Whoops... Aww Nobody Will Notice

Topps is once again in the center of questionable autographs being affixed to cards. This time it is the Donald Cerrone Bloodline autographs in the 2012 Finest UFC release.

 

A couple of days ago a fan sent Cerrone, through Twitter, a picture of a 1/1 Printing Plate (pictured above) that he had pulled because the autograph did not seem correct, Cowboy responded by saying it was not his signature. Topps got involved and soon after they claimed the autograph “not fake” and to make the whole thing a bigger joke, told the collector that he had won a box of cards.

 

Wow, talk about a coincidence, a collector points out another Topps screw up and somehow that same collector wins a free box of cards the day after he pointed out that the autograph was wrong. So even though Cerrone clearly stated on his Twitter feed that it is not his signature Topps stands by their own word that it is indeed Cowboy’s autograph.

 

Since the fake autographs have been brought to light all of the auctions with his fake autos have been ended by the sellers but auctions with his real autographs are still available. So far it appears that only the 4 printing plates and the Black Refractors (#/8) from the Bloodlines autograph were the ones involved.

 

I am sure this is just a case of a "Clubhouse Signature" where one of Cowboy's friends/entourage was just trying to help out and we know it does happen, I think what is the big issue here is that the cards affected are all low numbered cards which will draw attention much quicker than if these had shown up on a handful of unnumbered cards. It does not help the situation where Cerrone is involved yet Topps is standing their ground.

 

The two cards below are signed as "Cowboy Cerrone" and while you can see there are some differences between signatures it still looks like the same person signed both cards.


REAL Cerrone auto from 2010 Leaf MMA

REAL Cerrone auto from 2012 Topps Finest Bloodlines Auto

 The cards below, Black Printing Plate (1/1), Cyan Printing Plate (1/1) and Black Octafractor (#2/8), were all up for auction but have been ended by the seller since the news came out about the fake autograph. You can see compared to the real autographs (above) that the three below are obviously not signed by the same person.