distinguishing German Unlimited 3rd Edition from 4th Edition

Moderators: cataclysm80, hammr7, l0qii, Apocalypse2K, berkumps, dragsamou, mystical_tutor, pp

Post Reply
User avatar
Ralph Herold
Legendary Magic Library Administrator
Posts: 574
Joined: Sun Apr 06, 2003 3:00 am
Location: Germany

distinguishing German Unlimited 3rd Edition from 4th Edition

Post by Ralph Herold » Sat Jul 16, 2005 4:27 pm

Some discoveries are made by occasion. Initiated by a request of a friend of mine to help him distinguish German Unlimited 3rd Edition cards from 4th Edition, I have taken a very close look at my stock of German cards from these two sets. Alerted by a statement I found in the internet about an oddity of lower-case characters (more of this in a minute), I am happy to announce that I indeed found a difference between both editions which apparently affects ALL cards: the exact placement of the card title name! When holding both variations next to each other, card titles from Unlimited 3rd Edition cards are placed a tiny bit lower than card titles from 4th Edition cards. As a consequence, the old question whether some cards from both editions are truly identical is finally answered and collectors will need to find both copies, if they intend to finish both editions. In summary with other, more apparent distinctions, if you wish to determine which of the both editions a card originates from, you can do the following:

1. Check both set lists. Many cards are only part of one edition.

2. Take a look at the lower-case letters "i", "j" in the card title. If their dot looks like a slash, the card is from 3rd Edition, if their dot is round, the card is from 4th Edition.

3. Take a look at the lower-case letters "ä", "ö", and "ü". If their dots are nicely centered above the letter, the card is from 3rd Edition, if their dots are slightly left-aligned, the card is from 4th Edition.

4. Take a look at the lower-case letter "ß". If the space between this letter and its preceding letter left from it is bigger than the space between other letters, the card is from 3rd Edition. If the space is similar to the space between other letters, the card is from 4th Edition.

5. For the remaining cards, take a look at the amount of space between the letters of the card title and the upper template border above and the upper art box border below. If the card title is aligned nearer to the art box, the card is from 3rd edition, if the card title is aligned nearer to the upper card border, the card is from 4th Edition. If the card title contains the lower-case letters "g", "p", or "q", then the determination is easier:

On 3rd Edition cards, the "g", "p", and "q" touch the upper art box border, while on 4th Edition cards, the "g", "p", and "q" float above the upper art box border.

For card titles without these letters, the exact card title placement is hard to determine, but possible, for example by direct visual comparison with a confirmed card.

There are other differences between cards from both editions, such as text box text, text box layout, and card title name, but they do not reveal which version is from which edition. Furthermore, cards from 3rd Edition have a slightly higher color saturation, are slightly darker (best seen on card template), and have a slightly higher contrast (best seen on card title letters) than cards from 4th Edition, however, due to print run variations, this is not a reliable distinction.

The above method to distinguish both editions might also be true for the Italian and French cards (although the French sets can almost completely be held apart by their copyright date). I can not confirm this yet.

Side note for all global set collectors: I still have some rare cards from both sets. Given the possibility to distinguish these cards now, I can trade or sell them to you. Just contact me.
Last edited by Ralph Herold on Mon Aug 15, 2005 4:56 am, edited 3 times in total.

User avatar
AXIOS
Legendary Fungusaur Collector
Posts: 726
Joined: Fri Aug 08, 2003 1:55 pm
Location: Netherlands
Contact:

Post by AXIOS » Sat Jul 16, 2005 4:36 pm

Ralph, you cannot imagine how happy i am with this information!!! Image
Fungusaur legend
find me on facebook: nico jongsma
into all kind of fungusaurs and bog wraiths, especially foreign, misprinted

User avatar
agzz
Legendary Terese Nielsen Fan
Posts: 354
Joined: Tue Aug 05, 2003 12:44 am
Location: Västerås, Sweden

Post by agzz » Sat Jul 16, 2005 5:20 pm

I traded for some 3rd wb italian just last week. He told difference between them by: 4th had lighter textbox and slightly larger text. Also text centerd on 3rd was align along left side on 4th.

I will ask him to see if he see the same name placeing difference in italian too.

User avatar
Ralph Herold
Legendary Magic Library Administrator
Posts: 574
Joined: Sun Apr 06, 2003 3:00 am
Location: Germany

Post by Ralph Herold » Mon Jul 18, 2005 8:14 pm

I have slightly corrected and enhanced my initial post. Please read it again.

agzz: I would be happy to see you investigate. I remember that Allen Densen had problems to distinguish the Italian cards as he had with the German cards and created a table of comparison. Unfortunately, it seems not to be online any longer.

User avatar
Ralph Herold
Legendary Magic Library Administrator
Posts: 574
Joined: Sun Apr 06, 2003 3:00 am
Location: Germany

Post by Ralph Herold » Mon Aug 15, 2005 4:57 am

I have added a new section 4 to my original post.

User avatar
agzz
Legendary Terese Nielsen Fan
Posts: 354
Joined: Tue Aug 05, 2003 12:44 am
Location: Västerås, Sweden

Post by agzz » Mon Aug 22, 2005 10:51 pm

oh, i totaly forgot this. i have no definate checklist unfortionally but only a litle bit of info.

