BoB fake or real?

[heiner]

Hi there

I just bought a Bazaar of Baghdad over ebay and I am wondering if its a fake. I think it could be a rebacked card.

The print is VERY good, very detailed. I also can see the small circles. I bent the card a little and it didnt snap back very quickly and stayed bent a little but its an old card (fine condition) which often tend to be worn out.

I didnt bent it the whole way (afraid of doing it because its really played).

what makes me wondering is, that i can see that the card is made of two layers when looking at the side, but its is really not perfectly obvious that it is rebacked. Also the borders seem a little bit strange (not round enough and I think the corners on the back does not correspond to the corners of the front exactly.

Are there any other things i could check? How can you distinguish a real card from a fake one with a magnifying glass? Wher do I have to look?

thanks all!

[xthexpunisherx]

I suggest reading this article its from wizards themselves so they would know best.

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgcom/feature/209

[Mixing Mike]

This one is a lot better.

[Aaron]

Hi,

First of all, if you can see the "circles" then you probably have nothing at all to worry about. Put it randomly in a stack of cards, and if it obviously looks thicker than the rest, then you might have a problem, but it sounds to me like it's perfectly fine. The "circles" are made by professional printing presses, which tend to run a little too much for Magic counterfeiting operations.  

[doomhed]

Also, it is impossible for it to be a rebacked card. Rebacking can only be done to CE cards. it could be a "Refaced" card, which is where to use sticker paper for the front of a magic card and print a new face on it.

[Mark_Story]

Normal cards are actually made of two pieces of card, with a thin darker layer of adhesive between them.  If you rip a common in half towards you, you should see a distinct tonal difference in between the front and back of the card.

[jazzykat]

I believe that arabian nights cards were a little thinner than other sets. You should be able to see a line around the edge of the card. If you rip a card in half in a way that is not clean you should see a very thin blue layer.

One other thing, at a certain point if a fake is so good that it is undetectable then  it as a card that exceeds the print run and for all PRACTICAL purposes is not a fake at all.

[Frappie]

If your ever at a show and you see the Over the Edge Games sign stop by and we can check to see if the card is real. We're pretty good about catching fakes.

[VGB]

Apparently, Annorax got in a lot of trouble over his PSD over at Misetings, because it is being used by card counterfeiters.  And I actually found the Wizards article to be the best I've ever seen on the matter, although they didn't provide pictures for most examples like in Mixing Mike's link.

If I were to make a fake, this is what I would do, using a really good scan, and a common card from the set the fake is from.  Home printers nowadays easily match the resolution of the cards printed in early sets, and this method passes all tests except microscopic ink pattern inspection.  The best way to spot a fake remains having a real card on hand for comparison, imho.

[JACO]

Also, it is impossible for it to be a rebacked card. Rebacking can only be done to CE cards. it could be a "Refaced" card, which is where to use sticker paper for the front of a magic card and print a new face on it.

This is one of the dumbest, and most untrue things ever posted on TheManaDrain. When you 're-back' a card, you are simply splitting a good Magic card's two layers in half, and then then taking the good/nice condition back that you split, and adhering it to the front of another card you have seperated. This can be done to any Magic card that you wish to re-back, not just a CE card.

That being said, cards that are somewhat played will often exhibit a 'dual-layer,' so that is nothing to be alarmed about. If it looks and feels real to you, then it's probably going to look and feel real to whoever you will eventually sell it to as well.