Do holo bleed Cards Deserve a Premium?

In terms of value, it’s completely subjective, and I personally think most holo bleeds in general will be worth as much as the same cards without holo bleeds.

As for the occurrence of holo bleed, it greatly depends on the set/era. For the English WotC era, there are almost no holo bleeds. (I don’t count the Neo Revelations and Neo Discovery double holofoil cards as holo bleeds. The white layer during the printing process is simply messed up, since it’s always the same parts of the artwork that contain the holo bleed, like the eyes with Magdreavus or wings with Ho-Oh. They’re a different type of error.) For Secret Wonders, almost every holofoil card has holo bleed and the set is pretty well-known for it. For XY Evolutions there are also quite a few extensive holo bleeds for Holofoil Rares, about 33% of them I’d say.

As for the Sun & Moon and Sword & Shield era, it’s very hard to find a card without holo bleed in my experience… Although none have major holo bleed, almost EVERY holofoil card has at least some holo bleed, especially promos. I even noticed that 9 out of 10 Holofoil Rare cards in my Japanese Shiny Star V had holo bleed, which is pretty uncommon for Japanese cards. Then again, Japanese cards pre-1999 had quite a bit of holo bleed in some sets as well, or more like ‘shadowing’, where you see the holofoil circles of the Cosmos holofoil, but not the actual shine of it. (‘Shadowing’ is also notorious on the English Sequin holofoil cereal promos, and I’ve only seen one without ‘shadowing’ thus far…)

I personally mention if a card is holofoil in my Pikachu checklist, but since the Sun & Moon era, almost every holofoil card is marked that way, and I’m unable to find one without holo bleed… I might soon just remove holo bleed indications in my checklists, unless it’s very noticeable (like the Secret Wonders usually are).

Greetz,
Quuador

1 Like

I see holo bleed - error - swirls as just something that warrants the premium the buyer deems it deserved.

Personally I would never pay a penny more for something like that, but others could be willing to pay a hefty amount for something like that.

In my opinion, cards with a holo bleed are in the same category for the most part as swirls. I would not really pay a premium for either, but there are some situations where I can see someone paying more.

I have passed on auctions from secret wonders because the holo bleed was too intense. On the Mew card there was holo bleed all over the card, including on mew, so I ended up not bidding. It’s just down to personal preference I guess.

Shiny talks, and lines walk.

1 Like

To me this is just a subjective matter, it just depends on what you find desirable or not. It is a printing error, which means it is more scarce/rare, so I’d pay more for it but only if I’m interested in this kind of error.
Personally I like error cards but not all defects are appealing to me. I will pay premium for an holo bleed magikarp tho

Holo bleeds and Swirls just don’t do it for me. I agree that to some, it adds to the art or the desirability of the card but to me its just not the way it is supposed to look. I have several holo bleed cards but wouldn’t pay any premium for them and don’t view them as in any was superior to my other holo cards from the same sets. and as for Swirls, yes they are pleasing to look at, but i would’t pay a premium. If the card has one then great, if not then oh well.

If it’s Pikazardcollectors Charizard from evolutions, then yes a premium is deserving :grin: