I was sorting through some bulk I got in and noticed a card that stood out a bit. It was a matte finish Pikachu card from Base set. Upon noticing it I took a look at the other bulk Pikachu cards I had to see if was physically different than the rest. Upon looking closer I did notice that I had 3 variants of print for the Base set Pikachu. So of course I reached out to @quuador to see if he knew of them and he suggested making a post here to see if anyone had any input.
Before I get too much into the post here are the 3 card variants I’ve found:
Top card is matte finish with a glossy border
Second card is completely matte finish
Third card is completely glossy finish and the most common of the 3 by far.
Now I assume this type of variance means little to nothing to 99% of collectors but I find it interesting tracking down printing info and variances in WotC products, especially base set.
My assumption is that these are variances found due to being printed in different factories (ala AUS Fossil/ Jungle cards, the card stock itself seems to be different) but it could also be print run variances. I was curious if anyone had any additional info and any thoughts or opinions you may have.
As I mentioned I haven’t dug too deep yet but I am finding a number of the matte finish cards in my quick check. But so far no more are matte finish with a glossy border. As of now that could be printing inconsistencies rather than a true variant. I also noticed that the lights in my basement (CFL) made these cards really stand out but the lights in my office (LED) made it much more difficult to see the variance between card #1 and #2.
I don’t believe so. Of the base 4th cards I have none share the matte finish. All are glossy like card #3. This leads me to believe that it’s regional rather than printing Edition as base 4th should have carried the same printing style (or so I’d assume). But all just speculation at this point.
Now that it’s morning instead of evening, and I have the outdoor-light available instead of my crappy ceiling-light, I’ve taken another look at my cards.
My Dutch 1st edition Pikachu however is like the middle one (matte finish on the entire card).
It was pretty hard to see the difference irl without anything to compare it to, but now that I’ve seen my Dutch 1st edition Pikachu you can indeed see the same difference as in Nate’s picture.
@quuador Thanks for looking bud. Interesting how many variants and subtle differences we can stumble across on these cards. From what I can tell Dutch 1st edition was printed in Belgium so not sure if that gives us any clues or not as I don’t know of any English cards that would have come out of that factory.
I also pulled out a full set of these (except for one card) from my bulk and can confirm that they are just found on common unlimited cards including energy. The quantity spread was a bit odd. I’m still missing a Fire Energy card, not sure if that one poses a greater problem to find but even the one in Rusty’s video the only one he had was damaged.
@thecharizardauthorty Do you happen to have any other info about these? Happy to see I’m not the only one that noticed them!
If anyone has a Matte finish Pikachu that I could buy, let me know. @scratchdesk doesn’t want to give up his (I wouldn’t either ), and doesn’t have spares.
I have a few sitting in my online stock. If you go to buy a base pikachu and want that finish just send a message after purchase either there or here and I will get you one picked out. www.tcagaming.com/product/15486
@scratchdesk Looks like it’s no longer needed. Thanks either way. If you find a Matte one with semi-Glossy borders again, let me know. Although unlike the other two I’m currently seeing it as an (almost) one-of-a-kind occurrence, instead of a different version regarding my collection goals.
All good! I have to take a closer look to see if other matte cards share the same variance. I know I noticed a few when I was sleeving them up but it could be more a slight print variance rather than something more substantial.
I know this thread is a year old, however I was wondering if any more research was done about the 1st addition Rares having the matte finish. Also are the all glossy cards, the “normal” everyday version of the cards while the glossy border and matte versions are the “special” versions?
), and doesn’t have spares. 
