Private case record
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TCG Partnerz · Restoration case record
2021 Celebrations: Classic Collection Mew ex #88/92
Case CS6KPLNY · Amber M.
Card profile
- Player
- Mew ex
- Team
- Pokemon TCG (25th Anniversary reprint)
- Set
- Celebrations: Classic Collection
- Year
- 2021
- Card number
- 88/92
- Ungraded value
- $18.47 raw (PSA 10 ~$180 · BGS 10 ~$182)
Case
- Case
- CS6KPLNY
- Client
- Amber M.
- Received
- 2026-07-21
Work performed
- Full front + back zone inspection under raking light; no cuts, creases or chipping found
- Damp-cleaned the front holo (dust on Mew's face and under the 25 stamp); shine came up noticeably brighter
- Rolled out a ~4mm oval dent on the right edge (severity ~4) down to near-imperceptible
- Verified the holo tone-shifts against reference images as the card's NATURAL state, not cleaning damage
- Whitening on the back bottom-left corner left untouched (irreversible; working it would only enlarge it)
- Edges and corners finished in the press; overall post-press grade 9.7, up from 9.0 at intake (our own in-house review, not a third-party grade)
TCG Partnerz grade our own 10-point working assessment
Front · surface
Back · surface
Edges · sides
A subjective in-house review scored by quadrant and side, not a third-party grade. The post-press score reflects the Session 3 reveal.
Restoration walkthrough
Tap any timestamp to jump to that moment in the video. Work = an action performed on the card; Check = an inspection or note.
Surface (front)
- V1 1:35Check Top-left quadrant (area 9): raking-light check, no cuts, creases or chipping
- V1 7:20Check Top-right quadrant (area 10): holo connects to every edge; Illus. Ryo Ueda - looks great
- V1 8:01Check Bottom-right quadrant (area 11): textured surface, no scratches - a possible 10 candidate
- V1 19:53Work Dust on Mew's face and under the 25 stamp (between quadrants 10 and 11) - spot cleaned
- V1 21:27Work Damp-cleaned the top-right then top-left quadrant with CardDoc; shine came up noticeably brighter
- V1 23:13Check Paused over a feared holo rub-off - compared against reference images and confirmed the tone-shift is the card's NATURAL state, not damage
- V1 26:57Check Front cleaning complete - reads spectacular
Edges
- V1 1:05Check Top edge: raking-light pass, clean black border line, no issues
- V1 2:54Check Bottom edge: a slight raised edge noted for the press
- V1 3:42Check Front-left / left edge: light raise from being slid in and out of a side-load holder - press should resolve
- V1 30:46Check Found a ~4mm oval dent/raise on the right edge (severity ~4) - the real work item
- V2 0:00Work Worked the right-edge dent: dragon's breath, small dent tool, then a metal ball-tool rolled ~1 inch up the edge
- V2 2:55Work Large-format roller to even it out - brought a severity-4 down to near-imperceptible ('a win')
Corners
- V1 14:15Check Corners inspected; the top-left corner showed a slight raise under raking light
- V1 15:40Work Top-left corner: dragon's breath + large frame-tool roll at medium pressure; improved, a tiny raise left for the press
- V2 5:03Check Whitening on the back bottom-left corner (~0.5mm sliver) - CANNOT be fixed; left alone to avoid enlarging it
Back
The reveal (post-press)
- V3 3:22Check Straight off the press: “I can tell it's got incredible balance.”
- V3 3:43Check Raking-light scan begins at the top left of the front.
- V3 4:14Check Locating the old dent from the back side: “right about here, there was a dent on the back side.”
- V3 4:30Check The result: “imperceptible to what I'm just going to call the naked eye, because I can't see it from above.”
- V3 5:43Check Front quadrant walk - top left clean, top right “fresh, mint”, bottom right where the cleaning worked.
- V3 6:14Check Centering judged good by eye; caliper measurement deferred to future cards.
