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How To Spot A Fake Rickey Henderson 1980 Topps #482 Rookie Card

The 1980 Topps Baseball set comes in at a whopping (726) cards.  Its a fairly memorable set too considering in 1981 Fleer and Donruss joined the licensed baseball card party.  Out of those (726) cards, one rises above them all.  I’m talking about #482.  The Rickey Henderson rookie card.

Rickey Henderson is a hot dog, base stealing legend, who made it into the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.  He made his major league debut with the Oakland Athletics in 1979, and wrapped-up his playing career in 2003 in a Dodgers uniform.  Its absolutely amazing how long his career lasted.

Rickey Henderson was a fast runner, and stole a ton of bases.  But his 1980 Topps #482 rookie card couldn’t outrun the counterfeiters.  As Rickey’s star began to rise, his rookie card increased in value.  That price increase attracted lots of counterfeits to enter the market.

A large number of counterfeit Rickey Henderson 1980 Topps #482 rookie cards have these qualities:

• Rickey Henderson’s name on the front will feature many small dots in the print pattern.  On authentic examples, the name should be in solid black.  No dots.
• Counterfeits have been known to have a green and white dot pattern in the background of the A’s logo on the front.  The background should be solid green.
• The circle around the copyright logo © on the back tends to be broken and incomplete on counterfeit copies.
• Bright vibrant colors on the yellow and green, perfect centering, and the card’s thickness can all be giveaways of a counterfeit.  If possible, try to compare it to another Oakland A’s card from the 1980 Topps set.

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Card of the Day: Rickey Henderson 1980 Topps RC #482

Rickey Henderson has one of the most recognizable rookie cards in the hobby.  Too bad that many people have been making counterfeits for years.