How To Spot A Fake 85 Star Crunch N Munch Jordan #4

The 1985 Star Crunch N Munch All-Star Michael Jordan #4 card is one of the most valuable cards in all of the Star sets. Of course, the scammers have been producing counterfeits of this card for many years. Hopefully, after reading this guide, you can distinguish a fake from the real deal.

First, let’s get one thing clear—there was a ‘Shop At Home’ Crunch N’ Munch card released as a part of the Shop At Home scandal. This card looks nothing like the original card and is considered counterfeit. That counterfeit card is shown here (along with a very false and misleading letter from former Star founder Robert Levin). If you see this card, run far, far away.

star-crunch-munch-fake — A letter that would have accompanied a Shop at Home Star purchase from Levin, which is telling a totally fabricated story. These cards were out and out counterfeits.

fake-crunch-jordan — A Shop at Home Jordan counterfeit card

Okay, let’s talk about the non-Shop At Home counterfeits of the Crunch N Munch Jordan. Here’s an authentic Crunch N Munch card, front and back:

crunch-munch-jordan — An authentic Crunch Munch Jordan

crunch-back-jordan — Back of authentic Crunch N Munch Jordan

Here’s one common fake (shown on left) versus an original (on right). The dead giveaway here–look at the ‘Star 86’ in the top right corner of the fake Jordan. The font on the fake is also smaller and not as bold as on the original.

A key on all original Star cards, and compared to nearly all fakes, is to ensure that your card has clarity of print, as shown below with the text in ‘Michael Jordan’ and ‘East All-Star’.

Fakes will have significant blurriness in the text, so it’s important to examine this part of the card under magnification. The Star logo in the top right is also another important print area to examine. Note that there are ones that come close to the correct year, ‘Star 85’, yet the easiest examination would be under a loupe to identify low-quality printing detail.

There is also a bad fake that is orange and not darkish yellow. See below. Don’t buy this one.

One thing that can make it very tough to distinguish a real from a fake (especially when dealing with eBay) is a slight variation in coloring on the Crunch N’ Munch cards. Here are two authentic Crunch N Munch Jordan cards. Notice how there is a slight variation in the yellow? This can also vary based on the picture’s brightness.