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1997 Roox Prep Stars Variations?! (Help! Advice Needed!)

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Juan Gris

Well-known member
May 23, 2013
2,222
106
Columbus, OH
(Note: while this is a football set, the player on the card in question, Adam Dunn, is known as a baseball player...)

I'm hoping someone on here is either familiar with this card, the set or the company itself! Here is the background on the set, according to Beckett's website:

This set was produced and released by Roox in complete set form. It features top high school football players in the country. Each card includes the player's name near the bottom edge with the title "Prep Stars" down the left side. The cardbacks feature a simple black printing on white stock with a "7FPS" prefix on the card numbers. This set features very early cards of noted baseball players Adam Dunn and Drew Henson.


Ever since I've been collecting Adam Dunn I've kept an eye out for a copy of this card and a couple days ago one popped up on eBay. Where this gets tricky is I've never seen this card in person or an image of the Dunn card, except for what Beckett has listed on their site (which is an extremely low-quality image). The card listed on eBay has high quality scans of the front and back but, in comparing the eBay card and the Beckett card, there are notable differences, such as:
-the front image of the eBay card doesn't show Dunn's feet or the helmet laying on the ground;
-the eBay card shows more sky above Dunn's head;
-the placement of "PREPSTARS" and "Adam Dunn" cover different parts of the imagery (meaning it is not a simple miscut);
-the back of the eBay card seems shifted to the left and some of the words in the paragraph were bumped down to the next line.

I've communicated with the seller and he stated this Dunn card (as well as another copy he owns of the Dunn card which matches the layout of the Beckett image) were acquired 10 years ago from Nick, the owner of Roox. I have included a collage showing the front and backs of both the eBay card (left) and the Beckett card (right). Keep in mind that the Beckett image is super grainy while the eBay image is a quality scan. Any opinions are more than welcome because I'm stumped!

Dunn Roox Super Combo.jpg
 

smapdi

Well-known member
Aug 7, 2008
4,397
221
It just looks like an amateur's attempt to produce cards and they did a couple different print runs.
 
I would go with the ebay auction as the legit card. At least the seller has other roox cards listed for auction as well so you know others have purchased from him as well. Did you try calling the Roox number on the back by chance? Is the company still in business?
 

Juan Gris

Well-known member
May 23, 2013
2,222
106
Columbus, OH
Thanks for the responses, guys! I'm still looking for more knowledge and insight but let me address what has been said:

It just looks like an amateur's attempt to produce cards and they did a couple different print runs.
By that do you mean the card producer, Roox, produced the card in (at least) 2 different ways in an amateur fashion or the card was fraudulently created by an amateur? I'm thinking you mean the former but it's the latter that has me worried.

I would go with the ebay auction as the legit card. At least the seller has other roox cards listed for auction as well so you know others have purchased from him as well. Did you try calling the Roox number on the back by chance? Is the company still in business?
It makes me feel somewhat better that he has other Roox cards listed but how hard would it be for someone to acquire a bunch of fakes in one lump purchase? PSA and Beckett have 0 graded versions of this card so I don't have much to rely on besides a story. I tried the number on back but it went to some kind of a scam hotline for buying gift cards or building credit. The eBay seller told me that Roox went out of business years ago and I wouldn't doubt it as I can't remember seeing cards from them much after the late 90's.
 

Juan Gris

Well-known member
May 23, 2013
2,222
106
Columbus, OH
I ended up purchasing this card and sent it into PSA along with some other cards for grading. Unfortunately, it came back as an "N9 no grade" (per PSA: "...we do not grade due to being an obscure issue or not fitting in our holders"). As you can see, the grader hand-wrote "N9 - Oddball - company not in catalogs" on the PSA sticker affixed to the card sleeve. I don't see how they can say the company (Roox) is not in the catalogs when PSA has graded other Roox cards from different sets/years. I'm waiting on PSA to get back to me with a better explanation but I'll probably be waiting like it's a Topps redemption...
1997 Roox Prep Stars #7FPS67 (PSA No Spec Info, No Grade, No Holder, 25303384) Front.jpg
 
Last edited:

RStadlerASU22

Active member
Jan 2, 2013
8,881
11
Hmmm , sorry they would t grade it. Still a neat oddball that I'm sure doesn't pop often.

Ryan
 

BenG76

Active member
May 15, 2013
1,819
2
Fancy Gap, VA
I ended up purchasing this card and sent it into PSA along with some other cards for grading. Unfortunately, it came back as an "N9 no grade" (per PSA: "...we do not grade due to being an obscure issue or not fitting in our holders"). As you can see, the grader hand-wrote "N9 - Oddball - company not in catalogs" on the PSA sticker affixed to the card sleeve. I don't see how they can say the company (Roox) is not in the catalogs when PSA has graded other Roox cards from different sets/years. I'm waiting on PSA to get back to me with a better explanation but I'll probably be waiting like it's a Topps redemption...
View attachment 60468

I would email PSA and question them about it. Is there a checklist online or in a SCD or Beckett. I had a Japanese Wrestling card graded by them and I gave them a link where the set had been cataloged on a wrestling card site and that seemed to work. Although they did send back 2 BBM Yu Darvish cards I submitted for some reason although they where promo cards and I have not bothered to pursue it further.
 

Juan Gris

Well-known member
May 23, 2013
2,222
106
Columbus, OH
I did email PSA and received an auto response basically saying to wait as long as it takes them to play catch-up with other calls and emails. Beckett recognizes this set and has the complete set list on their website. :confused:
 

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