what is a fake patch card?

I’m at the big annual card show a couple weeks ago. I’m about to leave disappointed after not finding a few cards I was after. I still have $150 bucks in my pocket so I decide I’ll grab a pack of Ultimate. I’m about to buy the pack off a dealer that I know when I spot a sweet patch card on his table. He sees that it catches my eye, reaches for it, and tells me that he got it for $100 a couple hours ago so he’ll give it to me for $150. It books for $200 so I figure at worst I can flip it and make a few bucks if I have to.

real patch card click to enlarge fake patch card click to enlarge

I pass him the cash and tuck the card into my pocket, take it home and add it to my collection.

Couple weeks later I decide to list it so that I can buy a couple boxes of the new SP Authentic that just came out. I’ve seen worse patches sell for $150 so I figure at least that much is a lock.

So I list it in an auction, add the gallery feature to show off the shiny patch and let it ride. One day in, the card has 6 bids, the current price is $135 and there’s 6 days left. Things are looking good, I can already smell the new packs I’m going to rip at the local shop once the money comes in.

After dinner, I log into ebay and have a new message. I open it, read it, and after getting through the message, feel like I’m going to be sick….no….violently ill.

The sender tells me that the card is a fake. I don’t believe him at first, at least I don’t want to, but he also gave me a link to an image of the same card before it was faked.

After spending the next 15 minutes in the bathroom, I look closely at the card and realize that whoever performed the surgery was very good at his skill. I go to ebay, cancel the auction and realize that I’m out $100 and SP Authentic will probably come out again next year.

This situation and stories like it are happening on a daily basis in the hobby today. Fake patch cards are rampant. Hobby message boards are littered with “fake patch” threads.

So, what is a fake patch card?

A fake patch card is a card that contains an altered or replaced patch. Patch cards are valued based on the “eye appeal” of the patch embedded in the card. Therefore, there is motivation for “patch doctors” to alter or replace boring patches with exciting patches in order to realize a greater return on their card. Multi-color patch cards can have premiums as high as 4X or more than a one-color patch card.

Attributes of patch cards that are more likely to be faked:

• Cards that are not serially numbered
• Cards with the serial number on the back
• Cards that do not contain an autograph
• Cards with large patch windows
• Cards with space between the patch surface and the top layer of the card
• Cards of popular players
• Cards with high print runs

- Thank you, FakePatchReport.com