You can assume a WOTC PSA 9 has some holo scratches. PSA 10s often do too.
With the powerball just offer all the owners $100k each. 40k makes them think, 100k becomes a no brainer for a $50 card with a label, no matter what your registry looks like (imo)
So many people should read what you just wrote when they try to argue what a PSA 10 should/is/hopes to be/PSA Standards.
Hell if I won the Powerball I’d just give every Efour member 100k and we can buy a ass load of wotc vintage reprints from that 1stedsniper Bulbasaur dude
. Then we can have all our cards brand new
I’m floored. I had no idea
So is eye appeal more of a factor in getting higher grades?
You should look at the discrepancy of gem rates between cards with light-colored Holo and dark-colored Holo within the same set. Dark-colored Holo gem more frequently because the scratches aren’t as detracting or as visible.
So it’s eye appeal?
You’re a gem. Thank you. I’ve had an an experience tonight
That thread was the moment where I decided PSA 10 are generally not going to be worth it for me.
Honestly I appreciate you right now
No, just when getting a 10 vs a 9 usually, assuming everything else checks out for grading a 10. If you read the PSA site it talks about how there’s a tiny bit of room for a minor ‘printing imperfection’ or slight centering flaw when scoring a 10:
https://www.psacard.com/gradingstandards
So to me these very minor scratches on the dark holo background don’t take away from the cards eye appeal that much. The reality is, 99% of cards are never going to be truly flawless and so a PSA 10 generally is going to be ‘as good as it gets’.
How do you know those scratches aren’t on the case? Genuinely curious ![]()
Imho the older certs (0xxx-2xxx) tend to be weaker but the quality control is/was lacking. Generally speaking of course. I have purchased a handful of older cert psa 8s/9s with creases and binder dents that fell through the cracks as well as a crystal charizard crimped during encapsulation that still was slabbed as a 9. The flip side however is my paranoia that every new cert was scrubbed with kurts card care. I’ll never be happy ![]()
I don’t think case scratches come up in a scan but I don’t know
Yeah it’s difficult to gauge without the card in hand. Since those are PSA scans I’m more leaning on the side of holo scratches than case scratches. PSA cases are beat up a lot of the time although, I’d say scuff marks are common not deep hairline scratches. I would say case scratches don’t normally appear as obvious on scans but maybe that depends on the card art and holo / severity of the scratch.
I had a somewhat similar experience determining if something was a scratch or not while purchasing a card. It had a listing photo with what looked liked a hair or wonky scratch. Quick search on PSA concluded it must have been a hair on the case after all as it wasn’t visible on the initial PSA scans.
Note to self, even if there is a listing with a decent photo/scan check PSA anyway.
Left scan is PSA, right is the listing.
Sometimes you are able to differentiate between case or holo scratches if the scratch goes out of the holo box. In this instance, it’s more likely a holo scratch.
A tiny holo scratch like that doesn’t bother me too much. Centering is my biggest focus most of the time when it comes to PSA 10s. A poorly centered 10 will slowly drive me insane over time.
You know what to do. Only buy from 27x to 66x ish lol

