How to Authenticate Sports Cards

Know your specialties. Most collectors collect sports cards of a specific sports team, athlete or time period for their favorite sport. Any serious collector can tell you what athletes or cards of a given athlete are the most popular and what cards are most often forged or faked. It's important to know these details about the cards that you collect the most.

Invest in a hobby guide. Most major sports have collector's guides that are published monthly that list current prices for collectibles of the given sport, as well as hobby news and trends to watch. In addition to helping you track the prices and trends for your collection, these guides also feature forgery and fraud alerts and help you maintain an authentic collection by keeping you well-informed about what to watch out for.

Familiarize yourself with security features. Major sports cards manufacturers enable security features on their sports cards in much the same way that the government uses security features to detect fake or stolen currency. Sports cards often include hologram logos or a numbering system to ensure that their cards are authentic. Know the security features that are featured on the cards you collect and learn how to tell if cards have been tampered with.

Maintain education about your collection. If you're a serious collector of autographed cards and memorabilia for a certain athlete or team, it's important to be well-educated about the team's logos and signatures. Knowing small details about your favorite team such as uniform changes, player numbers and autographs can help prevent you from falling victim to a forged autograph or altered card.

Get help from an authenticator. Sports memorabilia authenticators are trained to certify that sports cards and memorabilia are authentic or fake and can be helpful in spotting forgeries. High-end sports memorabilia dealers often hire these authenticators to certify the quality of these products. It's probably a little too expensive for an everyday hobby collector to hire one of these authenticators to look at his own collection, but sports card collector trade shows and swap events often feature authenticators on site that can help you determine the authenticity of cards and autographs.