LeBron Exquisite /99 - altered & damaged

[RogerGodahell]

I just had an idea. What if we could make the two card pics (before and after) the exact same size and superimpose them one on top of the other to look for trimming? Someone work their Photoshop magic!

[theleica]

Originally Posted by RogerGodahell

I just had an idea. What if we could make the two card pics (before and after) the exact same size and superimpose them one on top of the other to look for trimming? Someone work their Photoshop magic!

That is what my videos are of. Post #3071

[Siberian13]

Originally Posted by KhalDrogo

This card was graded in March 2018. So don't think for a moment that the alterations have stopped.

Yeah it hasn’t stopped and it will never stop.

[RogerGodahell]

Originally Posted by theleica

That is what my videos are of. Post #3071

Excellent just watched the video!

[superdan49]

That first video (https://youtu.be/EJuO1SEucoY) is one of the most damning pieces of evidence I've seen.

Is Rich Mueller of Sports Collectors Daily a member here? SCD is one of the more honest publications in our hobby, and with these mountains of evidence could write a great article. He's written on the T206 autograph scandal uncovered by Net54.

https://www.sportscollectorsdaily.com/author/rmueller/

[trmpetyjo]

Originally Posted by frisbeesteve

First read https://www.blowoutforums.com/showpo...postcount=1382 and then another summary at https://www.blowoutforums.com/showpo...postcount=2105 and here's a face: https://www.blowoutforums.com/showpo...postcount=2540

There's a lot more though in this thread, and especially after the second summary, so I would recommend trying to go through it more earnestly from the point of the second summary on forward.

Your brains will still very possibly turn to mush, but you won't be alone.

I guess what I am saying is that if we really want to warn future buyers then we need something easier to focus on then multiple threads that are pages and pages of jumbled comments and evidence. Most people that buy are not going to take the time to read and research before buying, but if there was a concise list of these scammers for these high end items it would be very easy to spread the warning to many more people. A page that had a nice little description of the accusation,evidence, photo of fraudster, and even a small video of their set up at the national

[Deadshot]

Originally Posted by trmpetyjo

I guess what I am saying is that if we really want to warn future buyers then we need something easier to focus on then multiple threads that are pages and pages of jumbled comments and evidence. Most people that buy are not going to take the time to read and research before buying, but if there was a concise list of these scammers for these high end items it would be very easy to spread the warning to many more people. A page that had a nice little description of the accusation,evidence, photo of fraudster, and even a small video of their set up at the national

I'd like to create a small video eventually that explains why the LeBron Exquisite is such a valuable card and why this is a big deal to the hobby (something that anyone on the outside could easily understand). Trying to wait until more info is out first though.

[trmpetyjo]

Originally Posted by Deadshot

I'd like to create a small video eventually that explains why the LeBron Exquisite is such a valuable card and why this is a big deal to the hobby (something that anyone on the outside could easily understand). Trying to wait until more info is out first though.

Great idea, that would be a nice addition to a description in a "High End Scammers Page"

[JMANIA]

I hate to address individuals, but thank you Buy Nice Cut Cards for not cutting off LeBron's head.

[JMANIA]

Originally Posted by superdan49

That first video (https://youtu.be/EJuO1SEucoY) is one of the most damning pieces of evidence I've seen.

Is Rich Mueller of Sports Collectors Daily a member here? SCD is one of the more honest publications in our hobby, and with these mountains of evidence could write a great article. He's written on the T206 autograph scandal uncovered by Net54.

https://www.sportscollectorsdaily.com/author/rmueller/

Rich Mueller is great, but I doubt that is the kind of article/issue he would want to get involved in, but obviously I do not speak for him. Perhaps Cardboard Connection would prefer to do a follow-up:

https://www.cardboardconnection.com/...s-online-store

I thought there was a post here by someone claiming Buy Nice Cuts was the smartest one in the room. He is among the dumbest for documenting what he did - I think someone noted this came about because of his instagram hype, store, and other listings - all he did was provide evidence and hurt the hobby. Smarter card doctors usually just consign their stuff and do not list it.

[imbluestreak23]

Can someone catalog a list of every card he has had in his possession so that I can know what cards to avoid buying?

