PSA slab question
Oestjo
Posts: 1 ✭
Two questions I’ll put in one post
All of my PSA slabs have one “weld/mark/pinhole” at the bottom and top. Attached is my only slab with 3? Any insight. I don’t believe it’s damage.
Any insight on the variation of the PSA logo bottom right? Both slabs have the same modern label up top.
Thanks in advance 
1
Comments
The PSA on the slab is newer in the first picture and older in a later picture. They add these decorations to complicate forgery of their slabs.
As for the marks. I don't know exactly how PSA makes their slabs, but I expect they are making panels of the tops and bottoms and then cleaning up the edges.
1.) the one in the middle is NOT a weld mark, that is from the slab being manufactured. That should be where the liquid plastic gets pored into the mold and that part is shaved/cut off.... The sonic "weld" is for the most part invisible where the top half and bottom half melt together to form the seal except for some spots you'll see some bubbling for whatever reason.
The two on the "bottom" look almost like small cracks or a severe case of the weld bubbling. Either way, nothing to be overly concerned with
2.) The logo difference has to do with the year the slab was made/cert#. My guess is the overlapping logo slab cert# starts with a 2 or 3.... And if you look closely at the lighthouse foil, the "modern label" is not the same as they have changed slightly over the years.
I would have to guess that whoever makes their slabs uses a multi-cavity or multi-cavity family injection mold for these.
I pointed out the logo difference back in 2019 in this thread:
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/comment/12393455#Comment_12393455
There were two slab designs being used concurrently back then, which can be distinguished by the logo style. They were different in other respects too. Notice below how one holder has the guide rails completely inside the slab rectangle, while the other has the rail partly outside the rectangle.
I’m not sure whether both designs continue to be used or if one of them was a test design that was subsequently discontinued.
Though from the OP’s pics it doesn’t look like the logo style and slab style always match up the way my examples do.