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Fake Decks on EBay? (mrdecks21)

Posted: Sun May 14, 2017 1:01 pm
by LVCardistry
Hi all,

I recently ran across some listings on ebay that seemed a bit off.

The first was one for Ace Fulton's Midnight Fuel FOIL Wrapped edition. This struck me as odd, as I remembered reading a thread here about how those decks were not official.

I then found 2 other listings for "Rare Vintage Tax Stamped OG Arrco Stud 1st Ed Playing Cards"

http://www.ebay.com/itm/172666657668" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/172666657166" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;?

There is no way these decks are legit, right? A barcode on the bottom of the box (1974 or later) with a 965 tax stamp?

I have a feeling this is DuelingDueces.com guy back again?

I reached out to the seller and received this response:
New message from: mrdecks21 (168Turquoise Star)
Fake merchandise.. counterfeits?
These are 1000% percent vtg arrco stock n finish.
I researched it and asked ?s, opened several decks. I don't know why they were sealed with tax stamps, when bar codes put deck from 1970s.
Most likely done by a merchant, years later to seal the decks. Or were sealed by an arrco employee.
The decks were purchased in qty from an ex arrco employee.
The decks, 200 of them came sealed this way. I researched it and asked ?, but the cards are authentic real arrco stock. They are not hoyle junk.
Idk how or y stamps wer3 applies but that's how decks came.
I opened several of them and they are 1000% arrco tahoe stock n finish.
Most likely manufactured in 1970s and stamps were applied later. By merchant or arrco employee to seal the decks.
Tax stamps were given to merchants to apply later, and often was corrupt. Ppl hated paying the tax. So my best guess is stamps were applied to seal decks yrs later.
I got over 1k decks, all authentic.. that's how the cards came.
And they are identical stock n finish as arrco tahoe
They are not counterfeit or fake.
They are 1000% real

Just wanted to see what you guys think, I trust this forum for information and have for a while. Thanks!

Ryan

Re: Fake Decks on EBay? (mrdecks21)

Posted: Sun May 14, 2017 1:09 pm
by LVCardistry
Claims to have 100's of decks like this - also confirms that he is Dueling Dueces with Midnight Fuel Foil Edition story -

"Fake merchandise.. counterfeits?
These are 1000% percent vtg arrco stock n finish.
I researched it and asked ?s, opened several decks. I don't know why they were sealed with tax stamps, when bar codes put deck from 1970s.
Most likely done by a merchant, years later to seal the decks. Or were sealed by an arrco employee.
The decks were purchased in qty from an ex arrco employee.
The decks, 200 of them came sealed this way. I researched it and asked ?, but the cards are authentic real arrco stock. They are not hoyle junk.
Idk how or y stamps wer3 applies but that's how decks came.
I opened several of them and they are 1000% arrco tahoe stock n finish.
Most likely manufactured in 1970s and stamps were applied later. By merchant or arrco employee to seal the decks.
Tax stamps were given to merchants to apply later, and often was corrupt. Ppl hated paying the tax. So my best guess is stamps were applied to seal decks yrs later.
I got over 1k decks, all authentic.. that's how the cards came.
And they are identical stock n finish as arrco tahoe
They are not counterfeit or fake.
They are 1000% real"


"I have been an honest seller for years, and I never ripped any1 off...
The gold wrapped midnight fuel deck was a promo, and we removed it. It was just packaging for a promo.
And your accusations are Ludacris ...
I wrote and asked ?s and researched the arrco studs. And the cards are real arrco stock and finish. They are from 1970s with bar codes, and stamps were used to seal them.
Stamps were often applied years later for decks. So for you to say the cards are fake and counterfeit is just bogus..
"

Re: Fake Decks on EBay? (mrdecks21)

Posted: Sun May 14, 2017 2:25 pm
by maxs
The tax seals are indeed a bit dodgy. If mrdecks21 is dealingdeuces, then he offered a pair of these here for sale a few years ago:
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=156&p=641&hilit=Arrco+stud#p641" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

These have no tax seals but arrco seals.

Re: Fake Decks on EBay? (mrdecks21)

Posted: Sun May 14, 2017 10:25 pm
by hikeeba
I asked Tom Dawson about the Studs a couple of years ago. He didn't know so he sent the question to Lee Asher and Don Boyer. Don responded:

"The dealer is almost certainly Dealing Deuces, of dealingdeuces.com. He was "shamed" out of here for selling made up variants of modern decks - the example that caused him the most embarrassment was when he took Ace Fulton's Casino decks from Dan and Dave, wrapped them in metallic foil and placed an Ace Fulton's logo on the foil. D&D stated publicly that they had nothing to do with that version and people realized he was trying to rip collectors off.

If you look at the photos in the post, there is indeed one that shows decks with barcodes on the bottom - but if you follow the captions, you'll see those are NOT the decks that were for sale, but were a later generation of Studs he used as a comparison to his "1st-generation" models. And that assumes they are indeed first-gen, since he doesn't have any real evidence to back up the claim, just a story about a factory worker from Chicago who worked for Arrco when they were made. So no, his decks that he's selling on eBay are not the ones with the barcode that are pictured in the post."

I've asked around other places as well, with similar responses. He was really pushing those Studs backs in 2012. AFAIK the tax stamps went out in 1965, so I would guess a little paste would do the trick. (Back in the days of ebay when you could look up someone's buying history I could've sworn he had bought some tax stamps, but I'm not 100% sure.)

I would absolutely avoid him and all his incarnations.

(Also, I have a bunch of those variant backs - none with a tax stamp or an Arrco seal, despite what the 100-year old man in his story claims....)

Re: Fake Decks on EBay? (mrdecks21)

Posted: Thu May 18, 2017 2:10 pm
by LVCardistry
Thank you for the clarifying information and history! I, too, have a wide collection of Stud variants, and have never seen ones as mentioned by the "arrco employee". Interesting to hear about the possibe prior purchase of tax stamps...

in addition, the MrDecks account is also selling an ID Card printer (the kind for fake IDs?) haha just thought it to be a funny coincidence, maybe?

thanks, will avoid!