At this point a BGS 7 untrimmed Exquisite card has to be selling for gold right now given the population of unaltered high end cards. Seriously, this is absolutely disgusting. What a prick.

[imbluestreak23]

Originally Posted by superdan49

That first video (https://youtu.be/EJuO1SEucoY) is one of the most damning pieces of evidence I've seen.

Is Rich Mueller of Sports Collectors Daily a member here? SCD is one of the more honest publications in our hobby, and with these mountains of evidence could write a great article. He's written on the T206 autograph scandal uncovered by Net54.

https://www.sportscollectorsdaily.com/author/rmueller/

How does BGS not pick that up! The card didn't shrink just 1/64th of an inch. Like...do these companies no pull out a digital caliper?

There has to be a table top double sided scanner that is able to digitally analyze width and height, and over time, develop a standardized height/width dimension X standard deviations away. If your X standard deviations away from the norm, scanner automatically detects the trimming. Problem fricking solved.

Have this scanner literally do 100s of cards at a time to also assess centering, program it to detect corner wear on a 0-100% sharpness scale, and edge wear on a 0-100% crisp scale. Only thing a grader has to do is visually inspect the surface and put the card on the slab machine.

[KhalDrogo]

Some have suggested that maybe the grading companies tolerance for size variance is 1/64th of an inch. That last Lebron Exquisite was trimmed far more than that though.

[RogerGodahell]

Originally Posted by JMANIA

Rich Mueller is great, but I doubt that is the kind of article/issue he would want to get involved in, but obviously I do not speak for him. Perhaps Cardboard Connection would prefer to do a follow-up:

https://www.cardboardconnection.com/...s-online-store

I thought there was a post here by someone claiming Buy Nice Cuts was the smartest one in the room. He is among the dumbest for documenting what he did - I think someone noted this came about because of his instagram hype, store, and other listings - all he did was provide evidence and hurt the hobby. Smarter card doctors usually just consign their stuff and do not list it.

Lol yeah but when you put 1000 amateur detective sleuths on a case anything is possible. This is like a super think tank effort. The Govt. should do stuff like this if they really wanted to get something done. We could solve any crime in the world. The Blowout Bloodhound Gang

[Deadshot]

Originally Posted by RogerGodahell

[/B]

Lol yeah but when you put 1000 amateur detective sleuths on a case anything is possible. This is like a super think tank effort. The Govt. should do stuff like this if they really wanted to get something done. We could solve any crime in the world. The Blowout Bloodhound Gang

There was that time Reddit singled out the wrong guy as the Boston Marathon bomber lol

[Jasondr91]

Originally Posted by superdan49

The top is 100% trimmed. The scammer simply didn't get the grade he wanted.

You guys are right.....card is trimmed from the top. Another damning connection to BuyNiceCuts.

[superdan49]

I just posted this to a new baseball thread. Copying here to those who don't do baseball:

Originally Posted by superdan49

Next we have a 2011 Bowman Chrome Bryce Harper Gold Refractor Autograph 02/50. This card was sold as a BGS 10 Pristine on eBay by BuyNiceCards on May 16, 2017 for $19,750.00.







I was able to find this same card, serial numbered 02/50, in raw condition on Worthpoint; it sold on eBay on October 8, 2014.







However, notice the red arrow I placed in the above screenshot. The seller of the raw 2011 Bowman Chrome Harper Gold noted that his card has "an indentation on the bottom of the back and also a line going across horizontally." In his third image, you can clearly see the damage, which I've again pointed out with red arrows:






How then did this card, with obvious damage, end up with a BGS 10 Pristine, Beckett's highest grade? The only conclusion is that a card doctor has developed a method to buff out or otherwise erase surface damage to modern cards. Here are both cards, front and back. As you can see, it is the same card, despite the card on the bottom (the raw card) being damaged pretty significantly:








Once again, like the Jeter, this card went dark for 3 years before emerging again with BuyNiceCards in an extremely high-grade BGS holder. As you notice, there is a pattern here: a individual (or individuals) are buying damaged, high-end modern cards for a discount, trimming, doctoring and otherwise repairing them, grading them, and selling them for big bucks with Eric Bitz's company. Whether or not Bitz is complicit in this fraud is not for me to decide; I only provide evidence of the fraud, not who is guilty.

