With the Super Bowl coming up, I think its time to revisit an old subject that never seems to go away. Now that Marshawn Lynch is running wild and on his way to the championship game, there have been an explosion of listings for the 2007 Rookie Premiere autos. Many of them are getting bids, much to my dismay, even though almost EVERY SINGLE LISTED CARD ISNT REAL – especially if Adrian Peterson or Calvin Johnson is also on the card.

For reference, here is what they look like when real:

2007 Real Topps Rookie Premiere Auto Marshawn Lynch BGS Graded 9.5

2007 Real Topps Rookie Premiere Auto Adrian Peterson/Marshawn Lynch RC

Here are the way they look, and even when they are graded, they can still be fake. Not usually the seller’s fault:

2007 Fake Topps Rookie Premiere Auto Peterson/Lynch PSA Graded

2007 Fake Topps Rookie Premiere Quad Auto Lynch, Peterson, Johnson

If you are looking to buy a nice Lynch here are some suggestions:

2008 Ultimate Collection Marshawn Lynch Dual Patch Auto /20

2007 SP Authentic Marshawn Lynch Auto Patch RC – I wouldnt buy above a 2 color on these. Too risky.

2012 National Treasures Marshawn Lynch Virtuoso Auto – Might be his only on card auto in a Seattle uniform.

2013 Topps Chrome Marshawn Lynch 1000 yard club Auto /25

Lynch is a guy that was lost to the hobby in 2009 and 2010, only to come storming back once signing with Seattle. His cards had their first peak during the Playoff game against New Orleans in 2011, and now that he has had another great year, they are peaking as high as ever. I would aim for other cards that ARE NOT from the 2007 Rookie Premiere set, as too many have been compromised.

Back in 2010, I went through and categorized all the fakes vs the reals, and I found that 94.8% of all listed cards from this set were not real. At the time, it was more about Peterson and Johnson, but now that Lynch is in the spotlight, they are coming back around. In all likelihood there are less than 100 blue inks and 10 red inks in existence, but thanks to the unsigned cards not getting destroyed properly, there are now thousands of fakes.

If you would like to know how these things happen, here is my guess. Some guy likely got ahold of the unsigned, but REAL cards that were supposed to be autographed during the 2007 rookie premiere. Because the cards were real, all that had to be done was to start signing laughable forgeries. Because the cards themselves are real, PSA will grade them, even though the signatures are fake. Beckett has stopped grading the cards without JSA also weighing in for extra cost, and that is a GOOD THING.

Stay away, stay VERY far away. This concludes the normal public service announcement I do every time one of these players breaks out.