How to inspect with a black light - examples shown

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Posted By: Kevin Saucier

For the black light inspection, make sure you are in a dark environment. Hold the card a few inches from the light and look at it from various angles. Look for unusual luminance. Here are some examples of how some "suspected" altered cards (my opinion) appear under a black light:






This card has been shown before and has rebuilt corners. The black light picked up on the adhesive compound used in the added stock. Note the bright color of the corners.






The card above looked very normal during the in-depth inspection under a halogen and loupe. When held under a black light the back of the card showed an unusual color, with a light circular pattern in the middle surrounded by normal toned edges. It is suspected that this card was once removed or soaked from a scrapbook and the remaining invisible adhesive lights up under the black light. These pictures show the various angles of an inspection.





This card on the right looked unusually white. A detailed inspection showed no dirt or tone in any part, chip or crevasse of the card. Vintage cards removed from packs have more tone. This is a key indicator that it has been bleached or chemically cleaned. A quick look under a black light showed that the card had more than likely been bleached. Look at how bright it is next to another card of the same issue, with the same grade. Yes...it is slabbed!





Kevin Saucier

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Posted By: chris bland

I appreciate you posting these examples - it is a big help.

chris

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Posted By: Richard Dwyer

EXCELLANT post!!! That's why I love this board.

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Posted By: Robert {Bigb13}

Fantastic Post, Does anyone else  have scans they can share? Rob

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Posted By: Gilbert Maines

How about examples of card luminescense under black light due to brighteners in post war materials?

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Posted By: Kevin Saucier

"How about examples of card luminescense under black light due to brighteners in post war materials?"



All the same IMO.

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Posted By: Perry Eaves

Anyone sitting in a dark room with a graded card and a black light has missed the point of card collecting and perhaps life. Have we really arrived at this point in the hobby?

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Posted By: Gilbert Maines

Grading companies accept some types of cleaning, and reject others. I do not know exactly what is viewed as acceptable, and what is not. But it appears that cleaning by soaking in water is not a problem, while erasing writing is a cause for the card to be downgraded. From the slabbed, bleached card example above, can we conclude that bleaching is an acceptable form of cleaning?

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Posted By: JK

Bleaching is not an acceptable form of cleaning to any of the grading companies - what we can determine from the slabbed card above is that the grading company failed to detect that the card was bleached. Most likely, the grader simply failed to smell the card or the card was not submitted until after the smell went away and the grader failed to detect it by using other methods such as a blacklight.

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Posted By: Andrew

Anyone sitting in a dark room with a graded card and a black light has missed the point of card collecting and perhaps life. Have we really arrived at this point in the hobby?
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The point of card collecting is relative, but I certainly see your perspective. However, some allocate much money and time to this point so detecting fraud is better assurance that those resources are not wasted.

We arrived a long time ago.

"Take your life in your own hands and what happens? A terrible thing: no one to blame." -- Erica Jong