Ok, so weird situation. I’m 100% sure that these two Minuns are different cards. Like, literally 100% sure. Is anyone able to examine the holo patterns or whatever else and show that they are different cards? I will PayPal $15 to the first person who’s able to show it convincingly. I know that these are different cards, but I’d like to see if someone besides me can give an objective analysis that shows that they are different cards. If desired, I can give more pictures of the first Minun pictured but the second Minun I only have one picture of.
What does this have to do with E4? This is a situation unrelated to E4 that I’m looking to get objective input on. I’m not examining these cards for fun, trust me lol.
If you just eye it and focus on any one well illuminated part of the holo in both photos it is clear they are different. I don’t get what you are looking for exactly. The bottom mid left and bottom right above the leaves are two zones that are well illuminated in both and just don’t share the same holo.
I just roughly counted the pixels and the ratio for left to right centering is roughly 0,88 for the top and 0,78 for the bottom. And as gottaketchumall pointed out they don´t have the same holo pattern. The only thing that´s interesting is that there is this little “puzzle piece” holo pattern in the left corner in the exact same spot - but the rest doesn´t really match when you look at it.
First thing I see is the bottom one being of a more “darker” type of blue then the top one. This is just a guess, not sure if cards like this can vary.
Holo patterns change when angled in the light. The key would be to look for holo spots that are exactly the same (you pointed one out) or that are inconsistent between the two pictures. There do not seem to be any inconsistencies between these two, and there are at least one or two distinct similarities.
Ok, thank you for the input so far everyone! I’m going to pay multiple people, btw. Here are pictures of the backs, which are the source of the similarity that was originally noticed (I posted the holo patterns originally because those are immutable characteristics of the cards whereas edgewear is obviously not):
The back edgewear looks eerily similar. Are there are any absolute, objective differences that anyone can notice?
The slight slope on right top corner can simply be caused by minor different camera angle. I noticed that as well. There are multiple holo pattern spots that are exactly the same, which leaves the different holo spots that are just being brought out by different lighting in each photo. The fact that there are more than one holo pattern areas that are the same… leaves the odds extremely low that they are different cards. And the backs are exactly the same. I see at least four different areas of holo that are identical.
They look very similar, that’s for sure. But there’s also wear on the second card that the top card doesn’t have. The second card’s lower left corner has whitening that stretches higher on the left edge than it does on the first card. Slightly higher on the left edge, there’s also whitening that the second card has that the first card doesn’t.
The only thing I really notice is a difference in the “deepness” of the blue colors in both cards. (Of course, this may just be lighting.) The background of the top Minun, as well as the blue spots on Minun’s ears and cheeks, look like a much lighter shade of blue. and overall the top copy looks a bit more faded. But honestly, I’m much less convinced that these are different cards than you are. And the edgewear is exactly the same.
@zorloth according to the code on the bottom they are the same card. The coloration differences and variances in holding shape and holo pattern are artifacts or intravariability within the printing process itself, and/or slight sun bleaching.
The only thing that makes me know (to the extent that I can) that these are different cards is the context of the situation:
I purchased a Minun and Plusle from someone.
The cards never arrived and the seller refunded me for the purchase (this is all 2-3 months ago).
I listed a Minun on eBay.
The person who originally sold me the Minun/Plusle that never arrived messages me pointing out that the Minun I originally purchased from him is very similar to the one I have listed.
If it is the same Minun that I purchased, then I have genuinely no clue how this sort of mixup could’ve happened. I keep a super detailed spreadsheet of all my purchases and mark them received the moment I receive them. I’m very methodical in this way. I don’t see how it’s possible that I received the cards that he sent. The only explanation I can think of is that I’ve purchased quite a few Minuns off of Troll and Toad since the purchase in question. The only possibility I can think of is that he buylisted the Minun to Troll and Toad and I ended up purchasing it. But I have no reason to think that he lied about having sent the cards. So I’m just straight-up dumbfounded. Either the cards are different or this is a totally bizarre mixup. The simplest explanation is that these are different cards. But they’re eerily similar so I honestly don’t know at this point…
