Over the last 3 years, I have taken a hard line regarding people who buy and sell the thousands of fake rookie premiere autos that are out there. Although many of the fakes focus on the top picks from the 2007 class, that doesn’t mean that there arent a ton of other fakes out there. In fact, I have personally seen fakes all the way back to 2001, some even authenticated by otherwise “reputable” grading companies. The bottom line is that unless you see the rookie premiere pulled from a pack yourself, you might as well pick another card to buy.

As if I needed anymore evidence of how terrible this virus has become, take a look at this huge lot of 10 Chris Johnson 2008 Rookie Premiere red ink autos. If you arent familiar with the way the red inks usually function, they are the shortest printed variation, usually with only 10 copies for each card. Obviously, these are the ones that many of the douchebags who make these cards go for, because they are USUALLY worth more money. As you can see with this auction, owning the entire print run is pretty laughable, especially when you consider just how easy it is to fake Johnson’s give up signature.

Yes, someone paid THAT much money to own a whole series of definitely questionable cards, and though one or two may be real, the principle of the matter is still evident. Think about what else of Johnson’s that buyer could purchase, as I don’t believe there is many non 1/1 cards that would sell for even half of what this lot went for.

When you think about how these cards were created, its absolutely great that Topps serially numbered all the on card autos out of their 2010 base set. It’s a huge move to prevent fakes, something that many of the companies refuse to publically address. In the end, the only defense that remains to be effective is education, and we all know the lack of information disseminated by the hobby’s mainstream media. Its really too bad, but I refuse to give up here at SCU.