Panini’s 2018 Illusions Football Autograph COA Mistake Continues To Screw Unknowing Collectors

In 2018 Sports Card Info helped to shed some light on this issue.  Even though not much has changed since the initial story broke, I believe its important to remind people that this continues to be a MAJOR problem in the hobby.  Especially when a collector was recently screwed out of $400.

On February 28, 2020 a Tom Brady 2018 Panini Illusions Living Legends Autograph sold for $393.  Too bad the autograph is a complete fake.  Panini made the huge mistake of printing the message “THE AUTOGRAPH IS GUARANTEED BY PANINI AMERICA, INC.” on the back of a bunch of cards from 2018 Illusions that were never intended to be signed.  But yet these unsigned cards with the autograph COA on the back somehow found their way into the product.  We’ve seen this error popup on the Living Legends, Illusionists, and Mystique inserts.

Panini allowing cards to ship out with their autograph COA yet lacking the actual signature itself opens the door to all types of fraud.  And that’s exactly what we’re seeing here.  Loser scammers will sign the athlete’s signature themselves, and then attempt to pass it off as the real thing.  Because that COA is printed on the back people will believe its authentic.

As you can clearly see the autograph here is on-card.  MAJOR RED FLAG as the authentic cards use stickers.  Another indicator is the absence of a serial number.  It should be #’ed/10 or 1.

Panini simply stamped their autograph COA on too many cards here.  Some were meant for legitimate pack-inserted autographs.  Others received the autograph COA by mistake, and are just basic unsigned inserts.

Tom Brady 2018 Panini Illusions Living Legends insert with a fake autograph (front)

Tom Brady 2018 Panini Illusions Living Legends insert with a fake autograph (back)

This is what an authentic example should look like:

Fake ’18 Panini Illusions Football Autographs Start To Surface

Earlier this week I blogged about those elusive missing autographs that have been coming out of 2018 Panini Illusions Football.  I warned you that people would take advantage of that misprinted COA, and start signing them in an attempt to pass them off as the real deal.  Well, that didn’t take too long.  A seller on eBay that goes by “tolpul0” from Twin Falls, ID took a misprinted Sam Darnold card, signed it themselves, and is now selling it as an authentic autograph.  What a total crock!  Its sold too.  Last I saw it had one bid for $20 with a few days to go.  Not only is the autograph a terrible counterfeit, but its on-card.  Authentic pack-pulled examples are all signed on stickers.  PLEASE BE CAREFUL!

It would be nice if those who pulled a misprinted error could exchange the card for something.  The least Panini could do is give an official statement on the matter and/or give us an estimated print run of the errors.

WARNING: Missing Autographs In ’18 Panini Illusions Football

Last night while browsing through the card topics of the day on Twitter, I came across something interesting.

Apparently some of the cards coming out of 2018 Panini Illusions Football contain Panini’s autograph certification message on the back, but lack the actual autograph itself.  Contacting Panini wondering how you can get your autograph hasn’t brought the happiest of news either.  According to those who have talked to Panini on this, you won’t be eligible for an autograph.  These cards were never intended to be autographed, but somehow received Panini’s COA printed on the back.  Its an error.  Some of the players this has happened to include Baker Mayfield, Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger, and Randy Moss.  Just doing a quick search on eBay shows even more.  From what I’ve seen, this error applies to the Living Legends, Illusionists, and Mystique inserts.

Please be aware of what you’re buying.  It wouldn’t take much for a scammer to forge a signature on the front, and attempt to pass it off as the real thing.  That COA easily opens the door for people to do this.

You have to admit that its pretty ironic that something like this happened with a product called Illusions.

Flashback Product of the Week: 1996 Playoff Illusions

1996 Playoff Illusions really shows off the printing technology of the mid-90’s.  Each hobby box contains 24 packs with 3 cards per pack.  Collectors can look for inserts such as Spectrailusion Elite, Spectrailusion Dominion, Optical Illusion, 3HI, and 3HI Spectrailusion Dominion.  When I went looking for a older product to feature this week, I had never heard of ’96 Playoff Illusion.  It really has some interesting insert designs that you don’t see anymore.  Sealed hobby boxes can be picked up for anywhere from $13.00 to $30.00 depending where you shop.