On December 27, 2018 a counterfeit 1990 Topps Frank Thomas “No Name On Front” Error Rookie Card found it’s way to BGS (Beckett Grading Services). It should’ve been sent back to the individual who sent it in with a note stating its not authentic. But did that happen? No. Instead it slipped through the cracks, was slapped into a BGS holder, and labeled the real thing.
Thanks to BGS, this dangerous card is now floating around the hobby. They assigned it the right card number “414A” and everything. “414A” is used for authentic examples of this card all of the time versus “414” for the standard Frank Thomas rookie which contains his name. Checking the BGS serial number 0011017488 even further makes you believe that its real. Someone at BGS either didn’t know what they were doing, or was completely aware of their actions. In today’s hobby you just can’t tell anymore.
What makes this card a fake? Authentic examples lack a large portion of the black lines that surround the empty blue box where his name should be. A chunk of black lines are also missing from within the inner yellow border as well. Authentic cards also don’t contain the “Topps” name on the front. Another key feature of an authentic card is a black dot in the empty name box. This card which BGS claims to be authentic contains all of the lines, the “Topps” name on the front, and zero black dot. MAJOR RED FLAG! Its important to note that some counterfeits do have the missing black lines, no “Topps” name, and black dot. Please watch out for those. Legitimate reprints exist which were released in various Topps products over the years. So not only did BGS grade a counterfeit, they graded a bad counterfeit.
Authentic (left) Counterfeit (right)
Originally it popped up for sale from Probstein123. Big surprise considering the shilling, trimming, and altering scandals they’ve been involved with. They supposedly took the card down after being alerted to it.
That brings us to today. On July 28, 2019 eBay user infiniumusa sold this exact card (same BGS serial number 0011017488) for $3,000. Its unclear if the transaction went through or not, but I haven’t seen it since.
The fact is that this card is out there ready to fool anyone it can. If you’re in the market for one, stay far away if it has BGS serial number 0011017488. TOTALLY FAKE!
Filed under: Fake Card Info | Tagged: 1990, approval, bgs, counterfeit, frank, gets, name, no, rookie, thomas, topps |
Sports Card Info 
I was under the assumption that frank thomas rookie year was 1988
1990 is where his recognized rookies come from.
For a while I thought that was the Original Back 2010 Topps “Card You Momma Threw Out” reprint found as CMT97 without the original back (CMT39 with name). But finally found a picture of the “original” back and it seems to clearly show it is a reprint. For this one they took the front of the CMT97 (or some believe Topps took a bad reprint as real and reproduced it) and the back from a real 1990 Topps card. There are several other internet records of someone paying too much for a reprint, but this is a pathetic mistake by Beckett and I wonder if part of the “sale” was the knowledge to go back after Becket for claim? There are plenty of people selling the reprint more accurately on e-bay right now.
guess it could also be the case of someone cracking a slab and reusing the label…. (?)shrug(?). Send in legitimate cards, get legitimate label, replace with fake card (we want to think this would be impossible). Send in the real version again – rinse & repeat. However, don’t be stupid enough to use the wrong reprint.
[…] Card Info’s most popular post of 2019 comes from 8/12 titled Counterfeit Frank Thomas 1990 Topps “No Name” Rookie Gets BGS Approval. Ironically, that card was graded on 12/27/18 which was Sports Card Info’s 11th […]
[…] few cards, and in 2014, an interesting statistical breakdown was done of the card. However, BGS did accidentally grade a counterfeited No-Name Frank, so be careful if you are in the market for […]
I am new to this but have a question. How did someone know it was counterfeit and why would they label as such then send it in? Did I understand that correctly? Again I’m so new to this like a month into cards. Thanks jlmk..jennifer
[…] This isn’t the first time one of the major grading companies has let a fake card slip past them. It has happened many times before. Not too long ago BGS graded a fake 1990 Topps Frank Thomas No Name On Front Error. […]