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Friday, January 12, 2018

Shohei Ohtani Collectors: BEWARE this card.

This is not a real Shohei Ohtani card. It's fake. Some guy made it on his computer.
In fact, the image above is high enough quality that you could go ahead and print your own.

Let me reiterate the fact that this card is not worth anything.

Yes, the guy printed some nice quality fake cards. He put them in a nice-quality fake slab. And he's SELLING THESE FOR $25-50 EACH. I'm sure he's just printing another one out every time someone orders one, or he has hundreds of these things already printed.

I remember the 1990s, when everyone and their brother were printing "promo" cards. Those $10-20 cards are now in dime boxes. You can expect these cards to end up there as well. DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY.

Seriously, it really bothers me to see this crap selling - especially at these prices. Every single one is a "GMA" Mint 10. There's no value in this. Do you think there is? If you think so, I'll sell you legitimate Ohtani cards for $50 each too. I might as well make a few bucks here.

Honestly, I don't have a problem with "homemade" cards. There are niches in collecting that Topps and others have left unfilled, and some people just enjoy making and distributing card sets of their own. I'd love to create a few real card sets of my own. But this guy (or couple of guys) is/are seriously ripping people off. 

NPB Card Guy has posted (first post, second post) about Ohtani's legitimate 2013 rookie cards. Check that out for information on real rookie cards. (BTW, he did a post about this card's IN-authenticity a year ago. I'm reiterating for the good of society.)

There are no legitimate Shohei Ohtani cards from 2012.

Folks with collecting buddies on Twitter, Facebook, message boards, share this article, so people can be made aware.

And if you really want the card above, print one yourself. The image is high-enough quality.

6 comments:

  1. I did a post just before the 2012 draft when Ohtani had announced he was going to the US that listed every legitimate 2012 card of Ohtani. It was the first time I ever mentioned him on my blog.

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  2. Thanks for posting about this card again. Is it someone in the States or Japan printing these?

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    1. My guess is it's the States. I think there are two sellers now with four auctions listed - two auctions each. Not that they don't exist, but I've never seen fake/homemade modern Japanese cards. (Counterfeits are a different question.) There have been unlicensed bromide sets and I'm sure most (all?) vintage menko sets are unlicensed, but those are both completely different situations to this.

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  3. Embarrassed to admit this, but I fell for something similar a few years back. It wasn't a Ohtani card though... it was a Maeda. Still shaking my head in shame.

    http://sanjosefuji.blogspot.com/2013/04/im-april-fool.html

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    1. I know I've done it before, though I can't recall specifics off the top of my head now. Actually, back in the '90s, I grabbed a lot of those "promo" Broder cards. But they were a big part of my budding interest in oddballs, and despite their lack of authenticity, I still have them in my collection.

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