Is it risky to buy a Ken Griffey Jr. upper deck rc ungraded??

[Lockdown32]

I am thinking about picking up a Griffey upper deck rc. Brings back a lot of good memories about going to the card store and breaking a ton of packs trying to pull one when I was a kid. I thought people said there were a good amount of fakes out there, but I don't remember. Am I better off just picking up a a psa graded instead of a raw one?? From looking on ebay it looks like apsa graded 9 go for around $50-$60.

EDIT: Thanks for the info everyone! Think I will pick up a psa 9 or maybe even go for a 10!

[Jdleem]

Not a lot of fakes that I know of. If you are going to get it a Raw one and grade it go for it. If you just want a graded one I would just buy it graded.

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[DR Murph]

Haven't heard much about fakes, but buying a mint graded card sounds like a good option. If you're wanting to buy it ungraded, look at the hologram on the back and make sure that the corner of it is not chipped.

[hatchd]

I can't imagine there are any fakes out there anymore. This card isn't worth enough to fake. If you're buying one to get graded just know a lot of people have the experience of buying these that look mint and getting 6-7s on them due to small issues. A psa 9 is still relatively cheap. I'd either go raw and not grade it or spend a little extra and go for the 9.

[lauriontj]

Don't be a whimp, go for the PSA 10.

[yankee4jc]

Fakes are not an issue w/ this card but people are beginning to trim them to look better

[bigunitcards]

I'm sure there is some minimum card value that has to be there in order to go to the trouble of creating fakes, especially when you have to doctor holograms. I don't know that a card that goes for $20-$30 raw is worth that effort for forgers (at least on a grand scale, surely there are some fakes out there).

[lauriontj]

Originally Posted by bigunitcards

I'm sure there is some minimum card value that has to be there in order to go to the trouble of creating fakes, especially when you have to doctor holograms. I don't know that a card that goes for $20-$30 raw is worth that effort for forgers (at least on a grand scale, surely there are some fakes out there).

This card wasn't always a $20-30 card. It was well above $100 at one point. Fakes could've been made at that time...

[ThoseBackPages]

buy a centered PSA 9 and enjoy!

[DSizzle31]

The Upper Deck hologram on the back prevents counterfeiting.

[mrmem]

I would be more worried about buying factory sets. I remember back then people would switch the pack with the Griffey rookie and switch it with another part of the set. Back then every 30 cards or so were shrink wrapped.
I just bought a 1983 donruss factory set and knew when i got it that it was tampered as the pack that had the Gywnn and Boggs rookie shrink wrap was opened and resealed with tape. Opened it and sure enough they were missing.
Seller gave me a small refund but think they knew as you could plainly see the scotch tape resealing.

[Viking6]

If you are just worried about it possibly being fake you could pick up a PSA 8 or a BGS 8.5 for $25-30


It is not risky to buy a raw one... A lot of the raw ones are just pretty badly OC. They go for as low as $15.

[Centauri3]

If you are looking for nostalgia, do it the right way. Buy a box a rip it - nothing like cracking open Griffey pack.

[Lockdown32]

Thanks again for the info everyone!!

[BigEd]

I bought a raw on COMC and had it graded through their BGS service. I picked the one I wanted based on what I could tell from the scan. It came back as a 9 and I made a nice profit, even after the higher grading fees on COMC. If you want to do the grading yourself, I'd recommend COMC because they'll know most of the time when a card is altered. It's a bit more expensive, but you can almost guarantee an 8 or higher.