So I was scroll Facebook today and this popped up in my feed wondering if anyone can explain this in a bit more detail as I find this rather fascinating…..
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Oh, that’s pretty cool, thanks for sharing!
I did knew the Australian cards were a bit more glossy than US/EU cards, although it’s not too noticeable with the naked eye. But if I shine on the card with a flashlight with LEDs, the US/EU card will have a general vague reflection, whereas on the AU card you can see the individual LEDs in the reflection:
Here a US Jungle Pikachu on the left vs an AU Jungle Pikachu on the right:
Didn’t knew about the UV light difference, though. TIL! Especially on that Pikachu of the three you’ve posted from the FB post the difference is very noticeable.
Greetz,
Quuador
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new english base set variant to add to the list?
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Well if you can confirm they are different technically yes
I’m not sure any Base Sets were printed in Australia. 
They’ve likely just imported US- or Belgium-printed cards, and started printing their own (with Red Logo booster packs) for the Jungle and Fossil sets.
Although I’m not 100% sure. Would be funny if you’re just buying bulks of Base Set cards and try to distinguish them with a blacklight. 
FWIW, there are three different English unlimited edition ©1999 Base Set prints (for the non-holos at least):
- semi-glossy
- matte
- matte with semi-glossy card borders
I mean that they’re nowhere near as glossy as Japanese vending card or magazine promos, but they still have a glossier look than their matte counterparts. Which versions came first, or whether some of these variations are from different printing facilities, I honestly don’t know. But here are all three variations regardless, of which the semi-glossy version is the most common to find:
Greetz,
Quuador
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Those were pics I made a while back when I was trying to complete the Red Logo Jungle non-holo set. I wanted an easier way to ensure I was TRULY getting a Red Logo card since the source I used to obtain the cards relied on purely visual inspection (since Red Logo is smoother/glossier). In short, you can’t just rely on the smoothness of the card. Me and a couple folks have made progress on figuring out the different prints. More to come in the future.
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