The card looked perfect. Nick Bruce and his son “freaked out” when they pulled an autographed Lionel Messi card from a pack around the Christmas holidays at their Ferndale, Mich., home. It was a normal reaction for sports card enthusiasts discovering a rare autographed card of a superstar athlete.
The fine print on the front of the 2021-22 Topps Finest Flashbacks UEFA Champions League Football’s Finest All-Star Autographs Orange Refractor card, of which only 10 were printed, reads “Topps Certified Autograph Issue.” There’s more assurance on the back of the card, potentially worth more than $1,000: “The signing of all Topps autographed cards is witnessed by a Topps representative to guarantee authenticity.”
Autographed cards have become big business for the companies that produce them. They command a value premium on the secondary market, and cards signed by top names like Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Luka Doncic, Tom Brady, and Patrick Mahomes sell for up to millions of dollars. The authenticity of those signatures is rarely questioned.
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