1933 Goudey Lou Gehrig Counterfeit Guide

Analyzing the Authentic 1933 Goudey Lou Gehrig Card

The 1933 Goudey Lou Gehrig is also another highly counterfeited card. Many fakes are in circulation, some are easy to spot, while others can be very difficult to distinguish between an authentic example. This guide will help point out the characteristics of an authentic example and show some of the more common counterfeits. In general, the counterfeits seem to have problems duplicating the skin tone and color of Lou, often giving a more reddish appearance. Another common characteristics that many of the counterfeits share is they have a glossy front, an authentic Goudey card will not have a glossy front.

1933 Lou Gehrig graphic

1933 Goudey Lou Gehrig Front

1933 Lou Gehrig back graphic

1933 Goudey Lou Gehrig Back

  1. The top of the baseball bat will extend past the picture onto the border.
  2. There will be a small gap between the top of Gehrig’s hat and the border.
  3. The dirt will extend pass the picture onto the left border.
  4. The red border will not perfectly align with the left and right borders. One side will be slightly offset.
  5. The back of the card will show some red ink that has bled through. Some believe the ink has bled through from the front of the card, while others believe this is transferred from the stacking of wet sheets during production.
  6. The text on the back of the card will be in solid green. Under magnification, the green text should not be made up of several dots or pixels.

Examples of 1933 Goudey Lou Gehrig Counterfeits

Example 1

1933 Lou Gehrig Fake 11933 Lou Gehrig back Fake 1

  1. There is no gap between Gehrig’s hat and top border
  2. The top of the bat does not extend onto the top border
  3. The dirt does not extend onto the left border
  4. The red title block is perfectly aligned with the border
  5. The back does not have the red ink bleeding through
  6. The “reprint” text has been purposely rubbed off on the lower left corner

Example 2

1933 Lou Gehrig Fake 21933 Lou Gehrig back Fake 2

This particular counterfeit was produced by opening an actual PSA case, inserting a fake and resealing the case again. The label or “flip” is not an authentic PSA label and actually utilizes slightly different fonts, which can also be used to identify the card as counterfeit. This is a good example to illustrate that simply because a card is in a well known grading companies holder does not mean the card is authentic.

  1. The color and tone of Gehrig’s skin is different than the authentic
  2. The dirt does not extend pass the left border
  3. The red title block is perfectly aligned with the border

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