Fraudulent 1993 UDA Autographed TCC 2-Card Set

Found on eBay (circa 2004). This is the actual unaltered and unedited text from the seller's auction:

"Here is an Authentic Autographed Card issued by Upper Deck in 1993. This is the two card set with: The TRIPLE CROWN CONTENDERS Card #TC9 autographed plus the ON DECK card #D24. Both are housed in a sealed holder from Upper Deck. The pair comes with the UDA Certificate Of Authenticity and matching holograms for the TC9 card and the COA. It's genuine - It's from Upper Deck Authenticated"

Remember what I wrote about the acrylic holder? Also note that the autographed card is on the wrong side and paired with a completely different (wrong) card.

Also, notice the UDA COA used in the seller's scan? You don't see it opened. I'll tell you why I think it's shown that way - because the seller has faked the COA. The one you'll receive will resemble a real UDA certificate, but only that - resemble. *Update 8.4.07: Saw that this item has now changed hands and the new seller shows the opened COA in the auction description. It would appear genuine after all. But that does not negate the fact that this "set" is not the official UDA product from 1993 and calling it such is fraudulent. Also you'll note that when I first wrote about this item in 2004 I didn't question whether or not the auto itself was fake (see below).

Be very cautious - there are sellers who are preying on your lack of knowledge.

Collector's Note: Strangely enough, based on my observation, the autograph itself appears genuine. This seller probably received one of the Upper Deck archive/library copies - genuine Thomas autos held back from production for various reasons and later released into the marketplace. My accusation isn't that it's a fake autograph. It's the fact - the fact - that the seller was offering this as the official 1993 Upper Deck Authenticated 2-Card TCC Set. He says so right in the description, "..housed in a sealed holder from Upper Deck." It's clearly not, and it's blatantly fraudulent and illegal to sell it as such. He even offers the UDA COA as proof. Had the seller just offered the autograph by itself - I wouldn't have a problem with it.

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