{
  "url": "https://www.moonstonehq.com/articles/the-two-lies-on-one-shelf",
  "slug": "the-two-lies-on-one-shelf",
  "title": "The $0.69 Dark Ampharos and the $899.99 Zapdos: Two Lies on One Shelf",
  "summary": "Eighteen English cards carry both a Holofoil price row and a plain Normal row on the same product, and sixteen of them live in one 2004 set. On some, the featured figure is a theme deck copy worth 1/167th of the card. On others, the cheap-looking row IS the card and the Holofoil row is a ghost asking 5.5x the market. Same shelf, opposite lies.",
  "section": "Data forensics",
  "published": "2026-09-07",
  "readMinutes": 7,
  "publisher": "moonstone",
  "findings": [
    {
      "value": "18",
      "measures": "holo-only cards carrying a plain Normal row",
      "basis": "16 in Team Rocket Returns"
    },
    {
      "value": "166.6x",
      "measures": "the widest gap, Dark Ampharos",
      "basis": "$114.96 Holofoil vs $0.69 Normal"
    },
    {
      "value": "5.5x",
      "measures": "the ghost asking over market, Rocket's Zapdos ex",
      "basis": "$899.99 row vs $163.09 market"
    },
    {
      "value": "4 of 16",
      "measures": "EX era ex products with per-printing rows carrying both",
      "basis": "all four in this set"
    }
  ],
  "tables": [
    {
      "title": "All 18 dual-row holo-only cards",
      "columns": [
        "Card",
        "Set",
        "Normal row",
        "Holofoil row",
        "Holo / Normal"
      ],
      "rows": [
        {
          "Card": "[Dark Ampharos](/card/ex7-2)",
          "Set": "Team Rocket Returns",
          "Normal row": "$0.69",
          "Holofoil row": "$114.96",
          "Holo / Normal": "166.6x"
        },
        {
          "Card": "[Kingdra](/card/ex7-12)",
          "Set": "Team Rocket Returns",
          "Normal row": "$5.00",
          "Holofoil row": "$52.79",
          "Holo / Normal": "10.6x"
        },
        {
          "Card": "[Rocket's Zapdos ex](/card/ex7-106)",
          "Set": "Team Rocket Returns",
          "Normal row": "$163.09",
          "Holofoil row": "$899.99",
          "Holo / Normal": "5.5x"
        },
        {
          "Card": "[Togetic](/card/ex7-14)",
          "Set": "Team Rocket Returns",
          "Normal row": "$49.99",
          "Holofoil row": "$129.99",
          "Holo / Normal": "2.6x"
        },
        {
          "Card": "[Nidoking](/card/ex6-8)",
          "Set": "FireRed & LeafGreen",
          "Normal row": "$28.78",
          "Holofoil row": "$73.62",
          "Holo / Normal": "2.6x"
        },
        {
          "Card": "[Dark Electrode](/card/ex7-4)",
          "Set": "Team Rocket Returns",
          "Normal row": "$36.75",
          "Holofoil row": "$87.25",
          "Holo / Normal": "2.4x"
        },
        {
          "Card": "[Charmeleon](/card/ex7-110)",
          "Set": "Team Rocket Returns",
          "Normal row": "$49.34",
          "Holofoil row": "$115.62",
          "Holo / Normal": "2.3x"
        },
        {
          "Card": "[Dark Steelix](/card/ex7-10)",
          "Set": "Team Rocket Returns",
          "Normal row": "$50.00",
          "Holofoil row": "$113.33",
          "Holo / Normal": "2.3x"
        },
        {
          "Card": "[Dark Slowking](/card/ex7-9)",
          "Set": "Team Rocket Returns",
          "Normal row": "$42.30",
          "Holofoil row": "$95.94",
          "Holo / Normal": "2.3x"
        },
        {
          "Card": "[Dark Crobat](/card/ex7-3)",
          "Set": "Team Rocket Returns",
          "Normal row": "$20.99",
          "Holofoil row": "$31.35",
          "Holo / Normal": "1.5x"
        },
        {
          "Card": "[Dark Octillery](/card/ex7-8)",
          "Set": "Team Rocket Returns",
          "Normal row": "$21.19",
          "Holofoil row": "$29.08",
          "Holo / Normal": "1.4x"
        },
        {
          "Card": "[Jumpluff](/card/ex7-11)",
          "Set": "Team Rocket Returns",
          "Normal row": "$14.97",
          "Holofoil row": "$20.04",
          "Holo / Normal": "1.3x"
        },
        {
          "Card": "[Dark Hypno](/card/ex7-6)",
          "Set": "Team Rocket Returns",
          "Normal row": "$56.32",
          "Holofoil row": "$64.29",
          "Holo / Normal": "1.1x"
        },
        {
          "Card": "[Rocket's Snorlax ex](/card/ex7-104)",
          "Set": "Team Rocket Returns",
          "Normal row": "$459.99",
          "Holofoil row": "$510.00",
          "Holo / Normal": "1.1x"
        },
        {
          "Card": "[Piloswine](/card/ex7-13)",
          "Set": "Team Rocket Returns",
          "Normal row": "$34.33",
          "Holofoil row": "$26.99",
          "Holo / Normal": "0.8x"
        },
        {
          "Card": "[Rocket's Scizor ex](/card/ex7-101)",
          "Set": "Team Rocket Returns",
          "Normal row": "$600.00",
          "Holofoil row": "$341.02",
          "Holo / Normal": "0.6x"
        },
        {
          "Card": "[Rocket's Mewtwo ex](/card/ex7-99)",
          "Set": "Team Rocket Returns",
          "Normal row": "$1,150.00",
          "Holofoil row": "$550.00",
          "Holo / Normal": "0.5x"
        },
        {
          "Card": "[Landorus](/card/swsh8-148)",
          "Set": "Fusion Strike",
          "Normal row": "$0.49",
          "Holofoil row": "$0.20",
          "Holo / Normal": "0.4x"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "charts": [],
  "sections": [
    "Lie one: the deck copy wearing the card's price tag",
    "Lie two: the ghost row asking what nobody pays",
    "How to read a dual-row product"
  ],
  "method": [
    "Population: the 9,957 English catalog cards holding per-printing TCGplayer rows in our September 7, 2026 price data, restricted to cards whose catalog printing flags record holo without normal, and whose product prices both a Holofoil and a plain Normal row above zero. That yields 18 cards. Printing identity comes from the TCGdex per-card variant flags. Market figures quoted for individual cards are this site's resolved canonical prices on the same date. The theme deck attribution for Team Rocket Returns (James and Jessie decks, deck copies in different foil states) is documented on Bulbapedia's set page. We do not have per-row sales counts, so ghost rows are identified by price structure, not by observed volume."
  ],
  "terms": "Figures are moonstone's own recorded measurements, dated as published. Quote them with the population stated beside them. The article at `url` is the human form of this file."
}