God Tier Double Swirls

Thank you scott! :slight_smile:

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@pfm Do you know whether the holographic pattern is composed of two layers? I was always under the assumption that it was one layer, but I don’t know now! Also, maybe we should move all of @pinn033’s investigative progress (and related comments) onto a new thread and keep this thread for pictures of double swirls? I think this would better preserve the research.

@kbundles781 Nice Zard!

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Here’s a quadruple swirl… you don’t see those every day.

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Because I knew these double globes can appear in the dutch base set I have been searching for one and I’m glad I found myself one. :smiley:

Another addition to my collection is this meowth. I didn’t think it was possible to find double swirls on these promos but I was very happy again when I spotted this one. :smile:

To be continued :wink:

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Both big finds! Maybe these can be found on any WoTC card…

I’m seeing very obvious cardstock differences between my new and old meowth which makes me believe the double swirl is a EU printed one but I’m not sure.

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I don’t think so. I’ve seen close double swirls on Gym Heroes (8/2000), Gym Challenge (10/2000), Neo Genesis (12/2000), and Neo Revelation (9/2001). I haven’t seen close double swirls on Base Set 2, Team Rocket, Neo Discovery, Neo Destiny, nor the e-Series sets (Expedition, Aquapolis, and Skyridge).

The GB Meowth was an exclusive promo in the Pokemon Trading Card Game for the Game Boy Color. It was released 4/10/2000 in North America, just before Team Rocket came out on 4/24/2000 and notably several months before the first close double swirl was reported in a major set (i.e., Gym Heroes). This may suggest that either: 1) English Team Rocket could have a close double swirl, or 2) the GB Meowth Promo may be the “first” instance of a close double swirl outside of a main set (i.e., Gym Heroes).

250px-TCG_EN_boxart

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Well the timeline certainly isn’t consistent with WotC, at least not for the US run. As @pinn033 mentioned, the cardstock appears to be different and perhaps an EU stock. We have spotted a handful of double swirls on foreign cards and I’m beginning to wonder if double swirls are unique to a EU/foreign print.

Are there any videos of these being pulled? Or maybe someone who pulled a double swirl as a kid from US or EU? Were all card sets released to EU, like base set 2 where we have yet to see a double swirl from?

I would be shocked if close double swirls were limited to EU/foreign printings. My guess is that one specific printing facility was to blame for the overlapping holographic area, which created the close double swirls. It is possible that this printing facility serviced North American, EU, and foreign prints around the same time.

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You may be right. I need to take a closer look sometime but the only card I have that I’ve noticed a close double is on one of my Giovanni’s Gyarados…


Hard to get a good picture where you can see both of them but they’re right next to each other.

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Technically this isn’t a double swirl, but it’s often mislabeled as one on eBay. Under the right light and angle, almost every card with a swirl could have this pattern show up.

What is happening is that there is a portion of holo that extends beyond the swirl that makes it appear to be two separate swirls. However, double swirls must be spaced apart and have a full swirl viewable from every angle, like what you see below.

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Ah. I’ve never noticed it. That’s why I like this place. Always learning something. Haha.

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Just got a v550 scanner. Testing it out but here’s one

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Dood! That is a lot to take in, but very cool! Great work. Thank you!

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Beautiful! Does your scanner work with slabs as well? I would love to have high-definition scans of graded cards with double swirls posted on this thread too! :smiley:

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The scanner works great with slabs! I actually saw Rusty’s youtube video on his v550 scanner and basically copied what he did. I’m making a template so I can consistently place my slabs so I can scan 4 in one go!

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Only a very small area of the card where this is possible, so I guess I got lucky!

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Just picked this one up :smiley:.


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Now this is a tough one. It appears from the scans that this Espeon from Neo Discovery may have the beginnings of a double swirl. To my knowledge, this is the first Neo Discovery double swirl recorded in this thread.

I asked the seller to add some extra images, but it is still not easy to tell whether a second swirl is visible.



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I’ve seen a double swirl like that. It’s a strange offset and I think @pinn033 can confirm it. This nidoking has something similar. Neat find on the Neo Discovery.

image
image

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