A scan doesn’t capture every detail of a card’s condition but it’s pretty close. Foil scratches are usually hard to see in a scan so take my word for it and assume both of these cards have none. Also of note is the one on the bottom has a bit more pop to its holo foil. The one on the top has better centering on the back but the one on the bottom has better centering on the front. This is only your opinion based on what you can see. It’s nothing serious. Both cards are great and most people wouldn’t care which one they had. The question is geared towards the picky collector.
So here they are, which one would you choose, top or bottom?
The word you’re looking for is “contrast”, and for that I would prefer the second. Although I like the back of the first one more. Either way I’d be happy since Blastoise has always been better than the fire lizard.
I would choose the one with better front centering. I look at the front of cards far more often than the back. From what I have heard from others (more knowledgeable than me) on E4, good centering on Shadowless Blastoise can be tough to come by.
It might just be me but I feel like centering is much more noticeable on the back than it is on the front on Pokemon Cards. Maybe it has something to do with the blue on blue backdrop that shows centering issues more. Or maybe its just me. I feel like the centering is less noticeable on the top picture than it is on the bottom. I care about both front and back and overall top looks the best to me. So I be the first to say that I choose top =)
If so, that is a PSA case flaw that has appeared on a large number of their cases. It’s actually on the case, not the card. You can see the shadow of the blemish on the card. I haven’t looked at a large number of the new cases to try and find something similar so I’m not sure if they exist on the new ones as well but the case it’s on is a silver holo label PSA case.
Thanks @garyis2000 I’m in the purple star club now.
I’ll have to look at them closely again some time to assess the sharpness of the cut but that’s an interesting take on it. I’m not going to show the grades right now because I don’t want PSA’s opinion to influence anyone’s thought process. This is more of an eye appeal situation to me and I was curious as to what others thought.
My pick is the bottom. To me the front centering carries more weight than the back because that’s the side I’ll always look at. I prefer the color on the bottom one as it carries more depth or contrast as maverick mentioned, at least to my eyes. The holo foil has more sparkle too which I also prefer.
It does seem people prefer the bottom one as well so far and I’d have to agree. I can’t really tell the difference when it comes to the contrast or the coloring, but I’ll take your word for it. Front centering is also a big deal.
Is either card a 10 or are these both 9s we are looking at? They both look similar to my 9 I purchased from Gary several months ago. It’s near flawless and perfectly centered, though it has a tiny bit of silvering on the front.
I totally disagree with so much emphasis being put on centering over chipping, scratches, and other types of wear. I’ll take a little off center every time.
