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Q&A – Is This Joe Montana 1981 Topps Rookie Card Fake?

I received an e-mail from an individual asking me if their Joe Montana 1981 Topps RC #216 is fake.

You bet it is. Looks to me like one of Etsy’s finest. Take a look.

Counterfeit Front

Counterfeit Back

The red flags to look for when it comes to a counterfeit Joe Montana 1981 Topps RC #216 are quite easy to spot. Blurry text and pictures are a big red flag. Print dots on the color areas are another. The color areas on an authentic card are solid ink.

Its not a bad idea to grab an inexpensive base card from the 1981 Topps Football set (one nobody would bother to counterfeit) and compare it’s print quality to the Joe Montana 1981 Topps RC #216. The print quality should look similar. Topps printed the Joe Montana rookie card exactly like the rest of the cards in the 1981 Topps Football set.

Here is what an authentic Joe Montana 1981 Topps RC #216 should look like.

Authentic Front

Authentic Back

Topps has issued reprints of the Joe Montana 1981 Topps RC #216 within other sets over the years. But be careful, not every reprint up for sale originated from Topps.

Scammers use the words “reprint”, “novelty”, or the letters “RP” when selling their homemade cards in an attempt to fool you into thinking that specific reprint was printed from a manufacturer such as Topps. Places like eBay and Etsy don’t know how or just don’t care enough to learn how to distinguish between the homemade reprints and manufacturer reprints. The people making these homemade cards are fully aware that passing them off as the real thing could come back to haunt them. Calling them reprints might not bring in the same amount of money, but it still allows them to move their hoard of counterfeits. Its a horribly abused wording loophole. Unauthorized reprints are a big problem in the hobby today.

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