Those were PSA 9s I once had:
3 Likes
Looking forward to seeing everyone’s PSA 10 reholders soon!
5 Likes
2 Likes
That’s super helpful, thank you.
I honestly would’ve assumed visible holo scratches are basically a hard “no” for PSA 10s, so it’s kind of wild to hear there can be weaker 10s than the two PSA 9s I posted.
I’ve got ~250 PSA 9s and these two are probably my weakest, so it’s a relief to know they’re still within a “normal” PSA 9 range
2 Likes
@CR4WD4UNT @Paulkemon How do you know if the scratches are on the holo or on the slab based on the scans?
2 Likes
I’m less worried about the holo scratches and more concerned with the edge wear that goes as far back as Blaine’s hairline 
1 Like
Thanks a lot for taking the time to write all of this up and for putting together the comparison photos, I really appreciate the effort.
I think I understand the points you’re making and the theory behind how slab scratches vs. holofoil scratches behave under scanner light. That said, in practice I honestly struggle to reliably differentiate between the two from scans alone.
Quite often I’ll look at a scan and think the surface looks completely clean, only to notice scratches once I have the card in hand and move it under light from different angles. Other times it’s the opposite: I see what looks like scratching in the scan and then can’t find anything at all when inspecting the card in person.
There are definitely cases where a scratch is obvious both on the scan and in hand, but so far I’ve been pretty unlucky when trying to judge this consistently from images alone. I suspect that’s just something that improves with more experience and exposure, as you mentioned.
Either way, thanks again! The explanation and visuals were genuinely helpful and gave me a better framework for thinking about it.
2 Likes
I can actually live with edge and corner wear, and I can also live with very faint surface scratches that are only visible from a specific angle under good light.
What still bothers me a bit are deeper scratches, or cases where the color saturation looks noticeably lighter. Hopefully I’ll adapt to that at some point as well. It was similar for me with edge and corner wear: in the beginning I found it awful, and now I don’t really care anymore.
2 Likes
Sure, but to keep it on topic of the thread the point is that it is no longer is gem mint by that point and it graded a 10. I think that, while I’m still in the boat on little to no whitening or edge wear doesn’t kill the card for me the greninja gold star I posted has edge wear on the whole bottom and left side of the card. And 3 out of 4 of the corners are pretty heinous with the fourth being not as bad but still pretty bad. There’s no world where I would buy that card that graded as a 10 with the back side looking like that
And you’re right, sometimes scratches can be taken admissible without it being a real aesthetic problem, but the back of that greninja card is objectively not a 10.
Way overgraded 
1 Like
I would bet money that card has been cleaned and pressed. Aside from the holo scratches (which I truly do not believe are on the PSA case), the back of the card has a slightly odd texture, that looks like it went through the process of dehumidification and pressed. Like what Kurt’s Card Care does. It changes the way the back texture reflects light ever so slightly. It is like a very subtle pitting on the back.
You can see it on this cleaned card:
3 Likes
There are some weird indents/shadowing on the back too.
Honestly kinda wild PSA didn’t catch that from the holo scratches alone. Most of the “cleaned” cards are terrible quality to begin with and the scratches are always still present after.
3 Likes
You should post that on the errors thread! People will want to see that texture shift. Very cool it got a 10! Show Off Your Error Cards Megathread! - #1850 by CR4WD4UNT
4 Likes
Texture shift seems like it wouldn’t affect card condition, so def reasonable to see 10s
3 Likes
Did you post this card because of the silvering on the left and bottom? I think this is not considered damage, as Jungle and Fossil cards have this straight out of the booster. Apparently they were printed at a time where cutting the cards was not optimal.
Apart from that, the card looks very nice to me (assuming tehre are no huge holo scratches which i cant see)
4 Likes