As many of you ex fans will know, the holographic pattern from ex Delta Species to ex Dragon Frontiers is notorious for vertical and horizontal print lines. I have a couple of questions and be interested to hear your opinion on them in general.
Do we know what the cause of them was? Just a defect on the sheets?
Do PSA regularly dock a grade? Does the size of the line make a difference in your experience?
Do they detract from the eye appeal of a card in your opinion?
Any other thoughts?
Cheers.
I don’t have a clear answer to you but it feels like almost all delta holos have lines. Especially Holon Phantoms and Dragon Frontiers holos. Delta Species not so much. Delta Species pattern seems to be a bit different compared to Holon Phantoms and Dragon Frontiers too. More “clear” imo, if that makes sense.
PSA doesn’t deduck grades on Delta Species Print lines according to my own experince.
I graded Delta 10’s with print lines and also bought some of them that have print lines, being flygon ex one of the worst since it has a line right in the face, and still PSA10.
If they detract from the eye appeal? For sure.
I do have a Rayquaza Delta PSA10 print-line less and is just gorgeous.
i think its the seam in the holo sheets. they dont deduct it from the grade usually, i see a lot of 10s with them
Are they equally prominent on reverse holos, do we think?
yes, its the same kind of holo sheet for all the cards. but with non holo reverse rares and down you don’t get the holo frame so the holo area is suddenly decreased, and chances of the seams diminish greatly
It’s actually kind of funny that they detract for the smallest print lines in neo genesis that are barely visible but Charizard from dragon frontiers can have a giant line going through his face and body that completely detracts from the eye appeal yet they’ll grade that as a 10
its not the same as print lines, because theres no physical damage to the foil. with the older holo print lines its actual scratches in the card from the printing process, a delta foil can be virtually flawless but still have the line. its the same as when you see the seam from older holo patterns where the dots dont align perfectly.
under the gem mint psa definition
“an allowance may be made for a slight printing imperfection, if it doesn’t impair the overall appeal of the card.”
I’d say they’re both examples of slight printing imperfections. Both should be judged on a case by case basis anyways. If there are faint printing lines that cannot be seen(like you would legitimately need to flash a bright light at the naked card and tilt it to a certain angle to see it) then I think it should pass as a 10. For delta species, if a mew gold star has the line through its tail I don’t think it impairs the overall appeal of the card, but if Mew’s face has a printing line then it impairs the card which imo should not get the gem mint grade
I understand what you’re saying but I still think under their definition its weird to not detract at all from delta species when it clearly impairs the visual appeal for some cards
if they did the 10 pop would be under half of what it is today
It’s been theorized that the holofoil sheets they used for the cards switched from one sheet to the next on the cards with the lines through them, so it’s essentially a gap.
To me, it doesn’t detract from eye appeal. I went to every prerelease event and played with these cards back in the day, and nobody gave it much of a thought back then, so it never occurred to me that it could be unappealing.
I’d argue the same thing applies to centering which I never really noticed until collecting graded cards.
Centering is a main criteria while grading but it is also not considered damage. The separation between MINT and GEM MINT is that the GEM is an exceptional example of a mint card. If centering can prevent the GEM grade then I think fat, jarring lines right through the middle of the card should also not be tolerated on a GEM card
Could it be differentiated from a quality standpoint by saying that poor centering is a factory defect and that holofoil lines are a product of the materials used?
To me they absolutely take away from the eye appeal. Some of the print lines are very minor, but others (especially in Dragon Frontiers) can be very bad. I haven’t seen a PSA 10 with a bad print line though.
Yes, I have noticed this. Post Delta Species the holo pattern seems to have “pixels”. Ill create some scans tonight to demonstrate this.
I agree, but I try to never assume anything in this hobby. 
Interesting that there is vertical and horizontal lines are the same card. Does this fit with this theory? I am not an expert in how the sheets are printed upon.
Any other insights you have about peoples thoughts about the delta species back at the prereleases?