I checked the ABU condition grading guide, and noticed they wrote:

"About 1 in 3 unlimited cards have two horizontal lines across them, since it is so common it does not remove it from what we consider being MINT or even GEM MINT."

They are nowhere near as common as ABU is making them out to be. First off, I've only ever run across them on rares (not C, U, or land). Second, I've heard rumors they only came in boosters, not starter decks (cannot confirm). Third, the lines vary - some have none, some one, and some two. They also vary in degrees - some deep, some very shallow.

That being said when I plowed through all my Unlimited rares several years ago (when I started building another set), I found them maybe 1 in 25. While I'm not a statistically significant sample, I have gone through a lot of Unlimited cards over the years.

Regardless of frequency, saying they are the same as mint is crap. If they want to charge a premium for cards without the lines, so be it, but if they have the lines they ARE NOT MINT. Just my $0.02 worth.

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Originally posted by paris:
I ordered some cards from ABU recently, and one of the unlimited edition NM cards had 2 faint horizontal line indents across the back. It's not something you would notice from looking at it straight on, or even something you would notice in a scan, but you notice it if you hold the card up against a light source at an angle.

I checked the ABU condition grading guide, and noticed they wrote:

"About 1 in 3 unlimited cards have two horizontal lines across them, since it is so common it does not remove it from what we consider being MINT or even GEM MINT."

Is this really as common as they claim? I checked my other unlimited edition cards, and didn't notice horizontal lines on them.

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I guess ABU wants to get good money even on "Mint UNL cards with horizontal lines". You have to remember they are a shop that wants to make money.

If I am not wrong, ABU is own by a Chinese. To put things in a positive light, Chinese, especially those from China, are "very business savvy". If you think the 1% portrayed in the New York's protests are bad, you have not yet been to China. For example, today, the Chinese internet is full of news on a County Mayor who pillaged nearly US$300m, kept 9 mistresses and raped "countless" students in the local high school (apparently he has a fetish for virgins). If you can read Chinese, check out this link http://gb.cri.cn/27824/2012/11/30/5005s3943524.htm

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Originally posted by MTDetermine:
I guess ABU wants to get good money even on "Mint UNL cards with horizontal lines". You have to remember they are a shop that wants to make money.

If I am not wrong, ABU is own by a Chinese. To put things in a positive light, Chinese, especially those from China, are "very business savvy". If you think the 1% portrayed in the New York's protests are bad, you have not yet been to China. For example, today, the Chinese internet is full of news on a County Mayor who pillaged nearly US$300m, kept 9 mistresses and raped "countless" students in the local high school (apparently he has a fetish for virgins). If you can read Chinese, check out this link http://gb.cri.cn/27824/2012/11/30/5005s3943524.htm

I work in China and have seen too many cases of the local Chinese scamming other Chinese.....BTW, I am of Chinese descent too.

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However if it's really 1 in 25 and they're calling it 1 in 3 in order to sell the cards for more, that would be a little sketchy.

That's why I'm wondering what the users here know about how common this is. So far it seems like 2 people thought this was very common, while 1 person thought it was relatively rare.

If these lines only appear on rare cards in booster packs, then maybe it was caused by the printing factory machine that puts rare cards into boosters?

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Originally posted by paris:
However if it's really 1 in 25 and they're calling it 1 in 3 in order to sell the cards for more, that would be a little sketchy.

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NM from them really does mean "two nicks visible at normal play distances, and only minor edge wear from shuffling." To be fair, that's basically what their description says, but you can't realistically expect high end cards from them.

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Originally posted by ermabwed:
Well, I've said before that when you buy from ABU you have to understand up front that their grading system works like this: there is a box on top of the counter which contains the Mint cards. There is a shoebox under the counter. The cards in it are sorted by rubber banding similar card types together and, due to their physical proximity to the other box, are "near Mint." The third box is in the shipping bay out back, and when Gabe's kid runs over it with the forklift he's playing on, these are sold as the "played" cards.

NM from them really does mean "two nicks visible at normal play distances, and only minor edge wear from shuffling." To be fair, that's basically what their description says, but you can't realistically expect high end cards from them.

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