Advice/help needed: white spot on card not visible in PSA scans

[voltagic]

Hello everyone! Sorry in advance for the long post / ramble. Tried to explain the nuances of my observations.

What am I looking for? Some insight/opinions/advice from members of the community who might know what I could be observing on this card.

Last week I picked up a card I’ve wanted to add to my collection for a while: a PSA 10 graded Pokémon species from Trainer Deck A.

Upon closer inspection, I noticed it had a white spot on the left side of the card. This spot came as a surprise to me because it didn’t show up in the PSA Scans, which were also used by the seller on the listing.

I made the following observations:

• The spot seems to exist out of two elements
• [1] A little square in the plastic (I’ve known about these for years, I know they are normal case defects and they are not on the card).
• [2] A white-ish spot ON the card. I’ve confirmed this by carefully tilting the case so the card slides up/down in the case.

What I find interesting:

• As mentioned above, the spot isn’t visible on the PSA Scans, which makes me conclude it got on the card AFTER having been slabbed
• The spot is DIRECTLY below the white square
• Weird part: a bit higher up on the card there is another white square in the plastic. It ALSO has a small white dot directly underneath it, on the card. Though, much smaller in size.

Questions I have:

• How could something get on the card after having been slabbed?
• Could this be mold? I’ve asked the seller, but they ensured me the cards were properly stored, so it couldn’t be.
• Could the white spot on the card at all be connected to the little square in the plastic?

Spot visible on the left side of the border:

Zoomed in:

Zoomed in, with card slightly moved up in the case to show the white spot moved with the card

Scan from PSA’s website, where the white spot cannot be observed on the card

My ultimately goal would be to have this card in my forever collection, and I would like to have the problem resolved. With that in mind, I already brainstormed some possible solutions:

• I could send the card in for a re-casing, and see what happens. My expectation is that the white square would obviously be gone, as that’s in the plastic, but I fear the spot that’s now on the card will remain.
• I could crack the card and see if I can clean the white spot off of the card. My fear would be that the card could however come back a 9, which would get me further away from my goal. Trainer deck cards are tough to grade, and this copy isn’t perfect either.
• I could go for a grade review and try to explain this situation. I fear PSA wouldn’t bother with trying to clean the card, and might just end up reslabbing & regrading the card as a 9, which also isn’t my goal.

Currently leaning towards submitting the card for a re-casing and hoping it somehow disappears in the progress.

I’m really looking for input or advice on this one, especially from people who handle a lot more cards than I do, and who might have some ideas.

[decoypalmette]

Have you tried pointing a light source on the white spot, to see if it casts a shadow or has any particular texture?

I still think that mold on pokemon cards is exceptionally rare, although definitely could happen if kept in the worst conditions. I’ve also heard of sticky glue residue or debris left by psa during handling and encapsulation, which could be more likely

[voltagic]

Thanks for the input!

To answer your questions:

I have played around with light to see if I could discover something. I can confirm I am 100% sure the spot underneath the white square is something on the card. It doesn’t cast a shadow, and moves with the card inside the case.

Regarding particular texture I can unfortunately not really observe anything. I would lack the tools for this. I only possess a phone camera. I’ve considered ordering a jewellers Loupe in order to be able to maybe see more.

[decoypalmette]

I think buying a cheap portable “microscope” camera could be an inexpensive investment before taking more disruptive measures.

Here’s an example with a black dot, on my card surface:

[pfm]

It looks like it could be mold, but you’d need a more zoomed in image to tell

[voltagic]

@decoypalmette

cheap portable “microscope” camera

I really appreciate this tip. I actually just ordered one which should arrive in about 8 days. Thanks for that! I’ve more often wanted to take a close up look or take highly detailed pictures of some of my cards.

@pfm

but you’d need a more zoomed in image to tell

I am going to see what I can cook up. I believe my girlfriend might own a better camera as she did some photography in the past. I’ll see if I can provide a better image here. Thanks for the input!

[voltagic]

I’ve tried a few things, including borrowing a better camera and a magnifying glass, but I’m not able to get a good picture of the spot that tells more than the ones I’ve already attached.

At this point I’m waiting for the portable microscope camera that @decoypalmette recommended to me. I’ll post back here this week with results after it arrrives.

[voltagic]

It’s been incredibly hard to get a proper picture, and I still feel I haven’t succeeded.

The first device that I ordered wasn’t capable of capturing it properly, I’ve ordered a slightly different one now which gave better results, but still not as good as I would have liked.

