I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but some of those cards were hand cut by a seller or second hand individual. Not sure if you were aware of this, but figured it was important information.
Anyway, Look forward to seeing more of your collection! There are plenty of fellow English collectors here.
Thanks for the replies guys! Itās awesome having a place where I care share my collection.
@smpratte Are you sure? Are you thinking of square cut cards? The miscuts I posted all have rounded corners and appear to have been cut in the factory. Iām fully aware that people can take uncut sheets and mutilate them to produce square cuts but rounded corner cards?
Yes, the Poliwrath and at least one Mewtwo are for sure hand cut.
How the cards are cut in factory would never have uneven sides or edges. For example, the Poliwrath has uneven edges, and sides/top. A factory cut would never produce those inconsistencies. Why a factory miscut would occur is if the sheet was aligned improperly, but the edges and sides would still be consistent. Here is a good example. Notice how the sides and edges are uniform.
Also, it would be easier to identify which are hand cut with straight on photos, and perhaps side by side. Hopefully that explains the differences. If you need more information let me know!
@pokemontrader@smpratte Thanks for the heads up. I definitely have some investigating to do. Whatās interesting is that the Poliwrath, the Mewtwo and the Raichu are all cut in the exact same fashion. That would be very hard to pull off if they were done by hand. I donāt believe someone hand cut them. All three cards line up with each other perfectly. Individually, they appear to be sloppy, hand cut abominations but when presented together it becomes apparent they were cut with exact precision. Something only a machine can do.
See for yourselves
The cuts are too precise to be hand cut. Now, whether or not they were miscut at a WOTC factory I do not know. I could be wrong, but I donāt think so.
I can tell you without a doubt, they were not cut by WOTC.
How they were cut afterwards is up for debate. The similar pattern could also lend to an individual cutting them on top of one another. However, that is still speculation. I honestly donāt know how they were cut, but they certainly were cut after WOTC.
A good comparison are those Fossil cards. They have uniform edges and sides, but the image is misaligned. The term āmiscutā in a literal sense really means, āmisalignedā. Anyway, I donāt want to put a damper on your collecting. I figured it is worth knowing moving forward as there are malicious individuals who will falsely advertise.
I appreciate your looking out. I do believe the three I pointed out were cut by a machine but, like I said, I donāt know if it was cut by WOTC. Iāll probably never find out. womp womp
I know Iām going to go against the grain here. I have seen a fair bit of consistency with the way these miscuts look and the edges look paricularly as the card tilts at an increasing angle. Keep in mind that the die cutters weāve see used today are not the same ones used in 1998. Being so sure implies that you have knowledge of the exact cutting head used in 1998?
@garyis2000 and I both have cards directly from wotc employees. The miscut I showed earlier was handed to me from an ex wotc employee. I do have knowledge of how the cards were produced, a couple other members know as well.
Feel free to get a second opinion from @garyis2000 or @thecharizardauthorty who are both seasoned in this area.
Also, I cannot emphasize how I/we are only trying to help. Most of those miscuts look fine, but just want to make sure that people are informed about how cards were cut to avoid after market āmiscutsā. There are way too many after market āmiscutsā floating around. It is ultimately the buyers choice, but the buyer has the right to know the origin of what they are buying.
Yes, Scott is bang on here.
Iāve been able to compare closely wizard cuts/miscuts and those done aftermarket. It is definitive and it does make a difference in both condition and value.
A good example is the fellow who square cut and cello packed a bunch of base uncut sheet cards. He submitted about 5% of the lot, only the very best ones, and he got mainly 9s with a couple 9.5s-all with a 9 subgrade.
I submitted a dozen or so of the ones that were sent to me as replacement cards directly from WOTC and most all my 9.5s had no 9 subgrades. The ones that did have a 9 subgrade I put on eBay knowing they would be seen as the same as the other jokers after market cut cards anyway.
My real beauties, all 9.5 and 10 subgrades, are tucked away;)
I reached out to an ex WOTC employee who contacted another ex employee, and he just got back to me:
āI spoke to my ex WotC contact about your poorly cut cards. He said he had never seen any miscut so badly while at WotC, although that does not rule out that it may have happened. He is skeptical though. He said if the cards pass all the standard tests for being genuine (font, foil, color, opacity, black paper layer, etc.), then it is possible. It was not a resounding āyesā though. Hope this helps.ā
It looks like this individual was more concerned with the authenticity of the card stock. Either way, hope that helps anyone on the market for miscuts.
Give me one of those 10 subgrade ones for my birthday garinsonā¦ Also does this mean that the ones that you sent that got 9s subgrades wernt true wotc ones???
As someone who will collect miscuts (though Iām very picky), I can say that my personal attraction to them is in the quality and the uniqueness. It implies something went wrong, but shows something almost āquirkyā about the card. I have a Base Set Gyarados thatās miscut. The back aligns perfectly, however, the card has two Gyarados cards on the front image. Itās unique, presents well, and has different types of errors that make it appeal more to me.
I like this collection, very unique. Though I question the legitimacy of some of those (and I never collect miscuts personally that look like they may have been handled by hand), I really like the variety you have!