Buyer strikes out with Mickey Mantle cards
By MICHAEL GARTLAND
STAFF WRITER
PARAMUS -- These Mickey Mantle rookie cards surely aren't Topps to Timothy Tarrant Jr.
Tarrant, a baseball memorabilia collector, filed charges against a sports card dealer on Wednesday, claiming the man sold him two fake Mantle rookie cards for $4,500.
Tarrant, 31, of Mahwah, said he and a friend pitched in for two of The Mick's valuable 1951 Bowman cards, one for $2,500 and the other for $2,000.
Months later, he took the cards to an authenticator, who gave him the bad news, he said.
The cards are phony.
But, Tarrant said, the owner of Markzcardz & Collectibles in Hackensack balked at refunding his money.
"I tried to make it easy for the guy," Tarrant said. "I said, 'Give me my money back.' "
Dealer Mark Linquito, however, said he simply bought the cards from a private owner and resold them.
"This happened about eight months ago," said Linquito, a retired Bergen County sheriff's detective. "[The seller] came in and brought me ... cards from her father. He died."
Linquito said he purchased the cards from an employee of The Record. The employee could not be reached for comment.
Tarrant said he doesn't want to hear excuses; he just wants his money back.
So on Tuesday, he filed a fraud complaint in Paramus, where Tarrant said the purchase was made.
"This guy should go away to ... jail," Tarrant said.
Paramus police confirmed that they took a fraud complaint on Wednesday, but wouldn't say who filed it or whom it was against.
A representative from the authenticator said it's particularly easy to spot counterfeit 1951 Bowman Mantle cards, which have one telltale sign.
"The back is glossier on the counterfeit than on the regular," said Bob Luce, a card grader with Sportscard Guaranty, located in Parsippany.
The 1951 Bowman is not nearly as valuable as Mantle's 1952 Topps rookie card, one of which sold for $275,000 in 2001.
Luce estimated that no more than 1 percent of baseball cards in play are fake.
STAFF WRITER
PARAMUS -- These Mickey Mantle rookie cards surely aren't Topps to Timothy Tarrant Jr.
Tarrant, a baseball memorabilia collector, filed charges against a sports card dealer on Wednesday, claiming the man sold him two fake Mantle rookie cards for $4,500.
Tarrant, 31, of Mahwah, said he and a friend pitched in for two of The Mick's valuable 1951 Bowman cards, one for $2,500 and the other for $2,000.
Months later, he took the cards to an authenticator, who gave him the bad news, he said.
The cards are phony.
But, Tarrant said, the owner of Markzcardz & Collectibles in Hackensack balked at refunding his money.
"I tried to make it easy for the guy," Tarrant said. "I said, 'Give me my money back.' "
Dealer Mark Linquito, however, said he simply bought the cards from a private owner and resold them.
"This happened about eight months ago," said Linquito, a retired Bergen County sheriff's detective. "[The seller] came in and brought me ... cards from her father. He died."
Linquito said he purchased the cards from an employee of The Record. The employee could not be reached for comment.
Tarrant said he doesn't want to hear excuses; he just wants his money back.
So on Tuesday, he filed a fraud complaint in Paramus, where Tarrant said the purchase was made.
"This guy should go away to ... jail," Tarrant said.
Paramus police confirmed that they took a fraud complaint on Wednesday, but wouldn't say who filed it or whom it was against.
A representative from the authenticator said it's particularly easy to spot counterfeit 1951 Bowman Mantle cards, which have one telltale sign.
"The back is glossier on the counterfeit than on the regular," said Bob Luce, a card grader with Sportscard Guaranty, located in Parsippany.
The 1951 Bowman is not nearly as valuable as Mantle's 1952 Topps rookie card, one of which sold for $275,000 in 2001.
Luce estimated that no more than 1 percent of baseball cards in play are fake.
posted by Authentic1 at 9:59 AM
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