Hi guys, I just bought this card for an incredibly low price. Once the card arrived to me I noticed something I’ve never seen before on any card.
The artwork if full of irregular lines, that run all across the holo in different directions. They shine exactly like holofoil when I move the card under the light.
They look like factory holofoil print lines but I think they are not since they are too many and not parallel.
They also are not scratches. The card is a BGS 9 with a surface sub 9. These lines are also too straight and shiny to be scratches.
I think it’s a printing issue but I don’t really know what to think about it.
Anyway it’s kinda unique to me: in some way it looks like overhead power lines in Japanese cities.
Do you have any idea of what this might be? Have you ever seen something like this?
Thank you!
How could scratches completely miss the umbreon? Especially in the second photo with red circles, the lines stop exactly at the sides of umbreon head. I think the holo layer was damaged, so the damage shows beneath the ink layer. If those were superficial scratches made after printing they would also be on the umbreon and would never get a 9 in surface. And trust me, even if it’s hard to capture in photo, they look very different from scratches.
Reminds me of the strange holo texture that I got from rubbing PlastX on a Kangaskhan. If the lines are not scratches, you may have an altered card on your hands.
The other thing that it reminds me of is heat damage, like this Mew encased in acrylic.
My bet is on damage rather than a reproducible factory error with the holofoil layer or due to the printing process.
This is me just completely pulling this out my ass with little to no evidence, but to answer -
I haven’t seen anything like this before. However, whenever I have the misfortune of seeing a ‘card fixing/cleaning’ video come across my feed, the VAST majority of the time they submit the ‘fixed’ card to BGS. Which makes me think that BGS are the most likely to grade these polished cards without noticing they’re altered.
The above explanation also answers this question you have, they always only polish the holo areas and avoid the Pokémon and any other non-holo areas.
@Dyl I don’t see any evidence of alteration on the card except these lines. The surface doesn’t appear shinier on more textured. Honestly I’ve never seen anything like this but there are good chances the card was altered.
@explorer in Italy, where I’m from, Bgs is the most used grading company. However most people polish/alter their cards before submitting. I’ll contact the seller hoping he’ll be honest about it.
I’m thinking of breaking the slab to look better at the card or maybe send it to CGC. Until then thank you for your opinions!
Ive seen a few cards come up relatively recently with this odd looking holo effect. Nobody has given definitive answers but the cards are from different sets. Personally i lean toward some kind of cleaning/polish process. Could be overheating from the dehumidifying process after altering humidity to take out dents or some kind of pressing for those lines specifically.
While the lines may appear to be parallel or moving toward a vanishing point, they aren’t. Now, having looked at a LOT of Arita work, I’ve noticed he’s not great with straight lines and alignment… BUT you can also see if you look between the two images with the lines traced over the original, that it appears the lines DO continue a little over umbreon, it’s just heavier ink, so perhaps that hides it…?
Not sure. Looks like simply light scratching on a delicate part of the foil, to me…
Because the umbreon layer is a different texture then the holo layer, umbeon is printed on top of the holo. Holo is more prone to scratches then non holo surface
Why is there no mention the entire holo looks like a 15th century painting. Maybe the card was graded looking fine but over time card polish and repair cure or interact with the ink and cardstock to cause the effect.
@gdark@xileets scratches definitely don’t look like that. They are usually white, opaque e disappear moving the card. Look at their first photo: these lines turn dark grey with no light and shine like holo when you move the card. They react to light exactly like cosmo holo does.
You’re right. I noticed that very strange texture which is not that visible in person, but very emphasized in these photos. That convinced me that the card was altered but I just received photos of the card before grading from previous owner. He swears that the card came from his album and was not polished. Believe him or not the card was like that before grading and, even if BGS is not completely trust worthy, I refuse to think they gave a 9 to a visibly damaged card. So I’m prone to think of an holo error, but I don’t really know what to believe at this point.. I’ll probably send it to CGC.
Hmm, I’d missed that first photo. Yeah, definitely not scratching. Also, not consistent with cleaning, from what I’ve seen… I don’t have any ideas, then…
I first wondered if they could have been imperfections or scratches in the foil sheet, that were then printed over… But then I thought normal scratches… now I’m back to the initial thought.
Looks like some scratches or streaks may have affected the opaque white layer prior to the cmyk. The gloss finish was applied last over the damage and other ink, they’re only grading the gloss and its likely so minor it didnt affect anything. Thatll be my best guess. It’s either lacking ink in those spots or it has extra streaks of white underneath