Just as German.. " Take a look at the lower-case letters "i", "j" in the card title. If their dot looks like a slash, the card is from 3rd Edition, if their dot is round, the card is from 4th Edition."

On most (not all, but large majority) Revised cards have text centerd while its left align on 4th.

Revised cards have darker colors than 4th.

The white text layer seems to be less distinct on revised than on 4th.

I can not se any vertical shift in the placement of card name. but i have only compared a few cards and dont know how much to expect? it should be visable by naked eye?

User avatar
Ralph Herold
Legendary Magic Library Administrator
Posts: 574
Joined: Sun Apr 06, 2003 3:00 am
Location: Germany

Post by Ralph Herold » Tue Aug 23, 2005 1:54 am

agzz: Thanks for the data. The vertical shift can be seen with the naked eye, but it is VERY small. I suggest to use a magnifying glass.

User avatar
effai
Legendary Mahamoti Djinn Collector
Posts: 475
Joined: Fri Jun 25, 2010 5:01 pm
Location: Somewhere in France

Re: distinguishing German Unlimited 3rd Edition from 4th Edi

Post by effai » Mon Aug 30, 2010 11:27 pm

Ralph Herold wrote:
2. Take a look at the lower-case letters "i", "j" in the card title. If their dot looks like a slash, the card is from 3rd Edition, if their dot is round, the card is from 4th Edition.
Sorry to bring this old post up, but I'm trying to make a terror global set and a mahamoti djinn global set (well, probably global without summer...), and I've got some problem with distinguishing German 3rd WB and German 4th (and the same goes for italian).

What I find strange is that the english 4th edition cards have a dot like a slash... So are the german one (and italian) with a dot like a slash really from 3rd unlimited ? 'cause that would mean cards from the 4th edition don't have the same police depending on the language...

thanks for your help !

User avatar
l0qii
Legendary Unfindable Title Moderator
Posts: 1792
Joined: Mon Aug 04, 2003 7:56 am
Location: PA
Contact:

Post by l0qii » Thu Nov 25, 2010 1:08 am

Italian does NOT show the same difference!
Both Italian sets use slashes on 'i' and 'j'. The way to tell them apart is the copyright line at the bottom. Revised is in bold font, 4th edition is not. Also for red cards, the text is white in Revised and black in 4th.

Tosta Dojen
Member
Posts: 17
Joined: Fri Jul 11, 2008 8:37 pm

Post by Tosta Dojen » Wed Feb 09, 2011 12:15 am

l0qii wrote:Italian does NOT show the same difference!
Both Italian sets use slashes on 'i' and 'j'. The way to tell them apart is the copyright line at the bottom. Revised is in bold font, 4th edition is not. Also for red cards, the text is white in Revised and black in 4th.
This is incorrect. The dots in Italian WB 3rd differ from those in 4th. Observe these cards (left is WB 3rd, right is 4th)

Image

Image

User avatar
l0qii
Legendary Unfindable Title Moderator
Posts: 1792
Joined: Mon Aug 04, 2003 7:56 am
Location: PA
Contact:

Post by l0qii » Wed Feb 09, 2011 1:51 am

Tosta Dojen wrote:
l0qii wrote:Italian does NOT show the same difference!
Both Italian sets use slashes on 'i' and 'j'. The way to tell them apart is the copyright line at the bottom. Revised is in bold font, 4th edition is not. Also for red cards, the text is white in Revised and black in 4th.
This is incorrect. The dots in Italian WB 3rd differ from those in 4th. Observe these cards (left is WB 3rd, right is 4th)
This was discussed in a couple other threads as well. There seems to be THREE versions of Italian WB Uncommons and Commons:

Image

Left: slash on i, Revised text
Middle: dot on i, Revised text, bold copyright
Right: dot on i, 4th Edition text, normal copyright

Close-up of the bold vs normal copyright
Image

User avatar
effai
Legendary Mahamoti Djinn Collector
Posts: 475
Joined: Fri Jun 25, 2010 5:01 pm
Location: Somewhere in France

Post by effai » Wed Feb 09, 2011 9:47 am

This was discussed in a couple other threads as well. There seems to be THREE versions of Italian WB Uncommons and Commons:


Left: slash on i, Revised text
Middle: dot on i, Revised text, bold copyright
Right: dot on i, 4th Edition text, normal copyright
Why is this only for Uncommons and Commons ?

Does this mean, that if I have a WB Italian card from 1995 with slashes on the "i", I can be sure it's Unlimitied and not 4th ?

User avatar
l0qii
Legendary Unfindable Title Moderator
Posts: 1792
Joined: Mon Aug 04, 2003 7:56 am
Location: PA
Contact:

Post by l0qii » Wed Feb 09, 2011 3:45 pm

effai wrote:
This was discussed in a couple other threads as well. There seems to be THREE versions of Italian WB Uncommons and Commons:


Left: slash on i, Revised text
Middle: dot on i, Revised text, bold copyright
Right: dot on i, 4th Edition text, normal copyright
Why is this only for Uncommons and Commons ?

Does this mean, that if I have a WB Italian card from 1995 with slashes on the "i", I can be sure it's Unlimitied and not 4th ?
It might be for Rares too, but so far that has not been confirmed.
Yes it means that slashes are always from the Italian Unlimited set.

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 7 guests