[nolan5000]

I mentioned glowing cards 2 days ago, and it got a lot of responses, so today I am going to feature another one. In 1997 Fleer made an insert called Soaring Stars. The cards looked really cool with background stars that were done in refractor style. In fact, I found a really cool website that shows the refractor action using an animated GIF.

While these cards are really cool on their own, there is a much tougher version where the stars actually glow in the dark. The glowing version is much rarer too, as it's estimated to be 10-20% of the print run. Beckett has never done a good job with distinguishing how to tell them apart, so most of the glowing ones are mixed in with the regular versions. In fact, the current description in the Beckett database says, "The cards seem to 'shine' which is why they are considered glowing." This definition is not really accurate and can cause much confusion, since the regular version actually refracts light (which most people would consider to be shining). There are 2 ways to tell them apart. The first way is the light method, similar to the 1997 Score Franchise cards, where you hold the card up to a light for a few moments then take it to a dark spot to see if it glows. The second is more subtle as you have to carefully look at the stars on the card. On the regular version the outline of the stars is very clear, however on the glowing version the stars are much more difficult to make out. This method is easy if you have 2 cards to hold up next to each other, but can be difficult if you don't. Look carefully at the cards below, and you will notice the one on the bottom left looks slightly different and the stars don't really stand out. That is the glowing version, and gives you the best idea as to how it looks in hand.


Since COMC scans their cards it is even easier to distinguish the glowing from the regular cards. The top card is the regular version, and the bottom is the glowing version.

That's really cool!!