okay I really feel like this cards sucks now. But I see what you guys are saying about the condition and getting 9’s that are just as nice. I plan to stick with buying 10’s, but it sounds like this 10 is so weak I should probably pass.
It looks like all of the psa 10 shadowless currently listed on pwcc have the same level if not more whitening .
Dont let us sway your opinion 
we are just nitpicky
PSA 10s, especially wotc, are not gonna be perfect. Youll be hard pressed to find one that doesnt have some mild problem. Its just the nature of the beast. Buy what makes you happy !
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There are way, way, way worse 10s out there. Clayboy had to really zoom in and it still didn’t look that bad on the edges. Not sure about the flaw on the pokeball tho.
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I can’t understand the strawman argument that there are worse 10’s out there to justify a misgrade. The card’s edges are worn a good deal, on the surface around them. It’s from a good deal of handling wear, with dirty sleeves by the looks of it. The kind where you don’t get so much chipping on the card edges as much as the areas mostly handled that create clouding and scratching on the surface. It’s ugly to look at when one is a PSA 10 collector. I’m a 9 collector and I wouldn’t touch that.
Also, I zoomed in like 20% to see that. It would hurt your eyes in person to look at it. Look, the point is why the hell would you spend the 10x premium for a card that isn’t a 10? All I’m saying. So many weird arguments here that aren’t applicable. “A PSA 10 isn’t a perfect card”. Ok thanks. No one said it was. But a PSA 10 for damn certain is a pack fresh card that is pretty well centered with minimal factory flaws. Corner dots, a little dull blade action, print obstruction, etc. Not man-made wear 'n tear / damage.
OP, there are plenty of perfectly fine looking 10’s on pwcc.
The gyarados looks amazing, as does hitmonchan, magneton , nidoking, and ninetales.
There’s a massive condition difference between dull blade factory cuts of edges and man-made wear and tear. I personally wouldn’t care about the former on a 10 unless it was severe like on that zapdos. The normal kind that comes with 99% of wotc cards constitutes a mint card to me. You would think there would be general consensus on that between collectors. Damage is damage. A strong 10 and a weak 10 in my eyes is debating over whether you prefer one with zero flaws, or one with a few. Not a misgraded card that has clear damage and shouldn’t even be a 9 let alone 10. I mean, MOST 10’s are perfectly worthy of their grade. Not hard to come across.
also collectoramy agrees it wouldn’t grade a 10 today. I saw that before he deleted it. So I figured I’d share at least a little consensus
Yea I agree the edges don’t look that bad. I would not be happy with the pokeball flaw tho
I’m reminded of older PCGS holders consistently going for considerably more than new holders because grading at the time was perceived to be more harsh. In many cases, it appears to be true; I see a lot of CAC Green and Gold beans on older PCGS holders, not so many on newer ones.
I would not be surprised if when the TCG hobby is more matured, people acknowledge the lack of quality in certain PSA cert ranges.
i meannn it kinda looks fine to me ? 
not that I’m a connoisseur of PSA 10 wotc cards, but it appears to be within the realm of what one might expect on a psa 10 wotc card. This card looks like a pack fresh card that is pretty well centered with minimal factory flaws to me. the (in my opinion) mild flaws you’ve pointed out fall under “minimal factory flaws.” Looks like it could be rough-cut and doesn’t appear to be egregious damage on the card. how do we even know that what’s on the pokeball isn’t actually on the slab?
the point of what i was saying was to not get too caught up in things, look at the card and if you like it, you should buy it. you can scrutinize condition for yourself, but as far as im aware, psa grading scale for 10s is more lenient than most condition collectors i know (including myself).
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The problem with the cert argument is that the highest volume submitters don’t notice a difference. It’s really difficult to have this conversation with people who have been around a fraction of the time and have graded even a smaller fraction of cards.
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I thought it was 41xxx now? Maybe tomorrow 6xxx will be the cutoff. It will be really confusing when we add a digit and circle back around to 2xxx again
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I def never understood the 2x vs 4x vs 6x argument but all jokes aside the og labels (0x-early 2x) def had a higher misgrade rate on sports cards from what I’ve seen over years of auctions on rea, ha, etc. PSA got better grading over time (or figured out their scale) and then got really consistent for years now (but of course still with occasional misgrades and ‘weak’ and ‘strong’ grades)
i kinda like those old 0x-2x certs. i just cant help liking old ass stuff 
it seems like you have a lot more experience than me, so i dont mean to disregard what youre saying, but based on what ive seen, pretty much every era has it’s fair share of ‘misgrades’ and weak/strong grades. i still see a decent number of dicey grades with new certs. hell, i own quite a few 6x+ certs that are debatable
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Same! Every 0 cert that comes through on consignment I always pause and look at the card for awhile. I think it’s so cool it was graded during the 90s craze!
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Yea I saw a 0 cert that had Feraligatr labelled as Odairu bc it wasnt out in english yet 
sometimes i see people’s collection videos and even the 2 certs im like damn… youve been hanging onto that for a minute! things have changed so much since it’s been graded!
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“Double White Star” 
the white on the label yellowing due to age is 
gonna read this thread thx
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Every cert era has strong and weak copies across all grades.
Consider the possibility that stronger-older certs are currently in collections and weaker-older certs are constantly being recycled on auctions as collectors upgrade. There is some level of survivorship bias at play.
We will always see strong and weak grades of current certs as they are sent to market, but we may disproportionately see weaker grades of older certs due to this form of selection bias.
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I saw in a video you made I think a couple years ago that the amount of new shadowless/1st ed PSA 10s being graded had completely plummeted, as in PSA seemed to really become more strict about the standard for 10’s and arent handing them out easily anymore. For this reason I assume the psa 10 for this category of base set holos will not increase in pop very much from where we are. @Dyl makes a great point that we are seeing weaker 10’s float around tho creating a bias. But I also have to think that a newer graded base set 10 would have a higher standard than the average old one.
I own a number of PSA 10 WOTC holos and non-holos across a wide range of cert #'s and some of them can have some very minor flaw(s). For example, a tiny bit of corner/edge whitening under very close inspection, but not the level you see on most 9s. Or maybe slightly off-centered. I find the holos are basically flawless to the naked eye, but depending on the card/set there can be a bit of minor print defect that can only be really seen under very bright lightning or certain angles. For example, Neo holos can be plagued with print lines on almost every card produced in those sets but still score a 10 because they’re ‘as good as it gets’ so to speak.
I think what ones needs to understand and keep in mind is PSA deems a 10 as ‘virtually’ perfect and not actually perfect. If you want absolute perfection, you really need to go for something like a BGS 10/Black Label type grading standard (and even this can be debatable), to get a card that would be truly flawless in every area of the card if you’re not satisfied with the PSA grading standard for a 10.
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