[Deadshot]

This card was also on the market (unslabbed) April 9, 2015. No mention of the damage here (and not visible in the pictures).

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthoped...old-1725330577

[thenwhatjk]

I hit that card and damaged it myself, what do I win

[thenwhatjk]

https://www.blowoutforums.com/showth...=Harper&page=2

Post 48

[theLUCKYshow]

Originally Posted by thenwhatjk

https://www.blowoutforums.com/showth...=Harper&page=2

Post 48

The 2/50?! That's crazy and what a story. Lol @ Pristine that poor card. Do you know who you sold it to? Well I guess it doesnt really matter considering it sold again with the damage. Do we know if this was consigned or if it was BNCs?

And wow superdan just wow.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

[ljandkg]

Originally Posted by theleica

I've been dreaming of the day where I got a scan of the same card to pretty much the same dimensions (had to use a free transform to get the sizing pretty much perfect.)

Not only is the top trimmed but the left side is as well. Sorry for the shaky video. The brighter one is the BNC version. The darker is the original 8.5

https://youtu.be/EJuO1SEucoY

https://youtu.be/ysL7m8BLdFo

https://youtu.be/uPlicTa3GQk

https://youtu.be/ONjlOQKuJrE

Quite frankly this is the absolute hands down, no holds barred, SMOKING f%^&%^&* GUN.

[Deadshot]

Originally Posted by KhalDrogo

This card was graded in March 2018. So don't think for a moment that the alterations have stopped.

Now we need to piece together the lineage for the card - both grading and ownership.

[Deadshot]

If someone could work on the grading today, that would be a big help. I can start to trace the line of ownership when I get home from work. That's gonna be pretty wild on its own - a quick search shows that in the span on Aug-Oct 2016 alone it sold 3 times.

Edit: the card definitely looks trimmed by the time of the 2016 sales. This has to be incredibly obvious in person. If BNC did indeed submit this for grading on his own (that's where I need your help), my guess is that he knew about the trimming when he held the card and decided to put the onus on the TPA instead. In other words, "if they grade the card and don't mark it as altered, their opinion is what counts in this hobby." Even though he goes on and on about his expertise in this hobby and probably has a better eye for high end stuff than some TPA employees.

This guy is developing a REALLY bad track record when it comes to LeBron. Ugh...I have to go to work now (my real job lol)

[NHaaland]

Originally Posted by Deadshot

This card was also on the market (unslabbed) April 9, 2015. No mention of the damage here (and not visible in the pictures).

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthoped...old-1725330577

Here is a timeline of the Harper 2011 BC Gold auto 02/50 that I pieced together through Worthpoint and other users posts:

~January 2013- Thenwhatjk wins card in a group break

February 28, 2014- Labeled “Authentic” with a description of:
Hello,
The person who sold the card to me said he sent for grading with a minimum grade of a 9.5 or no grade and just slab. So this card didn't make the cut. It looks perfect to me, but tough to tell inside a Beckett holder.
This auction is for the exact card pictured a : BRYCE HARPER, 2011 Bowman Chrome, Gold Refractor, Auto 10, #2/ 50, ROOKIE
Subgrades:
Auto: 10.0
I'll cover Insurance and Shipping charges..
Thanks Bob

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthoped...gold-509951243

April 9, 2015 (sold raw)- 2011 Bowman Chrome Bryce Harper Gold Refractor Rookie RC Auto /50 Beauty!! (originally posted by Deadshot)

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthoped...old-1725330577

May 10, 2015- Sold as BGS 8.5 w/ grades of 10 Centering, 9.5 Corner, 7.5 Edge, 9 Surface

**This is where I need help as the photo is blurry (yes, my eyes are horrible) but I am pretty certain this is the same card (02/50)

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthoped...old-1753614997

April 1, 2017 Sold as a BGS Pristine 10, 2 years after being an 8.5 overall w/ 7.5 Edges (same serial number as May 16, 2017 sale. Probably a NPB?)

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthoped...old-1858013267

May 16, 2017 Sold (originally posted by Superdan)

Please feel free to add in any additional dates/information you might have. Again, if someone can confirm that the May 10, 2015 sale is in fact 02/50, that would be great.

Thanks!