Hundreds of cards were sold on the internet as early prototypes of the Pokémon TCG for a lot of money. However, these have turned out to be forgeries – and this is despite the cards being examined by professionals and even signed by the original designer.
What kind of cards were these? The Pokémon cards were sold as prototypes that were printed for playtesting purposes. While the designs resemble today’s cards, they are more primitive – a “Work in Progress” version from the time before the game was released. Allegedly, the cards were created in the years 1995 and 1996.
However, the supposedly oldest Pokémon cards have since been revealed to be forgeries. A user in the forum efour found this out. In a detailed thread, he describes how he was able to date the supposedly ancient cards to be only 6 months old through metadata, thus exposing them as fakes.
Instead of being from 1995, the cards are from 2024.
Neither professionals nor the designer noticed the forgery
Weren’t the cards checked? Yes, and this was done by the reputable company CGC. Moreover, during the examination, the experts even worked closely with the original designer of the cards, Takumi Akabane, as stated in an article by the company on cgccards.com.
Takumi Akabane was previously Creative Director at Creatures Inc., one of the three companies that share the rights to Pokémon. The prototype cards were said to come from Akabane’s personal collection. They were even signed by him.
How much money has been lost? The cards were sold through online marketplaces like Ebay, and estimates suggest that around 10 million US dollars (approximately 9.6 million euros) were generated from these sales.
In a statement, CGC assures that they are investigating these allegations. However, the inquiries are likely to take some time.
In the mobile version of the trading card game, Pokémon TCG Pocket, a new meta deck has emerged during a tournament. You can find out more about it in this article: A new deck made it into the Top 8 seven times at a tournament in Pokémon TCG Pocket
