When I started this blog back in 2007, I wanted to make sure that hobby coverage had a place to go for coverage that wasnt the rainbows and lollipops that Beckett peddled to thousands of collectors each month. I especially wanted to take a stand against scams and fakes that had spread through the hobby like a virus.

Fake patches were a special focus for me, as it was becoming evident that scammers were easily able to alter cards with little recourse or information available from major hobby news sources. Since that time, my blog has fallen victim to time constraints and children (Ive had 4 since the inception of SCU), but my attentiveness to the scam riddled world of trading cards hasnt become any less vigilant. Now that the stakes are 5000 times what they used to be, sometimes more, its time to spend another afternoon writing about the history of how this culture has changed.

More importantly, if you joined the card universe during the recent boom, we are very much back to a lack of information. Its been replaced with flex culture of Instagram, and thousands of new collectors who have missed the last 10 years of problems that I spent over a million words on this blog talking about.

Where It All Began

Lets go back to 1996 – back when the jersey card first started. Upper Deck put the first relic cards in a set with their 1996 iconic Game Jersey set. With that, a revolution kicked off, leading to a jersey card or more in every box by 2002. Most people who didnt live through that time in the hobby dont really realize that there wasnt technology to embed thicker types of relics until later on, likely starting around the first time Upper Deck SP Authentic offered their first patch set. As a result, most memorabilia cards were single color relics, or multi-colored jersey pieces that still had the same thickness.

When Exquisite was first conceived in 2003, it became apparent that things were changing. It was the first product to offer a premium patch card guaranteed, including logo patches that were embedded in ultra thick stock cards (comparatively to what was out back then). There were patch sets in products before that, but nothing like what Exquisite offered.

As Exquisite became a staple, so did multi-color patch cards, including logos and shields. Even with Exquisite changing the game, a three color patch with a piece of logo was such a premium example, it added extreme multipliers to the way the cards were valued. For most relics, cards were almost exclusively still single color jerseys for the next 5 to 7 years.

Panini wasnt part of the hobby quite yet, but their involvement in 2008-2009 was the primary factor for what current patch culture looks like today. They realized that the logos and multi-colored patches were the way to add exponential value to a set, and started finding ways to offer that more frequently to collectors. By 2012, they had made crazy patch cards quite common, often littering their premium products with some of the craziest patches people had ever seen. As more and more jerseys became player worn instead of game worn, the creep of logos into every product was to a point where single color jersey cards had to be phased out.

Similarly, as jersey cards became prevalent in the hobby after its inception, people found that switching out the single color relics with other, more colorful pieces of jersey, was very easy. Few card companies had any idea that their relics were easy to remove and swap, as most were only secured by a bit of glue. Now days, the relics are more secure in the card, but back then, you could swap a relic in seconds.

Manufacturers tried to die cut the relic windows to make it much more difficult to get at the single color pieces, but failed to understand how easy the cards were to split at the seam and do the same thing. Triple Threads was especially susceptible to this practice, to a point where NFL and MLB shields were showing up weekly on eBay numbered as high as 99.

Fast forward to today. Most of the major cards are well documented and the logos usually have their own subsets. Manufacturers have become more wise to the tactics, but they do not have the ability to go back in time to change mistakes. This leaves older cards as prime targets for scammers now that the stakes have changed so dramatically. A card that would go from $10 dollars in value to $100 dollars in value was one thing. But a card that would go from $1000 dollars to $50,000 is completely different.

Because the hobby population is now ripe with new eyes just joining the fray, many arent aware of the horrendous fakes and major issues from years past.

Today’s Issues

The Instagram hobby revolution is one that I understand. Its a platform that younger audiences flock to, and provides a perfect platform for showing off your personal collection. Old cards have an aura about them, mainly due to the fact that so many of them remain the top examples of a player, even today. Funny enough, all the people who are top targets now, were still top targets back then too. Players like Tom Brady, Michael Jordan, and Lebron James had major followings during the fake patch era, and still have insane value today.

Other players may not have the same following, but the fake patches were so insane back then, that today’s culture sees them as unicorns – regardless of who is on the front. This leads to giant prices on the secondary market, and even worse, many collectors who refuse to believe they are altered.

Grading companies make this whole situation more complicated, having authenticated or graded so many examples of altered patch cards. Many of the slabs are older than my children at this point, leading many collectors to believe even further that the cards are authentic. Old school tribal knowledge tells experienced collectors that the patches in the cards were never checked or authenticated, and most of what PSA or BGS did was just reviewing the cards themselves.

This puts newer collectors at a HUGE disadvantage for information, because much like 2005 – the hobby news sources and influencers dont have much dedicated coverage to the subject. In fact, most of the main hobby influencers wouldnt even know where to start, as they have joined the hobby so recently as well.

There are still old guards out there fighting the good fight, making sure to showcase the main concern whenever bad cards are put up for sale. The scariest part is that the altered cards have changed hands so many times, the original scammer is long gone at this point. Similarly, the before and after pictures that were readily available at the time of alteration are likely gone too. The fakes were so easy to spot that all one had to do was find the completed eBay auction buyer from the same account as the one selling the current fake. That’s how blatantly obvious these used to be. Now? All that information is lost to history. I tried digging up some old pictures from my blog, but with photobucket kicking everyone out who didnt want to pay – even that is gone.

Most of the current examples are being sold without knowledge and without understanding, so its hard to hold these individuals at fault. However, many refuse to accept their fate, as some of the cards are so “valuable” it causes even more problems to admit it might not be authentic. With many relics being player worn in today’s world anyways, does it even matter as much anymore? I think that it does, but to others, maybe not.

When you see a Tom Brady logo patch card out of 2008 Triple Threads that you covered on your site 10 years ago sell for a down payment on a house, facepalm doesnt begin to describe the feeling.

Fighting Against Fakes

So, with that, how can you identify a fake that isnt blatantly obvious? The answer isnt simple like it used to be but I do have some suggestions.

First, recognize the era before recognizing the patch. If a card from 2001 is showing a ridiculous patch, its likely not authentic, no matter how much the seller swears its pack pulled. Chances are, they bought it from someone, who bought it from someone, who bought it from someone, who bought it from someone, who bought it from someone that actually switched out the patch. Most logos werent prevalent in non-premium sets from that era, so be skeptical of anything crazy before the Panini era.

Similarly, look at the numbering. Most high numbered logo patches didnt happen until VERY recently. If a card has a high number from a timeframe like 2008, and has one of those shields or logomen, its automatically questionable. Although its true that manufacturers didnt really see what was going on when relic cards first started, they were limited by technology and time.

Lastly, just avoid the whole situation. Sets like Exquisite, SP Authentic, Playoff Tools of the Trade, Triple Threads, and other premium sets from the early 2000s were valuable then, just like they are valuable now. That made them prime targets for scammers to increase their value with altered patches. Sure the stakes were micro compared to now, but these guys were churning out 1000s per month. Not joking.

There are still a lot of guys who are around now who were around back then. Talk to them. Ask for opinions. I still look with a skeptical eye at EVERYTHING in this hobby, and the patch cards are at the top of that list. Its worth knowing the history before dropping the price of a Mercedes on a card.