How to spot 86-87 Fleer Michael Jordan Counterfeit cards

Spotting 86-87 Fleer Counterfeit cards

 

Since the 86-87 Fleer set is one of the most popular basketball card sets ever produced it is natural to expect that people will try their best to make a easy buck pushing off fake-forged versions of the high value rookie and star cards in the set. Even though there are tens of thousands of fakes on the Internet for sale right now fear not because we will show you exactly how to protect yourself when buying cards from this powerhouse set. Here are a few ways to know if you have or if you are buying the real or fake version of 86-87 fleer cards.

#1 - Buy 86-87 Fleer Graded or Have Them Graded
The absolute best way to protect yourself and your hard earned money is to buy cards from the 86-87 fleer set that have been graded buy a reputable grading service such as PSA or Beckett Grading Services. There are several other good grading companies out there but the two I just listed are pretty much the industry standard. When you you opt to buy or have your 86-87 fleer cards you will be 100% sure that you have the real version of the card you are wanting. You can expect to pay more for your cards the higher grade you look for. You can get 86-87 fleer cards graded 7 and 8 for prices pretty close to the current Beckett price for the raw card. Once you get into 9 & 9.5 graded cards you will see a huge jump in price and if you happen to have a 86-87 fleer card graded 10 you will see a extreme jump in price. The reason for this is that as popular as the set is it is hard to find cards that are not only centered right, but are the right color and of course the corners are sharp. If you have any 86-87 fleer cards take a close look at them and see if the centering is good. 50-50 is perfect but very hard to come by. If you have cards with good centering, good color and sharp corners you will want to have them graded as the value of them will sky rocket if they are lucky enough to grade high.

#2 - Check the color of your 86-87 Fleer cards
Just by examining the color you will increase the odds in your favor 10 fold by just seeing the little difference in these cards. Those who make the fake 86-87 fleer Jordan Rookie are smart in a way that they try hard to make it look like the original by intentionally mis-centering the card to make it look more legit. Some will even 60-40 and even 70-30 versions of centering.  Notice the card on the left is much more darker than the card on the right. The Fleer Jordan rookie on the left is a real version of the card and the one on the right is a fake version of the card. Just noticing this small difference could save you hundreds or thousands of dollars.

86-87 Fleer #57 Michael Jordan Rookie - REAL Version

86-87 Fleer #57 Michael Jordan Rookie - FAKE Version

#3 - Get out the magnifying glass and check the FLEER LOGO
Another small trick to save yourself money, headache and heartache is to simply look at the Fleer logo in the upper right hand corner of the card.

Notice the big difference in it? The Fleer logo on the left is more bitmappy looking than the one on the right. Remember the color advice I gave you just a few minutes ago? Same works with the logo. The FAKE version of the Fleer logo on the left is a bit more brighter than the REAL Fleer logo on the right.


#4 - The back of the 86-87 Fleer Cards.. again the COLOR!
Again, not a full proof way of spotting a fake but you certainly will increase your odds of avoiding the awful news that your prized Michael Jordan rookie is a fake. Turn that bad boy around and just look at the coloring and pay attention to the font as well. Take a close look at the next two cards. The first one here is the fake version of a Fleer Jordan Rookie and the 2nd card is the real version.

86-87 Fleer #57 Michael Jordan Back of Card FAKE

86-87 Fleer #57 Michael Jordan Rookie Back of Card REAL.

Notice the color on the fake card is a bit more darker and the real card on the bottom is more light with special interest on the bottom half of the card. It is more pinkish red than the darker fake version on top. Next, pull out that magnifying glass and look at the BULLS logo. Again the color theme rule I mentioned above fits here as well.

86-87 Fleer Bulls Logo - FAKE version

86-87 Fleer Bulls Logo - REAL Version

Finally, look at the eyes on the bull. On the REAL version of the card you can see the white under the actual eyes of the bull. On the fake version of the card they blend together and you won't see the white.


Last tip to spotting Counterfeit 86-87 Fleer Cards - Jordan rookies
As I mentioned above the only safe way to deal in 86-87 fleer cards especially the Jordan rookie as well as the Malone, Ewing, Barkley, Drexler Rookies and the Larry Bird card is to buy graded versions or buy from someone you trust that knows personally the history of the card like a friend who pulled the card himself way back when. Finally it is a good ideal to just get famailer with 86-87 fleer. Buy a couple common cards from the set. This can be done for a couple bucks and the odds of buying a fake version of a common are low because the profit margin for fake commons is nothing in the same universe of say a fake Jordan. When you get the commons study the feel of the card, the texture of it and of course watch and learn the coloring of them. The 86-87 fleer cards are 32 years years old now as of this blog post. Over that much time these cards and the stock they are printed on are take on a feeling of their own that is hard to reproduce. And one more bonus tip here for you :) As with everything else in life... If it sounds to good to be true, if it looks to good to be true.. then it probably is!