Deconstruction of a Card

While going back through some of the cards we’ve accumulated thus far, I came across the Andruw Jones 2000 Bowman’s Best we got as part of that quarter bundle at the card show.

I noticed that the protective coating on the sides was starting to peel off.  It’s kind of tough to see in the scan below, but all along the left and right sides, it’s very noticeable in person.  You can also feel it as you thumb through the stack, which is how I noticed it to begin with.  So I figured, hey, we got it for a penny and I’m curious.  So I’m going to take apart this card somewhat.  Find out what makes it tick.

Before - note the peeling in the upper right as that's the most visible section on the scan

I’m writing as I do this.  I have to say I’m really shocked at what I saw.  I’ve never really looked into how cards are made these days.  I would have thought that peeling the skin off the thing would take some of the shine away or just some layer of coating.  Instead, I see this:

His face literally came off. Literally.

I’m sure you seasoned vets may not be as surprised, but the picture is basically a sticker and the card stock itself is where the shiny/refractory goodness is stored.  The refractor (why does spell check recognize refractory, but not refractor?) corner doesn’t come across in the scan.  There is a rainbow effect on the “sticker” portion as well, but it’s much more pronounced on the card portion.  Wanna see the back of a picture?  Sure you do!

Ghost Jones - tonight at 9pm on the CW

I promise there’s a shiny silver-ish card to the left.  The card doesn’t show any residue/outline of the picture that was there a few seconds before.  The reverse side of the picture looks a little freaky, doesn’t it?  It’s sort of like the orange dead Obi-Wan is looking at the shadow of the player he used to be – and he’s white!  Anyway, who knew that these are essentially decals glued on.  Maybe a lot of you, but I was surprised.  I was hoping to discover a couple layers.  Anyway, I couldn’t leave the resulting blank canvas alone…

The design's a little lacking without a license behind it.

The first product from J.C.ards in a good 15 years, I’d say.  I’ll show you the rest another time.  And of course, it has to be a 1/1.  Think of it as a sketch card, without the sketch.  I scratched the surface (really easy to write/draw on that coating and no lottery ticket-like flakes come off), and then I couldn’t think of a good picture to draw with my third grade abilities that would work with that ugly wing-like thing in the middle.  So you get text.  If anybody wants to trade for it, they can.  I’ll even include Ghost Jones!

This was a lot of fun.  I wish the card was a worse player, as I like Andruw Jones, despite the dip his career has seen.  But his card definitely gave me more than $.01 of fun!