The MTG Community - Best Way to Protect Yourself from Fakes [Edward Eng]
To be honest, I didn't think the prices of Magic cards would skyrocket to where they are now. But then again, this was in the late 90's. I was wrong. Now that I'm back and playing a decent amount a Magic, I'm working on getting into Modern and Legacy. Legacy? Duals. Wow, that's expensive!
Luckily, I was able to trade into some duals via the vendors (ChannelFireball and Amazing MTG) and some great guys from Europe (Bernhard Lehner and Wenzel Krautmann from MTG Madness) at GP Denver earlier this year. I showed my friend, Marcus Gee, what I picked up and he asked if I checked to see if they were real. Although I'm pretty good with spotting fakes, I was curious to see what his method(s) were.
There are lot more counterfeit cards floating around now with the card prices so high. Plus, Magic has been around for quite a while now. 20+ years! So it's even more important to protect yourself from getting robbed. That being said, my friend pulled out his jeweler's eye to inspect the goods. Yep, he confirmed that my goods were 100% REAL. Sweet! On to the next ones.
Obviously, I thought his method was awesome. So I told myself to get a jeweler's eye ASAP. I didn't get one. BUT that's because I found this cool app for iOS devices, the Magnifying Glass with Light. It works. Download it. Open it. Use it.
For Android devices, check out this Magnifying Glass Flashlight.
This is much better than doing the bend test or worse, the rip test.
Counterfeit Testing No-Nos
Bend Test
Rip Test a.k.a. R.I.P. Test
Counterfeit Testing Yes-Yeses
Microscope Test
Look for the hex-shaped print pattern. Look for the layered printing (letters over the hex pattern).
Let me know if this was useful in the comments below or on social media. Thanks.
Peace, love, and good games...
Eddie
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