February 10, 2010

Gillian Anderson counterfeited ?!? The truth is in here.

A couple of days ago Michael M posted a couple of comments on Webjon in the loveandnewyork thread. Michael had the misfortune of buying a Gillian Anderson autograph card from gbapack, so he had the right to be concerned. He compared his Anderson to some other cards, and here is what he found:

Well, here are scans (front and back of the card). As you can see, it’s
identical to the one that loveandnewyork had listed last year. I purchased
mine from gbapack on 3/10/08. Interestingly enough, I also purchased an
Alyssa Milano/Charmed Conversations card from him around the same time, and it appears to be authentic with a nicely visible watermark.

You can see on the reverse at the bottom, the “F” is missing in “X-Files”.
This may or may not be on the original card.

When comparing it to other Inkworks cards (in particular a Juliet
Landau/Spike card), it is cut to the same size. However, it seems to be a
slightly lighter stock and has a matte finish front and back; other Inkworks
cards have a glossier finish on the back. I also compared it to a Mimi
Rogers/X-Files Connections card from Razor. Along with the matte finish, the
biggest difference appears to be the color of the character’s name written
vertically in bold on the reverse. On the Gillian Anderson card, the name is
in a light or pale yellow, while on the Mimi Rogers card the name is in a
more golden yellow. The same may be true of the names on the front, but the
lettering is smaller so it’s harder for me to judge.

The real clincher (for me) is the autograph itself. You can clearly see that
both “Gillian” and “Anderson” end in hard dots; other examples of her
autograph show smooth lines. More telling are the two dashes, which are
actually dots over the i’s in “Gillian”. Again, other (all?) examples of her
autograph show a hard dot followed by a lighter trailing dash as she’s
quickly moving her pen. This autograph shows a hard dot, followed by a
thick, sold line, ending in another hard dot. And this happens twice in the
same autograph.

At this point, it looks like I just get to write this up as a learning
experience (a $275 dollar one, at that). But if I can share any information
that will save other people their hard-earned money, I’m all for that.

Michael’s analysis is dead on, in comparing his scan to other scans provided to me I’ve seen everything he’s described, from the slightly different font / color in the character name to the missing ‘F’ in X-Files in the copyright on the back of the card. Additionally on the back of the card the letter ‘w’ is missing in the word ‘winning,’ and the Inkworks Authentic Foil Stamp is in a slightly different place. He also confirmed to me that the Anderson card does not have an Inkworks watermark. Like with the Maggie Grace card we will never be able to get Inkworks to confirm this is a counterfeit, but it certainly is.



5 Comments

  1. I am the owner of the X-Files Connections Gillian Anderson autograph card you have listed under ebay item #280335295791 in your post of possible fakes from ebay seller loveandnewyork. Michael M contacted me a couple days ago through ebay to point me to your site and tell me that the card I bought was most likely fake. I compared it with the pictures posted above and it has all the same printing errors and the autograph is IDENTICAL to Michael’s card. Is there anything that I can do about getting my money back? I searched ebay and loveandnewyork is still actively selling sports cards. Has he ever been held accountable for selling so make fake autograph cards? It also makes me wonder, what else in my X-Files autograph collection could possibly be fake. If there is an expert on what to look for to confirm an X-Files autograph card is legit (Especially the Season 9 Gillian Anderson Autograph #A-F Card), I would love to talk to you.

    Comment by Mark B — February 11, 2010 @ 5:30 pm

  2. Mark, If you used Paypal you can call them and explain your situation eventhough the 45 days have passed to open a dispute. Even if the seller doesn’t care or doesn’t respond Paypal might refund ALL your money even shipping.
    I had this problem also with an expensive auto,and got my $$$ back. Hope this helps.

    Comment by Delia — February 11, 2010 @ 7:36 pm

  3. Would like to see that Charmed Milano bought from GBApack. I didn’t think they sold anything real.

    Comment by Jonathan — February 15, 2010 @ 12:13 pm

  4. Jon,

    I recently purchased a Tobey McGuire autograph from the Spiderman 3 set and I wanted to get your opinion on it. How do I send it to you? My email address is lovell4827@rogers.com

    Thanks

    Ed (ottawa_ed)

    Comment by Ed Lovell — February 15, 2010 @ 5:42 pm

  5. I finally had a chance a few nights ago to really study my Milano card (purchased from that ‘wonderful’ seller gbapack). My first impression was that the card is genuine (which I’ll still stand behind). If the card is counterfeit, then watermarks are completely useless. That’s the good news. The bad news? The autograph itself is 100% fake. I’m going to forward scans and my opinions on to webjon, and let him make a call.

    Comment by Michael M. — February 21, 2010 @ 1:29 pm

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