- V3 6:45Check The back chip: “you are the only reason this card will not get a 10.” Confirmed as missing material, not dirt.
- V3 7:42Check “Man, I wish I could fix that.” The chip is not repairable.
- V3 8:21Check A contamination spot found mid-review, after the card was already out.
- V3 9:39Check Damp-wiped and dry-wiped, then re-verified clean.
- V3 10:27Check “This card is considered complete. This concludes the review.”
Notes
- V1 0:16Check Celebrations: Classic Collection - a faithful reprint carrying the 2006 line, marked by the holo 25th-anniversary stamp. Illus. Ryo Ueda
- V1 8:19Check Cleaning a near-perfect card is almost counterproductive - the risk is doing more harm than the card needs, so the approach stayed cautious
- V1 17:23Check An ultra-rare holo foil; foils are rarely worked, which kept the handling minimal
- V2 4:14Work Finish: one more roller pass, then a wash and clamp between fresh sleeves
Sessions (3 on record)
No defects recorded in this session (not a clean bill).
Intake photos taken through the toploader. Heavy black marker loops and a Pikachu-shaped sticker appeared to be on the card in these frames; both were on the TOPLOADER. Card identity confirmed by Cloud Vision: Mew ex 88/92, (c)2006 line, 25th-anniversary stamp present = Celebrations Classic Collection reprint, NOT the 2006 EX Legend Maker original.
No defects recorded in this session (not a clean bill).
Restoration #3. Card removed from the marked toploader and cleaned; the marker was never on the card. Post-clean frames (17:04:46 bare, 17:06:18 under loupe in a fresh sleeve) show a clean face with no ink. Cloud Vision re-read the bare card cleanly: Mew ex, 88/92, (c)2006. Condition NOT graded from these photos - a zone-by-zone read needs the bench worksheet under controlled light.
No defects recorded in this session (not a clean bill).
Reveal and full post-press review, filmed end to end. Stills in this batch were snapshots taken while recording, so each one maps to a point in the video: the edge macros at 09:53:45/49/56 are video 4:56-5:07, the corner macros at 09:56:32/37/44 are video 7:43-7:55. DENT - RESOLVED. The intake's headline defect was a ~4mm oval dent on the RIGHT edge at severity 4 ('5 is unrepairable'), called at [00:56] as 'pretty severe, definitely going to knock it down a whole grading point'. At the reveal it is gone. [04:14] locates it from the BACK side ('right about here, there was a dent on the back side'); [04:30] 'because I know where it was, I can still see it if you look real close - imperceptible to what I'm just going to call the naked eye, because I can't see it from above.' The 4:56-5:07 macros are that spot photographed. CHIP - NEW LIMITING DEFECT, ZONE NOT ESTABLISHED. A small chip on the BACK. [06:45] 'there is my little chip. You are the only reason this card will not get a 10' - confirmed as missing material, not dirt. [07:42] 'Man, I wish I could fix that.' Photographed at video 7:43-7:55. The video never names which zone it sits in, so no defect row is recorded; that needs one spoken zone call, which is a new session. FRONT walk [05:43-06:14], qualitative only: top-left quadrant no chipping and holo good; top-right 'fresh, mint'; bottom-right shows where the cleaning happened. Centering judged good by eye, with caliper measurement deferred to future cards. BACK walk [06:45-09:39]: whitening re-checked against a dark surface and judged part of the card, not damage. Contamination found mid-review at [08:21] ('is that my spit?'), damp-wiped then dry-wiped at [08:36] and [09:39] and re-verified clean - which is why the card took a second wipe after the review had already started. HOLO: the tonal shifts logged at the clean (by Mew's tail and left ear) were re-confirmed at [02:15] as the card's natural state, not cleaning damage. Card declared complete at [10:27]: 'This card is considered complete. This concludes the review.' No numeric zone grades were spoken, so none are recorded.
Watch the restoration
Photo record
TCG Partnerz · work record, not a grade. Photographs taken during the documented sessions for this card; order follows the custody chain.