Trading cards bearing pieces of game-worn or player-worn memorabilia have become a central element to the sports card hobby, with some commanding price tags of more than $1 million on the secondary market. And with those rising values have come increased incentives for fraud.
Jason Masherah, president of prominent trading card manufacturer Upper Deck, finds himself questioning the authenticity of attractive patches within cards “every time” he sees one. It’s one of the many reasons he hopes Upper Deck’s new strategy will ease worries of fraud for collectors buying into The Cup Hockey, the company’s premier high-end NHL set.
Upper Deck will attempt to combat the practice of “patch swapping,” announcing each rookie patch auto card in the 2023-24 The Cup Hockey set will be sealed in a plastic case, photographed and serial numbered with a QR code. Collectors can view a gallery of images from multiple angles to display the card as it was originally issued by Upper Deck.
A 2023-24 The Cup Matt Murray card in Upper Deck’s new encasing. (Photo: Upper Deck)
The Cup will be released June 4.
“The trading card industry has experienced a massive patch swapping challenge for years now, where counterfeiters will cut out and swap patches to increase a card’s after-market value based on the player or colors of the patch,” Masherah said. “Until now, there has been no trusted mechanism to self-verify if a card has been tampered with, and this rookie auto patch authentication is the first step in tackling this massive industry-wide issue.”
Multi-colored patches, team logo patches, uniform laundry tag patches or manufacturer logo patches (like the Nike Swoosh) tend to be more sought after, and more valuable as a result, than other cards with more basic patches, like one from a plain white section of a jersey. This creates an incentive for scammers to remove a less attractive patch from a card in favor of a flashier one from a random jersey.
Attempting to do so could potentially damage a card beyond repair, but Masherah said there’s been plenty of instances of this occurring without much issue to where it’s become a hazard for collectors.
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“I think there’s so much doubt from collectors that we have to assume it’s pretty widespread because it’s just hard to know,” Masherah said. “And to me, this whole industry is backed by authenticity and confidence. If we continue to go down the road where we are, I’m concerned that the consumer is going to lack confidence to buy those cards on the secondary market.
“And I think in most cases, we don’t want to know, right? I think there’s so many things in this industry where people just don’t want to know what’s really going on, because I think it would scare them. I’m concerned that it’s very widespread, but it’s hard to say because nobody’s going to admit to it.”
Upper Deck became known for their innovations in fraud protection starting with the company’s famed 1989 baseball set that included Ken Griffey Jr.’s iconic rookie card by placing small holograms on cards. In 1992, the company extended protection with autograph authenticity through a five-step process using recorded hologram IDs and a database for collectors to verify the item. Upper Deck said the new rookie patch auto authentication for The Cup will implement a similar format through “The Authority Authenticator.”
One hurdle Upper Deck knows it will face with the new initiative comes with collectors breaking open the sealed case and removing the card so they could submit it to be independently graded in the hopes that a top grade for the condition of the card would further enhance its value.
Masherah said he’s had some conversations with grading companies about possibly adding Upper Deck’s authentication serial number to an independently graded case, but admitted that might be a difficult task.
2023-24 The Cup Sean Farrell card. (Photo: Upper Deck)
Upper Deck will mark the card label at the top of its new cases with a ‘U,’ meaning the card was uncirculated outside the protective shell. The company is hoping that will hold its own value to customers.
Masherah said the company will gauge how well the authentication initiative works for this edition of The Cup to determine if Upper Deck wants to extend this practice to other sets in the future. Still, the Upper Deck president feels like giving consumers a guarantee at the initial purchase or acquisition is a “game changer” for the industry.
“Before you buy an Upper Deck rookie auto patch card from an auction or a card show, you now have the ability to quickly see on a secure platform whether or not the card remains as we originally created it,” Masherah said, “without the risk of purchasing a manipulated card or needing to go through the extra step of shipping it to us or a third-party for verification.”
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(Top image: Upper Deck)
