5.0 Some examples

This sections spotlights some of the best examples I have found of fakes cards. Some I stumbled upon myself, while others were donated by friends and readers. Beyond that, the source of these fakes remains unknown.

5.1 Very Good Fake Beta Ancestral Recall

Below is just one of a series of fake cards that were being distributed on the internet in early 1998. They included several hot cards from Beta, Unlimited, Arabian Nights, and Legends. They were sold through magic newsgroups by a man out of California named Christian Pantages who acquired them in December 1997 from another source, not knowing they were fake. Soon after they were discovered to be counterfeit, after which he offered full refunds for anyone who bought one of these cards from him. He also posted a warning about the cards to the newsgroups for several months to follow. I've archived this post. You can read it here. This Ancestral Recall was aquired by a friend of mine through mail order. His money was refunded.

On its own this card was extremely convincing, but a simple comparison to the real thing proved it was fake. In the picture below you can see how the printing differed. The real card has very defined black edges around the Magic logo, whereas the fake all runs together.

Fake

Real

Real

Fake

This card also failed the bend test.


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