Shellack attack?
 

I just received this Howell Portrait T206 in the mail. Part of a lot that was a mixed bag: 2 buybacks, 2 SL, etc. Some cards in the lot were trimmed, but all cards were definitely authentic. All in all, the lot ended up being a decent buy, but this one has me scratching my head. I've assigned a zero dollar allocation to it just in case.

It looks good on all accounts, but appears to have shellack or some other coating on the front. One pic is a scan (front/back); the other is a photo without flash with the card held at an angle to try to show the coating. Notice the scratching on the finish as well. Thoughts?

I found an old related thread.
http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=88998

check the sides. usually stuff like gloss added later will run onto the edges.

If it's shellac it should dissolve with alcohol. Real glosscoat should be oil based and alcohol won't usually bother it much.

Steve B