There are a few small scratches on the case surface, nothing dramatic.
However, I think there’s a scratch on the card, under the case.
The seller thinks it’s a printing error (as is often the case with these old cards).
I’ve seen printing errors before: black lines or “holes” in the holographic overlay.
But I’ve never seen this type of printing error.
Do you think it’s possible that this is a printing error?
And if it’s a scratch, how could PSA give a 10?
Printing errors aside a scratch is a scratch no matter how it got there. No one can tell if a small scratch is from the factory or not. The best way to find out if you’re not sure would be to get it reholdered, so it retains its PSA 10 quality whilst removing all the scratches of the slab as well. If its still there afterwards then you know its a silly mistake by PSA, but a 10 is still a 10.
PSA 10 is ‘virtually perfect’ or ‘good as it gets’, i.e. there is wiggle room for very miniscule flaws. This means a card could be perfect all around except for maybe 1 spot (i.e. centering, minor print defect, etc). It’s still very strict, but in my experience with vintage cards, there’s a tiny bit of room for miniscule flaws at times. Beyond a PSA 10, you have to get into things like BGS 10, Black Label, etc.
Are you sure the scratch is on the card surface and not just the PSA case? The reason I ask this, is because in your 1st pic, it looks like an almost vertical scratch through the Mew as well, but must be on the case itself(?):
I couldn’t embed the video. Here’s the Youtube URL: https://youtube.com/shorts/Ipyy9nzLiLA.
But yes, all the other scratches are on the case, except the one I circled in red, which is on the card.
As others have said, a PSA 10 is not a perfect card. Most vintage cards do not exist in perfect condition. If you are unhappy with this PSA 10, I would recommend finding a copy that you are happy with as there will be variability within every grade.
Importantly, this is not the fault of the seller. PSA backs their grades through the Grade Guarantee, and any disagreements should go through them. The seller sold you a PSA 10 card and you received a PSA 10 card.
If you disagree with the condition of the grade, contact PSA through the Request Center and submit a Grade Guarantee claim. You will submit the card for inspection. If they agree that it does not meet the definition of a PSA 10, they will lower the grade and pay you out the difference in value.
PS: A lot of vintage collectors choose PSA 9s because they are nearly indistinguishable from PSA 10s. You will always find more flaws on vintage PSA 10s than on modern PSA 10s due to differences in card quality, printer quality, age of the card and associated damage from handling, storage, etc.
I see. Well what I can tell you is that almost all of my PSA 10s I own do at times have very minor flaws. Some are not perfectly centered, some have miniscule defects at times. In this case, you’re having to blow it up under lighting to find the flaw, and so PSA probably deemed it as PSA 10 worthy since my guess is a lot of these Ancient Mews have surface flaws commonly out of the 1000s that were produced due to the huge holo surface that could be easily scratched compared to many vintage holos. Most of these flaws would be from the factory, etc.
You could probably find PSA 10s out there that have perfect holo surfaces, but then they might be slightly O/C or have some other defect. So we have to always consider that PSA or any other grader factors in all areas of the card, and their standard for a 10 is ‘virtually perfect’ as mentioned, which means there’s a very small tolerance for a potential flaw when scoring a 10.
With this said if you disagree with the grade, you can contact PSA for the grade guarantee (https://www.psacard.com/financialguarantee), or you can sell it and find another copy, that’s about all else you can do if it doesn’t live up to what you expected.
Thank you so much for your thoughtful answers!
It’s a real pleasure to have a community of enthusiasts sharing their experience!
Really interesting, I didn’t know that PSA offered these warranties / services after grading.
Interesting thought, to be honest I’m questioning it, because if indeed most old cards have this margin of error I can understand that, but if PSA really made a mistake (on this or any other card), I’d find it difficult to understand why there wouldn’t be a value difference on the market.
Imo some of the people buying graded cards are buying the grade, and not the card persay. You seem to care more about the card, and I prefer to have consistency and always prefer pictures before Im buying. There are some out there that just buy to speculate, and enjoy having a collection without regarding problems with their 10’s until they notice down the line. That probably also explains a premium for alot of 10 prices in comparison to 9’s.