The problem is that the little square in the plastic actually blocks the view, and it’s at a different depth than the spot on the card, making it very hard to capture (also, I probably don’t really know what I’m doing here!).

That said, I opted for a bit of a picture dump here, which hopefully shows someone something more about what this could be. It’s a combination of pictures from the device, pictures taken with my phone of the device’s screen, and two more attempts at capturing it better with my phone. (Ignore the Dec 2024 dates, I haven’t configured the date settings on the microscope)

@pfm in particular, let me know if the new pictures spark a better idea of what it could be.

Thanks to any input in advance, would massively appreciate it.

[decoypalmette]

Still difficult to say but I feel it could actually be some kind of mold.

Now, if it’s mold we have a problem ‘cause you have a decent chance of a permanent discoloration of the surface below, which can even spread over time.
Probably gently rubbing the surface with q-tips (dipped in a 70%+ alcohol solution) may save the card, but idk if you want to crack a rare psa 10.

[tediorso]

I just got a card with a similar issue…

This thread says UV-C light for a few hours should kill it.

[Help] Mold growing on 1st ed base set zard...in a psa case

Hi guys, per picture, there’s mold growing on my psa 9 1st ed base zard, still sealed in case what would you do? Isn’t psa supposed to be airtight so how does this even happen? Merry christmas to me wtf, its such a high value card I stored it in a regular box like any other card imgur.com/a/3oDQ5LC Edit: I checked the rest of my collection and not a smidgen of mold in sight, seems like it was inside the case to begin with and grew. Would PSA be liable in this instance? [image]

I’m wondering if this is still solid advice? The consensus was it wouldn’t fade the card.

[pfm]

Yeah the UV approach should work on mold and you would probably needs days of exposure to cause ink damage (depends on the intensity)

[enkaycards]

I also have a card with a similar issue: while the big thing is just a fuzz, the other white spot gave me a headache.

What reassured me was that after countless hours, I managed to shine a light into the plastic from the side in such a way that the white specks cast shadows, confirming that the dirt wasn’t on the card itself.

[jayce87]

I recently dealt with a similar situation on a high value card (PSA 10 1st Ed Shining Charizard) where the original PSA scans were clean on the back but over time the back of the card had ‘developed’ white residue/debris on the bottom border of the card (I honestly can’t say either way if it was mold or not since the card was stored appropriately in a temp controlled environment, etc. etc).

When I noticed this I took pictures and opened up a case with PSA via their “CRC” process on their site (login to your account first): https://www.psacard.com/myaccount/customerrequestcenter

I described the issue in detail and included pictures of the scans on PSA’s website (luckily a 6 cert so PSA would have all associated scans automatically) as well as some pics I took of the card as it were with the residue.

A PSA Customer Rep got back to me directly via email and provided instructions and a shipping label to send the card back to them and have it inspected and reholdered, free of charge. I had absolutely no idea if they were just going to do a straight reholder and completely ignore my concerns on the specific spots of residue or even attempt to clean it (i’ve read instances where PSA didn’t touch a card going in for CRC reholder and just sent it back in the same/even worse condition).

All that said, I also had a feeling that due to the 5-figure cost PSA itself valued the card at that they would very likely make every attempt to make my problem go away (ie, clean the residue) as opposed to paying me out a grade guarantee cost for the difference if it dropped a grade or something.

So…I will preface the following by saying: YMMV. there is ZERO guarantee your situation will end up like mine and that there is a risk anytime you send a high value card in for a reholder/reinspection of further damage, but for me, it worked out amazingly.

Here is my Zard’s original back scan after being graded; notice the clean back-bottom border:

Here is the same card over time developing white ‘residue’ on the back-bottom border:

Here is the card scan after it went to PSA for CRC, and they presumably cleaned the card despite that not something they offer or even acknowledge doing:

There ARE common “marks”/“scuffs” on the inside of PSA slabs that are part of the plastic itself that are totally “normal/accepted” and don’t cause any issues at all, ever, but there are definitely instances of actual debris/residue during the enclosure process that can contact a card but this is a lot more rare from my experience, as was the case with my Charizard.

I hope you find some resolution, OP. But I think PSA will help you out here. PM me if you want more details or specifics.

[cardstockpile]

Great info - thanks for sharing your experience.

[Dyl]

Just a note on destroying fungi with UV… it won’t actually remove the dead fungus residue.

[voltagic]

Thank you so much everyone for the input, I really appreciate the different perspectives and anecdotes that help paint a better picture of what it could be, and how to possibly deal with it.

In particular thank you @jayce87 for the in-depth reply as well as the tips!