Ryan Barone (@ballcardgenius, Card Expert) is a lifelong member of the hobby. He has been quoted in PSA Magazine, and his content has regularly been mentioned in “Quick Rips” (the Topps RIPPED Newsletter) and across other hobby publications. hello@ballcardgenius.com; Last Time Ago LLC dba Ballcard Genius.
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21% of 1986 Fleer #57 Michael Jordan rookie cards that have been submitted for PSA grading in 2023 were determined to be fake/counterfeit. This is according to Nat Turner, CEO of Collectors (home of card grading service, PSA) in a recent tweet.
“Crazy stat I just learned in the office at @psacard.
So far in 2023, we have authenticated/graded 1,604 1986 Fleer #57 Michael Jordan rookie cards.
On top of that, we failed 447 additional copies as fake/counterfeit.
So, YTD, 2,051 copies of MJ’s rookie card came in and 21% were fake.”
Earlier this year you might have also read the story of the 82-year-old man selling and trading $800,000 worth of fake sports cards including Jordan rookies.
Altogether, between the card’s value (more on this below) and vast amount of counterfeit cards in existence, any transaction involving the coveted MJ rookie should be treated with caution and due diligence.
How do you spot a fake Michael Jordan rookie card? Breakout Cards presents 23 things to check for in the video below. And if the card is in a fake PSA slab, Graded Card Investor has a breakdown of how to do your due diligence in checking/utilizing the security measures PSA has in place:
In an almost overlooked fact, the Michael Jordan “grail” RC has been authenticated/graded 1,604 in 2023 alone. According to the PSA population report, the card has a total pop of 23,558 (only 322 of which are gem mint PSA 10s.)
Read More: How to Read the PSA Population Report
Regardless, the card shows its value across the different grades, with PSA 10 copies averaging about $178,000 in 22 sales over the last 365 days according to Market Movers.
- PSA 10: $178K, 19 Sales
- PSA 9: $16.3K, 147 Sales
- PSA 8.5: $8.85K, 319 Sales
- PSA 8: $6.76K, 44 Sales
- PSA 7.5: $5.41K, 13 Sales
Here’s the value journey of the PSA 10 over the last 365 days, where the card has started and eded right around the same amount, but showing a slight increase in average sales value during the time period.
