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Muhammad Ali signed card is this real?

Hey Everyone

was offered this Muhammad Ali signed card they claimed it was in person and I believe the year was 91. They weren't to clear in there description. Do you guys think this one looks good? Thanks

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Permalink Reply by Steven Jackson on June 6, 2016 at 5:46am

Anyone?

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Permalink Reply by Philip Harris on June 6, 2016 at 8:05am

I'm not an expert in Ali....but this just doesn't look good. Letters are minimal...could be short due to the card's length. Proportion of letters also seem to be off...the "A" seems larger than usual. I could be wrong.....Just my opinion.

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Permalink Reply by TradeGeek on June 6, 2016 at 11:31am

I don't like it. Be very careful with any Ali Autographed cards right now. For obvious reasons, the price of Ali's autograph has spiked. I think there has always been a huge number of Ali forgeries out there, but when prices spike people come out of the woodwork slapping a bad forgery on anything with his name on it. The AW Ali cards are very very common. They can be purchased for pennies.

If someone wanted to purchase an Ali autographed card, the first thing I would advise is wait. The prices have spiked as allot of less than experienced collectors are in the market driving up prices.

There are two relatively common certified Ali autographed cards that are relatively plentiful and are definitely authentic.

The 1992 Classic World Class Athletes. The certified autograph has a white back that says "Congratulations" and mentions that the card is autographed. There is an non autographed version with an identical front but color photography and stats on the back. I have seen a bunch of the common cards on Ebay this weekend "autographed". I'd bet almost all, if not all, of them are forgeries. The certified (definitely authentic) version has a white back as I described. Thousands of these cards were made and have sold recently from $150 to $200. This weekend they are going for $300 to $500. I wouldn't buy at those prices.

The second certified Ali card that is quite common is the 1992 Pro Line Portraits . The certified card has a crimp stamp on the corner. This has always been one of the more desirable autographs from that set and always commanded a premium. However, right now they seem to be selling in the $400+ range. Which I wouldn't pay.

Once the initial spike from his passing dies down, those two cards should be affordable. There are more recent certified autographed Ali cards out there. But they were produced in much more limited numbers (with the price to match) and in the past few year his signature had become less and less legible (for obvious reasons).

Here is an example of the 1992 Pro Line

http://www.ebay.com/itm/MUHAMMAD-ALI-1992-Pro-Line-Portraits-Authen...

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Permalink Reply by Steve Cyrkin, Admin on June 6, 2016 at 11:42am

Check it out at www.aliautos.net. You'll find cards on the site.

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Permalink Reply by TradeGeek on June 6, 2016 at 11:51am

You beat me to it.

Just read on that site there are 1992 Pro Line forgeries. I would definitely be careful with that card now that I read there were "certified' crimped copies that were "leaked" from the factory. That is sad.

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Permalink Reply by TradeGeek on June 6, 2016 at 11:43am

Here is a good resource for Ali. Apparently there are also a great deal of Auto Pen signatures out there.

http://www.aliautos.net/forgeries.html

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Permalink Reply by TradeGeek on June 6, 2016 at 3:00pm

Disregard everything I said about the 1992 Pro Line Ali Autograph. I wouldn't get within a mile of one.

Apparently, an Ebay seller has been caught red handed counterfeiting the "certified" card and forging the autograph. Sold dozens of them. Just disgusting.

http://www.blowoutcards.com/forums/football/878278-bigboydsportscar...

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Permalink Reply by TradeGeek on June 6, 2016 at 3:02pm

And shockingly, most of the slabbed versions were "authenticated" by GIA.

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Permalink Reply by Steven Jackson on June 6, 2016 at 3:24pm

Thank you, I knew it was a long shot just was offered it by a local person and was hoping it could be snagged for a deal.

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Permalink Reply by TradeGeek on June 6, 2016 at 7:41pm

In general terms, if an athlete or celebrity just passed; there are no deals. Real examples sell for a premium. Even if their autographs are plentiful. It's sad on so many levels when people use somebody's death to make a quick buck.

But they do.