I was looking at my collection today and noticed this on my no rarity Zapdos. There are two black smudges near the bottom edge. I can’t believe I didn’t notice this before. Is this acceptable on a 9? It looks like someone had a speck of grease on their finger and touched it twice. 
Aside from the smudges, there is one tiny scratch on the foil that is hard to see. This would be my nicest 9 without the smudges.
Sorry to see that. Grading is an imperfect art. Mistakes happen.
I wouldn’t like the smudges. That’s why it is recommended that you “buy the card, not the grade.”
If you got the card graded yourself, you could dispute the matter with PSA.
Is it smudging or mold? Sorry to hear about this - have you contacted the seller?
Hmm, It does look like mold… It’s not the fuzzy kind, just flat. I haven’t contacted the seller yet, but I intend to. I’m actually still within the return period. 30 day return periods are awesome!
Were the smudges hidden by the person you bought it from or did these just pop up? Kinda gross it can grow mold like that.
Oh no that looks like mold… yikes! Good luck with the return. (I imagine you’ll have no problem.)
Looks like it has been through the rounds
Seller 1$300
Seller 2
$250
Seller 2 after possible return
$202
lets delve a little closer
5 Likes
Man I love looking at print dots!
Looks like another Billy case
/Off-topic: That was such a great Simpsons episode.
/On topic: I would say it’s mold, caused by people holding cards on the face of the card. These spots were probably close to invisible during grading and the holo scratch caused the 9.
I’ve noticed similar spots on some of my old Star Wars CCG cards from back in the 90s. And ever since I saw that, I began touching cards only by their edges. This also goes for sleeving, opening boosters, going through a pile of cards, etc. Because I always handled my old cards as collectibles; with clean hands and storing them in binders and whatnot, it didn’t prevent such mold from growing over time, which scared me into holding cards in this awkward way.
So next time anybody is holding some cards with their fingers on the face of the card, remember it doesn’t take a whole lot to grow this kind of mold over a span of 20 years.
2 Likes
Looks like the same stuff that was on my dishes after letting them sit in the dishwasher for 3 weeks after they were done haha.
But there have been posts on here before about cards developing mold on them sometime after encasement. I’d be pretty confident in betting its mold. If your real determined that mold should wipe off very easily without damaging the card if you want to crack the case and resubmit it.
Good to know that this type of mold can be wiped off. I’ll suggest that to the seller. It’s already in the mail on its way back. I thought about cracking it open and trying to clean it, but didn’t want to risk it. I didn’t have my heart set on a 9 so I just bought an 8 from Shizzlemetimbers instead. 
1 Like