Helmar Card of the Week: Jimmy Slagle of the…Bob-O-Links? Guide to Authenticating Pre-War Baseball Cards Vintage Baseball Cards Questions and Answers

About David Cycleback

David Cycleback is an art and artifacts historian and an internationally known authentication expert. He has authenticated artifacts for major institutions, was a writer for the standard academic reference Encyclopedia of Nineteenth Century Photography, and teaches courses in art authentication. Reprinted by Beijing's Three Shadows Art Center, his guides "Judging the Authenticity of Prints by the Masters" and "Judging the Authenticity of Photographs" were the first comprehensive books on the subjects published in China. He can be reached at [email protected].

Filed Under: David Cycleback's Identification and Authentication Advice, Sports Memorabilia News Tagged With: Authentication, authentication advice, baseball pins, David Cycleback, t206, vintage photography

Primary Sidebar

Our articles may contain affiliate links. When you click on links to merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network. 

Shop Sports Cards on Ebay
  • Football
  • Basketball
  • Baseball
  • Hockey

High End Cards and Memorabilia

  • BBCE Authenticated Boxes, Packs opens in a new window
  • Graded pre-War Card eBay Auctions
  • PWCC Premier Auction
  • PWCC Fixed Price Marketplace
  • Graded Rookie Cards on eBay opens in a new window
  • Authenticated Photos on eBay opens in a new window
  • Graded Tickets & Stubs opens in a new window

Bargain Corner

  • Michael Jordan cards $5 and less opens in a new window
  • Kobe Bryant cards $5 and less opens in a new window
  • Mickey Mantle Cards Under $150 opens in a new window
  • Graded T206 Cards Under $150 opens in a new window
  • Pre-War Cards Under $100 opens in a new window
  • Pre-1980 Graded Baseball Cards $10 and Less opens in a new window
  • Pre-1980 Graded Football Cards $10 and Less opens in a new window
  • Vintage Graded Basketball Cards $25 and less opens in a new window
  • Vintage Graded Hockey Cards $10 and Less opens in a new window
  • Complete Sets $20 and Less opens in a new window
  • Baseball Hall of Famers for $5 or Less opens in a new window
  • Football Hall of Famers for $5 or Less opens in a new window
  • Hobby Boxes Under $30 opens in a new window
  • Pre-1986 Rookie Cards Under $1 opens in a new window
  • Buy Boxes Directly from Topps opens in a new window

RSS Auction Report

  • Steve Novella Offers PSA Baseball & Football Card Auction Ending October 3, 2023
  • REA September 2023 Encore Auction Brings in $1.7 Million in Sales
  • PWCC September 2023 Premier Auction Recap

Footer

Categories

  • Around the Hobby
  • Business/Industry News
    • Sports Memorabilia Business News
    • Sports Memorabilia Industry News
  • David Cycleback's Identification and Authentication Advice
  • Editor's Blog
  • Featured Articles
  • Hobby Shop Talk
  • National Sports Collectors Convention
  • Popular Stories
  • Rich Klein's Ramblings
  • Sports Card News
    • Modern Sports Card News
      • New Sports Card Release Calendar
    • Vintage Sports Card News
      • Old Baseball Card Sets
      • Old Basketball Card Sets
      • Old Football Card Sets
      • Old Hockey Card Sets
      • Vintage Pack Facts
  • Sports Memorabilia News
  • Uncategorized

Sponsor Links

  • Sports Card Forumopens in a new window
  • Buying Vintage Sports Cardsopens in a new window
  • Game Used Jerseysopens in a new window
  • Championship Rings For Saleopens in a new window
  • Vintage Basketball Cardsopens in a new window
  • NBA Signed Itemsopens in a new window
  • Autographed Baseballsopens in a new window
  • NASCAR Autographsopens in a new window
  • Vintage Graded Baseball Cardsopens in a new window
  • Player Picturesopens in a new window
  • Vintage Football Cardsopens in a new window
  • Sports Collectors Storeopens in a new window

Pages

Ending on eBay Soon
  • Baseball Card Auctions on eBay Ending Soon
  • Basketball Card Auctions on eBay Ending Soon
  • Football Card Auctions on eBay Ending Soon
  • Hockey Card Auctions Ending Soon on eBay
  • Vintage Sports Memorabilia on eBay Ending Soon
Top 100 on Ebay
  • Top 100 Most Watched Baseball Rookie Cards on eBay
  • Top 100 Most Watched Basketball Rookie Cards for Sale on eBay
  • Top 100 Most Watched Hockey Rookie Card Auctions
  • Top Authenticated Vintage Unopened Sports Card Boxes, Packs on eBay
Most Watched on eBay
  • 100 Most Watched Graded Rookie Cards for Sale on eBay
  • 100 Most Watched Tom Brady Card Auctions on eBay
  • 50 Hottest Hobby Boxes at Auction on eBay
  • 50 Most Watched Golf Trading Cards on eBay
  • 50 Most Watched Wrestling Trading Cards on eBay
  • 75 Most Watched Bowman Chrome Cards
  • Most Popular Bobbleheads on eBay
  • Most Watched 1/1 Cards on eBay
  • Most Watched Basketball Cards on eBay
  • Most Watched Complete Baseball Card Sets at Auction on eBay
  • Most Watched Football Cards on eBay
  • Most Watched Football Rookie Card Auctions
  • Most Watched Goudey Baseball Cards on eBay
  • Most Watched Hockey Cards on eBay
  • Most Watched Racing Cards on eBay
  • Most Watched Soccer Cards for Sale on eBay
  • Most Watched Sports Autographs on eBay
  • Most Watched Sports Jerseys on eBay
  • Most Watched Unopened Sports Card Boxes, Packs on eBay
  • Most Watched Vintage Sports Memorabilia on eBay
  • Hottest Panini National Treasures Cards on eBay
  • Hottest PSA 10 Cards for Sale on eBay
  • What’s Hot on eBay
Sports Memorabilia
  • Sports Card Bargain Bin
  • Sports Memorabilia Auctions Ending Soon on eBay
About Sports Collectors Daily
  • Advertise with SC Daily
  • Contact Us
  • Get Sports Collectors Daily via EMail
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms and Conditions
Sell Your Cards
  • What’s It Worth
  • Where Can I Sell My Baseball Cards?

Copyright © 2023 SportsCollectorsDaily.com | Web Design by Wickam Groupopens in a new window