“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.
Advertisement
“Perfect” for Bruce meant sharp edges and corners, a clean surface and proper centering that would garner gem mint status from a third-party grader and boost its value even further. The authenticity of the autographed sticker on the card never crossed Bruce’s mind.
Why would it?
The fine print on the front of the 2021-22 Topps Finest Flashbacks UEFA Champions League Football’s Finest All-Star
→ Continue reading at The New York Times Sports
