How to Judge the Authenticity of Early Baseball Cards

Obtain an image of the baseball card from a reputable place. There are online baseball card pricing guides such as Card Pricer, Tuff Stuff or Beckett (links below) that detail the value of the card and show an image of it. Fakes will switch small things such as the coloring of the letters or the number on the back of the card.

Search the player name, year, brand, and card issue number on auction websites such as Ebay or Baseball-Cards.com and determine what a fair price is. The price will be based on the condition of the card. If the card is priced significantly below the average price it is likely a fake or reproduction.

Look at the coloring. If it has a brown or burnt aspect, then it was likely "baked" and is probably a fake.

Check for "toning" throughout the card. An authentic early baseball card might have the hue of a tea color throughout the card. This discoloring would be even and would have likely occurred from moisture damage such as excess humidity. Some forgers try and dip reproductions in tea to get the same effect. However, the toning will likely be concentrated in one area which is how it can be spotted as a fake.

Check the edges of the card for gradual roundness and even fray. Authentic cards should have some wear since they were not cut with the precision of contemporary cards. If the edges look as if they have been cut to be rounded it is probably a fake.

Look for a separation of colored ink with the underlying stock of the card. If the baseball card is from around the turn of the 20th century, there should not be white ink on the card. Manufacturers simply left white areas blank at the time.